(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) issued the following statement on the Trump Administration’s FY 2020 Budget, which could cost small businesses millions in additional loan fees owed to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and reduce critical business counseling:

“While President Trump’s budget is light on details, his proposed cuts to the SBA should be enough to strike fear in the small business community. This budget hits rural, minority and women-owned businesses by cutting the microloan program, drastically reduces SBA counseling to small businesses, and increases loan fees on lenders and borrowers. For small businesses, which operate on razor-thin margins, this budget is bad for business.

“Last year alone, SBA-approved loans provided small businesses with more than $30 billion in funding and supported at least 600,000 jobs. By increasing loans fees and reducing vital training and support provided by the SBA, President Trump is balancing his budget on the backs of mom-and-pop shops that turn neighborhoods into communities and create millions of good-paying middle class jobs. 

“On the heels of a month-long government shutdown that cost small businesses billions of dollars, this budget is another sign that small businesses are not a priority, but an afterthought, for the Trump Administration. I will fight just as hard against this disastrous budget as I did against the disastrous Trump shutdown, because American small businesses cannot afford another self-inflicted wound to the economy.”

Specifically, the Trump Administration’s FY2020 Budget proposes the following cuts to programs that benefit small businesses:

• a 23 percent cut to funding for Small Business Development Centers, which provide targeted counseling to small businesses across the country so that they have the tools they need to improve their capacity and increase their productivity;
• increased loan fees on the thousands of businesses participating in the Small Business Administration’s loan programs, leading to increased borrowing costs for small, local businesses seeking to grow; and
• a 5 percent cut to the SBA’s Microloan program, and a 19 percent cut to the agency’s Microloan Technical Assistance program, both of which disproportionately serve women, minority and rural small businesses.

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