Tuesday, April 17, 2001

FSB: Bush to Small Biz: Share the Load
In the 2002 budget that President George W. Bush formally submitted to Congress on April 9, the SBA's funding was slashed by $360.5 million to $539 million. He plans to achieve some of that savings via an old Clinton-administration cost-cutting theme: cutting subsidies for 7(a) guaranteed loans and having lenders and loan recipients make up the difference by paying higher fees.

The President's plan would also cut federal funds provided to the nation's network of Small Business Development Centers and introduce fees of $10.75 to $11.00 an hour for counseling provided to small firms by an SBDC counselor, after a free first hour. President Bill Clinton had also tried to assess new counseling fees in the past, but Congress enacted legislation in 1997 that barred that move. So a new law would be required to allow the new SBDC fees to be imposed. Federal funding of the SBDCs is matched by state money.
Other cost-cutting measures proposed by Bush include moving certain disaster-assistance programs to other federal agencies.
http://www.fsb.com/fortunesb/articles/0,2227,1555,00.html

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