• Sen. Snowe to Chair Small Business Committee

• SBA Offers Solution to Debate Over Loan Program Costs for
  Small Business

• House and Senate to Recess

• Attention: Florida NASE Members!

Sen. Snowe to Chair Small Business Committee

Last week, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) announced that she will take the reins of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship for the 108th Congress. Snowe replaces Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-MO) as the top Republican on the committee and John Kerry (D-MA) as the chair.

“Senator Snowe has served on the small-business committees in both the House and Senate,” NASE President Robert Hughes said, “so she is well acquainted with the issues that affect the self-employed and micro-businesses. We hope to work with Senator Snowe to bring affordable health care, tax parity and access to capital to this vital sector of the small-business community.”

In the 107th Congress, Senator Snowe also served on the Senate Finance Committee as the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Health Care, which oversees health insurance, Medicare and the uninsured. Since owners of micro-businesses comprise over 60 percent of the nation’s uninsured, the NASE hopes this issue will be a focus of her tenure as chair of the Senate Small Business Committee.

“I look forward to chairing the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and addressing matters crucial to the nation's self-employed,” Sen. Snowe said. “I am eager to tackle an ambitious agenda that will ease the challenges facing small businesses and entrepreneurs in finding affordable health insurance for their employees, grappling with government red tape and accessing the credit and trade opportunities they need to grow and prosper.”

“I look forward to working with the National Association for the Self-Employed, in particular,” she said, “to encourage success and growth for our nation's small and micro-businesses.”

Bond, current Ranking Member of the Committee, was seen as likely to take the chairmanship in the next Congress. Instead, he will become chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works panel. Under Senate GOP rules, this position, in addition to his role as chairman of the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, prohibits him from holding the Small Business chairmanship. Bond says he plans to spend most of his time reauthorizing federal highway funding.
 

SBA Offers Solution to Debate Over Loan Program Costs for
Small Business

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has developed an econometric model to project the cost of the 7(a) General Business Loan Program more accurately and easily.

According to the SBA announcement, the econometric model will enable the SBA to allocate its resources more effectively, determine program risk more precisely and increase its ability to target loans to aspiring entrepreneurs who cannot obtain financing without a government guaranty. The econometric subsidy model will improve the government’s ability to forecast loan performance by taking into account a wider variety of economic factors, such as GDP and unemployment, as well as a wider variety of loan characteristics that affect performance. The new model allows for a more accurate reflection of loan performance and allows the agency to calibrate appropriations requests and loan fee levels more precisely.

“Coming up with an improved subsidy rate model has been an important priority for us at the SBA, and I’m extremely pleased to say that we have done it right,” said SBA Administrator Hector V. Barreto. “Rather than jump in with a quick fix solution, we have taken the time and made the effort to develop a solid, long-term solution that we think our partners, both lenders and small businesses, will be happy with.”

The SBA plans to implement the new model for the 2004 budget year.

For more information about all of the SBA’s programs for small businesses, call the SBA Answer Desk at 1-800 U ASK SBA or TDD 704-344-6640. Also, visit the extensive SBA Web site at www.sba.gov.
 

House and Senate to Recess

The House of Representatives recessed earlier this week, and the Senate is scheduled to follow suit in the next few days. The Senate finished up most of their business on Tuesday, with approval of legislation to establish a Homeland Security Department, creation of a terrorism insurance backstop and a resolution to continue government funding until January. Newly and reelected Members from both Chambers will return in January to convene the 108th Congress. For information about who will be your representatives in the next session, visit http://advocacy.nase.org.
 

Attention: Florida NASE Members

The U.S. Small Business Administration National Ombudsman will hold a Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Hearing in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, December 3, 2002. The goal of Regulatory Enforcement hearings is to receive public testimony regarding specific excessive regulatory enforcement actions by federal agencies for possible inclusion in the Ombudsman's annual report to Congress.

The hearing starts at 9:00 a.m. at Miami Dade Community College, Wolfson Campus, 500 NE Second Street, Miami. The hearing will be in the ETCOTA Auditorium, Room 7128 with registration beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Hearings are open to the public. If you would like to attend or testify about excessive regulations, please contact Thadeus Hosely in the SBA District Office at 305-536-5521 x167. For information more information on SBA Ombudsman hearings, or for a schedule of future hearings, visit www.sba.gov/ombudsman and click on Events.
 

Do any of these issues affect you? Do you want to be proactive in helping the micro-business community? Visit the NASE's Legislative Action Center and “Tell Your Small Business Story.” This will help the NASE understand - on a personal level - how key legislative issues are affecting your business and your bottom line.

For more information about any of the articles in Washington Watch, contact Maureen Petron, NASE public affairs manager, at (202) 466-2100 or mpetron@nase.org.