Small Business Administration

The Administration's proposal sets overall spending for FY 2008 at $814 million for the Small Business Administration (SBA), including $464 million in new budget authority, $329 million in carryover funds for disaster loans, and $21 million in reimbursable revenues.



Funding levels for selected technical assistance programs include:

• Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) - $87 million to provide 50 percent or less of the operating funds of the 63 Lead SBDCs and their satellite organizations that make up a network of more than 1,100 service locations around the country. SBDCs provide management assistance to current and prospective small business owners.
• Women's Business Centers (WBC) - $12 million to support a national network of nearly 100 resource centers located throughout the U.S. to promote the growth of women-owned businesses. This is accomplished through programs that address business training and technical assistance and provide access to credit and capital, federal contracts, and international trade opportunities.
• Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) - $5 million to support 390 chapter offices to provide entrepreneurs with free, confidential face-to-face and e-mail business counseling services.
• National Women's Business Council - $743,000 to support a bi-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the president, Congress and SBA on economic issues of importance to women business owners.
• Veteran's Outreach - $743,000 to provide entrepreneurial development services such as business training, counseling and mentoring to eligible veterans owning or considering starting a small business.
• New Markets Venture Capital (NMVC) Program - $23,000 to support the selection of privately owned and managed for-profit entities that foster new business growth and job creation in low-income areas through equity investing and hands-on technical assistance.

The president's proposal requests continuation of the Microloan Program on a "zero-subsidy basis" and seeks no funding for the Microloan Technical Assistance. The Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs (PRIME) has also been eliminated, according to a press release by the U.S Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship.