Special Federal Budget Issue: Small Business Administration

The Administration's $593 million FY 2006 request for the Small Business Administration (SBA) represents a 3 percent decrease from the FY 2005 appropriation. Funding levels for selected activities identified as "core programs" in the agency's press release include:

• Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) - $88 million (1.1 percent decrease) to support 1,100 SBDCs around the country that provide management assistance to current and prospective small business owners.
• Women's Business Centers (WBC) - $12 million (2.7 percent decrease) to support 84 WBCs located throughout the U.S. to promote the growth of women-owned businesses 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 (1.4 percent increase) to support 389 chapter offices to provide entrepreneurs with free, confidential face-to-face and email business counseling services.
• National Women's Business Council - $750,000 (1.3 percent increase) 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 - $750,000 (1.3 percent increase) to provide entrepreneurial development services such as business training, counseling and mentoring to eligible veterans owning or considering starting a small business.

No FY06 funds were requested for the Federal and State Technology Partnership (FAST), whose authorization expires in FY 2005. Nor was funding provided for the SBIR/STTR Rural Outreach Program. The programs' last direct appropriations were, respectively, $2 million and $250,000 in FY 2004.