SmallBusinessNewz

Our articles about the Small Business Administration have occasionally attracted comments about the entity's corruption or a general lack of usefulness.  Now, turns out that Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez tends to agree with those characterizations.

Velazquez, who serves as Chairwoman of the House Committee on Small Business, issued a damning statement today.  "In their review, investigators found that the majority of HUBZone businesses failed to meet program criteria," she said.  "And yet these firms still managed to collect over $100 million in federal contracts.  Twenty-four million of those dollars came directly out of HUBZone funds - funds that should have gone to low-income communities."

She later added, "Small Business contract programs are important, and we need them.  But if not adequately funded and properly managed, they turn into what we have today.  Rather than lifting up underprivileged firms, HUBZones are lining the pockets of big corporations and otherwise fraudulent businesses.  And they are doing so on the tax payers' dime."

So, assuming all of this doesn't turn into yet another political stalemate, it appears that the SBA is in for a major overhaul.  While businesses already benefiting from its aid may find that threatening, the development should be a positive thing on the whole.  Far from trying to cut funding or shut the whole thing down, it seems like Velazquez wants to shunt more money to the SBA and clean the system up.

We'll report more if and when the next steps are determined.