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Small Business Administration

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The United States Small Business Administration is a United States Government agency that provides support to small businesses.

The SBA was officially established in 1953. Congress passed the Small Business Act of July 30, 1953, creating the Small Business Administration (SBA). The SBA's function was to "aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns." The charter also stipulated that the SBA would ensure small businesses a "fair proportion" of government contracts and sales of surplus property.

The SBA already makes direct business loans and guarantees bank loans to small businesses, as well as makes loans to victims of natural disasters, works to get government procurement contracts for small businesses and helps business owners with management and technical assistance and business training.

Nearly 20 million small businesses have received direct or indirect help from one or another of those SBA programs since 1953. In fact, SBA's current business loan portfolio of roughly 219,000 loans worth more than $45 billion makes it the largest single financial backer of United States businesses in the nation.

Challenges facing the SBA

In recent years, the SBA has been facing a budget squeeze, from a record high budget in the year 2000, it has seen year after year cuts implemented. In additional, each year since gaining the Presidency, George W. Bush has attempted to entirely eliminate the funding for the SBA loan program, on each occasion, however Congress has overruled the President.

Sources

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