Grace Napolitano: “The current Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations (CJS) Bill, particularly the SBA program funding levels, is perhaps…”

“The current Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations (CJS) Bill, particularly the SBA program funding levels, is perhaps the worst bill in this nation's history for small businesses. The current CJS appropriations bill called for several loan and technical assistance programs to be zeroed out in fiscal year 2002. The total cut from $860 million down to $728 million in SBA's overall budget. This would cause over 10 critical programs to be zeroed out, including New Markets Venture Capital Companies, BusinessLINC, the HUBZone program and the Small Business Investment Company Program. Cutting access to capital and technical assistance resources in a time of serious economic uncertainty creates a dangerous scenario where small businesses and the jobs they create will suffer in the long-term. That scenario begins with the nearly $40 million dollar cut in the 7(a) Loan Program and the zeroing out of the 'Program for Investments and Microentrepreneurs' or PRIME.”