Jim Nussle: “Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), the very distinguished Committee on Small Business…”

“Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), the very distinguished Committee on Small Business chairman, my neighbor and friend, brought to me a problem of the government overestimating SBA loan defaults and thereby excessively limiting the total number of small business loans made to small businesses in this country, brought that to my attention. This was happening because OMB and SBA, the Office of Management and Budget and Small Business Administration, were insisting on using old data predating recent SBA loan reforms. We have been working together with the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) to resolve this problem ever since. Over a year ago, language was included in the fiscal year 2002 Treasury appropriations conference report requiring OMB and SBA to report to us on how and when the problem was going to be fixed. That report indicated that the problem would be addressed in the 2003 budget with the development of new economic models, which it was not. Last year, the SBA subsidy rate problem was not fixed. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) and I wrote to OMB Director Daniels requesting that the 2003 calculation be reviewed and that the subsidy rate be resubmitted to reflect a more accurate projection of the anticipated costs. Again, they were not.”