Mitch Landrieu: “after the close of business on February 9, 2006, the Small Business Administration, SBA, notified my office that the SBA…”

“after the close of business on February 9, 2006, the Small Business Administration, SBA, notified my office that the SBA Disaster Loan Program was going to run out of money 4 days later on February 13, 2006. I was outraged that my office was only made aware of the situation because USA Today was about to do a story on it. The Disaster Loan Program is one of the most important lifelines that the people of my State are relying on to pull themselves out of the destruction wrought by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When SBA first knew about the funding shortfall in this program, the Senators from Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Texas, and Alabama should have been the first people told. No doubt some of my colleagues may only have learned about this in the media. That is not how a Federal agency should notify Congress of important developments. The administration has requested, and the Appropriations Committee has approved, a reprogramming of $100 million from SBA's salaries and expenses account to the Disaster Loan Program to keep it funded for another 2 weeks. The program will still need additional funding beyond this. H.R. 4745, that is before the Senate today, will allow for a reallocation of $712 million in funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to SBA in order to keep the Disaster Loan Program running until the end of April.…”