House Republican urges Small Business Administration to enhance rural outreach – Washington Examiner
A Missouri House Republican, Rep. Mark Alford, is set to introduce the Rural Innovation and Small Business Support Act, aimed at enhancing the Small Business Administration’s outreach to rural communities across the United States. The act, which will be unveiled on Wednesday, seeks to ensure that rural Americans have better access to federal initiatives such as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Alford emphasized the importance of small businesses in American society and criticized the federal government’s focus on coastal cities for contracting opportunities, asserting that rural communities deserve inclusion in these programs. This initiative follows broader efforts by House Republicans to scrutinize and potentially reform the SBA, particularly regarding its voter participation efforts in key swing states like Michigan.
House Republican urges Small Business Administration to enhance rural outreach
EXCLUSIVE — A Missouri House Republican is pushing for the Small Business Administration to reach out to rural communities in the United States in legislation set to be unveiled Wednesday.
Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) will introduce the Rural Innovation and Small Business Support Act, shared first with the Washington Examiner, that seeks to enhance the outreach of federal agencies to rural communities for key initiatives such as the Small Business Innovation or Small Business Technology programs.
“Small businesses and entrepreneurship are the fabric of America,” Alford said. “Too often, the opportunities to contract with the federal government are limited to coastal cities. The Rural Innovation and Small Business Support Act will force the government to include rural Americans in key SBIR and STTR programs.”
This is the latest step House Republicans have taken to regulate or improve the SBA since taking the majority. The GOP has been hyper-focused on the agency’s voter participation partnerships with key swing states such as Michigan.
The inquiries have led Republicans to grill election officials over voter integrity and whether the SBA is working on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration to keep states such as Michigan under Democratic control, particularly when President Joe Biden was still the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Republican leaders from both the House and Senate Small Business committees have threatened to subpoena key SBA officials over the agreement with Michigan, calling it “politically motivated.”
Biden trailed former President Donald Trump by 3 percentage points according to an Emerson College poll released on the same day Congressional Republicans threatened a subpoena and just three days before Biden dropped out. Now, Vice President Kamala Harris holds a slight lead over Trump, 48% to 45%, per a USA Today/Suffolk University poll released Tuesday.
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