Congressional Republicans threaten to subpoena Biden administration over swing-state voter outreach program

EXCLUSIVE — Republican leaders on the House and Senate Small Business committees are threatening to subpoena the Small Business Administration for information on its voter registration program with Michigan.

Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), chairman of the House committee, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) called the agreement “politically motivated” in a letter sent to SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman on Monday.

In the letter, exclusively obtained by the Washington Examiner, Williams and Ernst asked Guzman to provide all communications between SBA employees, small business owners, and politicians in Michigan over the “Memorandum of Understanding with the State of Michigan.”

The SBA and Michigan agreed to the Memorandum of Understanding in March, which established a voter access program that agency officials said would “promote civic engagement and voter registration in Michigan.” Guzman said the voter registration collaboration would “help connect Michiganders to vital voter registration information from the State of Michigan so that more small business owners can exercise their right to vote.”

However, Republicans have blasted this outreach program as a political ploy to garner support for President Joe Biden in a crucial battleground state that could decide who takes the White House in November.

The lawmakers are asking the SBA to provide the requested communications, as well as evidence as to whether the agency engaged in voter access prior to the program’s announcement and whether the SBA or Michigan initiated the program, by July 29. If it is not provided, the committees are threatening to subpoena the agency.

The letter signed by Ernst and Williams details months of separate attempts by both committees to conduct oversight over the SBA’s Michigan program, including a subpoena sent in May to two high-ranking SBA officials, special adviser Tyler Robinson and chief of staff Arthur Plews, for refusal to comply with the investigation into “potential electioneering activities.”

“For the entirety of this Congress, the SBA has stonewalled every investigation we have conducted,” Williams said in a statement. “The investigation into their electioneering efforts has been no different. It appears as if the SBA intends to delay our oversight into their electioneering efforts until after November when the damage has already been done. It is this Committee’s job to hold the SBA accountable to the taxpayer, and we are prepared to use every tool at our disposal to do so.”

Williams and Ernst accuse the SBA of taking advantage of voluntary interviews that the committee offered rather than forced testimony through subpoenas, and SBA individuals “conveniently could not recall key information.” The pair sent a joint letter on May 16 requesting transcripts for political or mixed travel and the travel itineraries of senior SBA workers.

“In response, the SBA provided 108 pages of media advisories concerning events the Administrator had attended— which as the Committees noted to your staff, were not what the Committees requested and is not considered responsive to the request,” Williams and Ernst wrote.

“It is deeply troubling that the SBA continues to withhold documents and information,” the lawmakers continued, “not just because it suggests that the SBA is engaged in some wrongdoing, but also because it’s a direct attack on the coequal responsibilities of our respective branches of government. … The Committees seek to work with the SBA, not fight it; however, the SBA’s obstruction creates concerns over its actions and may force the Committees to use more direct means of attaining information.”

The Republicans noted in the letter that the investigation of the Michigan voter registration program is “becoming more pressing” as the 2024 election grows closer. Michigan is one of several swing states that have become more of a target for Biden and Democrats as support for the president is dwindling over concerns he is unable to defeat former President Donald Trump in November. In the Great Lake State, Biden trails Trump by 3 percentage points according to an Emerson College poll released Thursday.

“Where there is smoke, there is usually fire and the SBA’s refusal to answer basic questions fuels the appearance that the agency is disregarding the Hatch Act and engaging in partisan politics ahead of the 2024 election,” Ernst said. “The Biden administration weaponizing government resources adds insult to injury for small businesses who have been put through the wringer by inflation and the rapid expansion of the federal regulatory state.”

“Sunlight is truly the best disinfectant, and the SBA needs to stop dodging accountability and commit to being transparent,” the Iowa senator added.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the SBA for comment.