Washington (March 27, 2025) - Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement after today’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee business meeting.

“President Trump and Administrator Loeffler are running the Small Business Administration (SBA) into the ground. While proposing to cut 2,700 jobs - nearly half of SBA’s workforce - they are also proposing SBA take on the country’s $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio. On top of that, Administrator Loeffler is also threatening to relocate regional offices for political reasons while Musk and DOGE cancel SBA office spaces left and right. Their agenda is clear as day: put big billionaires over small businesses.

“While the Committee did not hold a vote on William Briggs to be SBA Deputy Administrator and Casey Mulligan to be Chief Counsel of Advocacy at SBA today, it is deeply troubling that the Committee is planning to move forward with the confirmation of these two political appointees while Trump, Loeffler, and DOGE are taking an axe to the livelihoods of small business owners across the country. And we don’t even know what they are trying to chop down until we hear the thud – from fired employees, to closures of offices, to contract and grant cancellations. The survival of our 34 million small businesses, and over 700,000 in Massachusetts, will be severely threatened if this is the way the SBA is going to be led.

“In today’s meeting, we passed Senator Shaheen’s Coordinated Support for Rural Small Businesses Act, which will give businesses in rural Massachusetts and across the country more focused attention so they can access loans and counseling services more easily. The Committee also advanced Senator Todd Young’s Assisting Small Businesses Not Fraudsters Act. I expressed concerns with this legislation and hope my Republican colleagues will work with us on needed changes before the bill reaches the Senate floor. For the small business owners who are pursuing the American dream, and for the communities that depend on them, we must prioritize the business of the committee over the business of billionaires.”

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