Senate Panel Reviews FY2010 SBA Budget
Mar 30th, 2009 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicyWhatever changes President Obama might want to bring to the tone or the modus operandi in Washington, at least one thing that remains the same: this is the time of year for budget hearings. And the budget hearing held before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship last week was, in many ways, simultaneously familiar and decidedly different. On the one hand (and here’s something you’re not going to hear very often about President Obama’s budget proposal), the Senators on this Committee complained that the President wasn’t spending enough money. That was pretty typical.
Less typical was how many questions were posed to the hearing’s lone witness, Acting Administrator Darryl Hairston, went largely unanswered because Hairston was forced to remind the Committee that decisions could not be made or finalized until an SBA Administrator was confirmed. That rejoinder, uttered in tones of the utmost respect in response to questioning by Senators Snowe, Levin, Shaheen, Cardin and Thune, gave the entire hearing a tentative, “the paint still isn’t dry” atmosphere that was not usual. Fortunately, that hearing will take place this week and, barring large unpaid tax bills and undocumented domestic help, Karen Gordon Mills is expected to sail through pretty painlessly. As for the SBA budget, the Senate Budget Committee has approved the Small Business Committee’s request for a $180 million increase over the President’s original request, up to $880 million for fiscal 2010. But, as far as working out next year’s federal budget goes, it’s early days yet.
