ICYMI: At Hearing, Shaheen Presses SBA Administrator on Support for Small Businesses Devastated by Tariffs, District Office Staffing Cuts
(Washington, DC) – Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a top member and former Chair of the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, pressed Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler on the Trump administration's failure to support small businesses facing economic upheaval in the wake of President Trump’s global trade war. Click HERE to watch the full exchange.
Key quotes from Senator Shaheen:
On staffing cuts at SBA district offices, Shaheen said, “I was concerned when I saw that the budget requests a 30 percent cut to staffing of district offices. Administrator Loeffler, in your confirmation hearing I asked you about ensuring that the district offices have the support and the staff they need. And at that time you said, ‘you have my commitment,’ I'm quoting you now. And you also said, ‘I can assure you we will put an emphasis on the field,’ but I can tell you that New Hampshire's district office started with seven staff this year. Now they're down to only three.”
Administrator Loeffler was unable to provide a timeline for filling the vacant positions.
On the Trump administration’s proposed elimination of the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP), Shaheen said, “This is a program that, again, has really made a difference for small businesses in New Hampshire where we do a lot of exporting and we're trying to do it much better. So that again, is why I was surprised to see that that program got zeroed out in the budget request.”
On the impact of Trump’s trade war in New Hampshire, Shaheen said, “I visited a bakery in Derry, New Hampshire, that was started over 25 years ago. It was started to address sugar free baked goods. They do 85 percent of their business with Canada. They used to have 25 employees. Now they have two because the president's tariffs have put them out of business.”
On support for small businesses impacted by Trump’s tariffs, Shaheen asked, “While I appreciate that [tariffs are] the president's idea for how to help small businesses, we have a lot of small businesses in New Hampshire who are not being helped by those tariffs. And so, what I want to know is what SBA can do to help those small businesses to compensate for the impact that those tariffs are having on them?”
Administrator Loeffler did not respond.
Senator Shaheen is helping lead efforts in Congress to mitigate the harmful impacts of President Trump's tariffs. In January, Shaheen introduced the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes on Imported Goods Act which would limit the president’s ability to leverage sweeping tariffs that increase costs for American consumers and families. Her effort to pass this bill by unanimous consent was blocked by Senate Republicans. In recent months, Shaheen has traveled across the Granite State to visit businesses including Chatila’s Bakery, C&J, DCI Furniture, Mount Cabot Maple, American Calan Inc. and NH Ball Bearings to hear directly from Granite Staters impacted by the administration’s tariffs.
A top member and former chair of the U.S. Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, Shaheen helped create STEP as a pilot program in 2010. The program was fully authorized by Shaheen’s small business trade amendment that was signed into law in 2016. Since its creation, STEP has awarded $235.5 million in grants and directly supported more than 13,000 small businesses' international expansion and export growth.
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