A detailed report on President Bush’s fiscal year 2005 budget and its effect on small business programs recently was released by members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The report, compiled by the Minority staff of the House Small Business Committee, reveals that programs aimed at helping small businesses would see more than a 70-percent cut. The report argues that while small businesses everywhere empathize with the mounting federal deficit, some say a 70-percent reduction in funding for small business programs seems too high a price to ask of the nation’s small business owners.
The report identifies 36 distinct programs serving the small business community that either are cut or terminated in the administration’s FY2005 budget proposal. Among the affected programs are: 1) those used to secure capital, 2) direct government contracts to small businesses, 3) those that provide training for small business workers and 4) those reducing energy costs.
The report also examines a number of tax measures that would have significantly helped small businesses if they were not excluded from the Bush budget.