Iowa small business leaders demand Congress improves the SBA

(The Center Square) – Fifty Iowa small business owners are among 3,000 business voices nationwide who are demanding the U.S. Congress improve the Small Business Administration.

The Small Businesses Voices community members demanded Congress work together to reauthorize the SBA. Small Businesses Voices is an advocacy initiative that builds on Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, which supports 10,000 small business owners across the country.

“During the pandemic, small businesses like mine had to innovate and remain nimble to survive and thrive,” Sydney Rieckhoff said in a news release. Rieckhoff is owner of Almost Famous Popcorn with locations in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, as well as a member of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices community. “Unfortunately, the historic challenges presented by the pandemic made clear that government programs designed to help small businesses have not evolved alongside them. Now, we are navigating our new normal with outdated tools and programs to fit yesterday’s needs.”

Babson College and David Binder Research conducted the national survey of 1,838 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses participants from Jan. 23 to 26. Goldman Sachs 10,000

Although portions have been revamped in recent years, the last time Congress reauthorized the entire SBA was 2000, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center one-pager.

“This piecemeal approach has kept the agency operating but without the benefit of a comprehensive evaluation and strengthening of its activities,” the BPC said.

The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices survey of small business owners across 48 states found that 96% of small business owners said the federal government should be doing more to tailor programs and services to better reflect small businesses’ needs and realities. While 68% of businesses are optimistic about the financial trajectory of their business in 2023 and 60% said they expect their business to increase profits this year, 72% said inflationary pressures in the past three months have increased. Sixty-one percent said increased interest rates have negatively impacted their business. Seventy percent of U.S. small business owners said they’d give the federal government no more than a “C” grade for the effectiveness of programs, services and tax credits that they’re eligible for. Only 12% of small businesses said they’d give the federal government an “A” or a “B” for marketing and communications efforts regarding available resources and services. Thirty-five percent said their top challenge is difficulty finding and retaining qualified employees.

Iowa Business Council President Joe Murphy told The Center Square in an emailed statement that his organization, which represents leaders of Iowa’s largest employers, looks forward to partnering with the new Congress on business issues to increase competitiveness and innovation. Iowa’s labor force has lost about 35,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic, he said.

“Supporting comprehensive immigration reform efforts, more broadly, and the Afghan Adjustment Act, specifically, are areas that the IBC will continue to focus on in effort to increase our population and supplement our workforce,” Murphy said.

The organization’s fourth quarter 2022 survey results showed a stop to a three-quarter decline in optimism and an increase in sales expectations compared with the third quarter of 2022, but capital spending expectations and employment indexes decreased.