The top Republicans on the House and Senate's respective Small Business Committees are accusing the Small Business Administration (SBA) of wasting taxpayer dollars over the agency's handling of a $100 million program it was charged with overseeing.
The SBA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report this week that flagged gaps in the SBA's ability to measure and manage its Community Navigator Pilot Program (CNPP), which was created through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for the purpose of helping underserved small businesses with pandemic recovery.
The SBA issued $99.9 million in grants for the two-year program, but the OIG highlighted several concerns over the agency's oversight. For instance, the audit showed the SBA did not set a target for the number of underserved clients to reach and failed to ensure that some of the organizations tasked with carrying out services avoided double counting performance results – thus the program's success could not be fully evaluated.
The OIG made five recommendations to improve the SBA’s oversight of the program if it is renewed, and the SBA agreed with some of them in its response to the report. But the SBA raised concerns about setting targets for underserved populations, citing legal and programmatic risks. The agency also acknowledged the challenge of data sharing limitations due to privacy laws.
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The Biden-Harris administration and several prominent Democrats have touted the CNPP as one of the success stories of the American Rescue Plan. But after the release of the OIG audit, House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R, Texas) and Senate Small Business Committee Ranking Member Joni Ernst (R, Iowa) both pointed to the program as a failure.
"It is disappointing to see that the SBA’s Community Navigator program fell short on its promise to support America’s small businesses," Williams told FOX Business. "Not only has this program yielded uncertain results, but it did so at a cost of $100 million to the American Taxpayer."
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He added, "As we have seen repeatedly with the Biden-Harris SBA, mismanagement of this program has left us with serious doubts surrounding the transparency and accountability of the taxpayers’ investment."
Sen. Ernst had strong words for the SBA over the OIG report.
"The Community Navigator program was a complete dumpster fire and textbook example of government throwing away taxpayer dollars while failing to strengthen small businesses," Ernst said, referring to the program as a "boondoggle."
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"The Biden-Harris administration spent $100 million without an ‘established target’ as part of their inflation creation spending spree," the Republican continued. "While this might be a drop in the bucket in the sea of Washington waste, small businesses operating on razor-thin margins would be forced to close if they were this financially irresponsible."
The SBA did not provide comment to FOX Business regarding the GOP lawmakers' criticisms by the time of publication.
