WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Committee on Small Business is holding a full committee hearing titled “Weaponizing Federal Resources: Exposing the SBA’s Voter Registration Efforts.”

Chairman Williams’ opening statement as prepared for delivery:

Good morning, and welcome to today’s hearing which will focus on the SBA’s Memorandum of Understanding with the State of Michigan to register voters.

I’d like to start off by thanking our witnesses for being here with us today. Your input on these important issues is greatly appreciated.

This Committee is charged with oversight of the Small Business Administration. This is a responsibility that we do not take lightly, and today we will look into how much this agency has deviated from the core mission of helping Main Street America. The SBA is tasked with aiding, counseling, and protecting the interests of small businesses across our great nation. Instead of fulfilling these goals, the SBA has entangled itself in electioneering activities that not only lack a constitutional basis, but also betray the trust and purpose for which the Agency was established.

This MOU with Michigan demonstrates a gross misalignment of the SBA’s priorities. Small businesses have been crushed the past few years with stubborn inflation, high interest rates, and a significant labor shortage. And while all of these issues have been hurting Main Street’s ability to thrive, the SBA has decided to dedicate their staff’s time and resources to register voters in a key swing seat ahead of the 2024 election.

Not only does this agreement turn its back on the entrepreneurs that are struggling, but it opens up a whole host of potential conflicts of interest.

If a president and their agencies were permitted to freely involve themselves in elections, they could misuse this influence to stay in power. The American people need to have confidence that Agencies are acting to carry out their duties without the fear of political interference. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, and as the SBA is planning events around Michigan, the American people are going to be left wondering if the event is only being held to register President Biden’s target voting blocks.

Because of the potential to misuse this new power to register voters, the Committee immediately sent letters and started asking questions about how the SBA is carrying out these orders. And as we started asking questions, the lack of transparency was astounding. It took the SBA over 6 weeks to even show us the MOU after their initial press release announcing the new electioneering agreement. Additionally, after an SBA employee was caught on tape bragging about the Administrator’s campaign activities, they failed to make him available to speak with the Committee until we issued the first subpoenas in more than a decade.

This Committee will not stop calling out this misuse of power and will use every tool at our disposal to get the answers we need from the SBA.

I want to thank you all again for being here with us today, and I am looking forward to today’s important conversation.

With that I will yield to our distinguished Ranking Member from New York, Ms. Velázquez.

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