Heritage Foundation's
Project 2025

Chapter 25 - Small Business Administration

• Hold the SBA's overall budget constant until a comprehensive review is conducted.
• Terminate ineffective programs after ranking them by cost-effectiveness.
• Consolidate duplicative functions within the SBA.
• Increase the Office of Advocacy's budget by at least 50%.
• Eliminate SBA direct lending programs.
• Remove religious exclusions from SBA loan eligibility.
• Strengthen the Office of Advocacy to combat "extreme regulatory policies."
• Amend the Regulatory Flexibility Act to require more thorough economic analysis of regulations' impacts on small businesses.
• Require federal agencies to seek input from the Office of Advocacy on new regulations.
• Accelerate the cleanup of fraudulent COVID-19 loan and grant activity.
• Consider bringing in private-sector support for closing out COVID-19 relief programs.
• Reverse loan forgiveness decisions for potentially ineligible recipients (like Planned Parenthood affiliates).
• Explore transferring disaster loan programs to another agency or private-sector channels.
• Support legislation to disallow project labor agreements in federal contracting.
• Reform the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program to focus more on capital-intensive investments and small manufacturers.
• Create a "medium-sized business" classification with eligibility for certain capital access programs.
• Extend Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) panel requirements to all federal agencies.
• Support the IMPROVE the SBA Act to strengthen accountability and transparency.
• Modernize the SBA's operations and technology systems.
• Focus on outreach to all eligible small businesses across sectors and geographic areas.
• Implement stricter performance metrics and internal procedures to safeguard taxpayer dollars and program integrity.
• Require SBA management to implement or address outstanding watchdog recommendations within a specified timeframe.
• Appoint an SBA Administrator and leadership team with experience in small-business finance, investment, and/or administrative law.