House Small Business Committee Republicans Demand Answers from SBA’s Guzman on Voter Agency Designation Request

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22), co-chair of the House Election Integrity Caucus, and House Committee on Small Business Republicans today issued a joint statement on a letter sent to Isabella Guzman, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). The letter, signed by all Small Business Committee Republicans and other House Republicans, demands answers on the SBA’s request to become a designated voter agency – which detracts from the agency’s core responsibility of helping and assisting the nation’s smallest businesses.

“Instead of focusing on the needs of small businesses, the SBA seems to be more interested in directing their resources elsewhere. Main Street USA and American families are under siege. Inflation, under Biden and Pelosi, continues to run rampant. Small businesses cannot hire due to a labor shortage. Supply chain disruptions are hurting daily business operations. The price of gas at the pump is crippling budgets and pocketbooks. These are the real issues the Biden administration and the SBA should be prioritizing, not partisan political activities.”

Background:

In March 2021, President Biden issued an executive order on “Promoting Access to Voting.” Specifically, under Sec. 3 of the EO, federal agencies are asked to consider ways to “expand citizens’ opportunities to register to vote and obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.” This includes “ways to provide access to voter registration services and vote-by-mail ballot applications.”

In January 2022, the Small Business Administration (SBA) issued a press release highlighting the agency’s request to be designated as a “voter agency.” “As the first federal agency to request designation as a voter agency, through the SBA’s district offices, small business owners and others will have the services they need to ensure their voices are heard at the ballot box and fair representation for their communities.”

On January 19, 2022, Congresswoman Tenney led a letter with Congressmen Mike Garcia and Ted Budd to the then-Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young, seeking answers about President Biden's unilateral attempt to federalize elections through this Executive Order.

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