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The Honorable Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration (November 20, 2024)

Summary

A letter dated November 20, 2024 from the House Committee on Small Business to the Honorable Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, regarding the travel of senior Small Business Administration (SBA) officials. It states that the Committee received outreach alleging that the Region IV Administrator, Allen Thomas, is engaged in improper and wasteful travel. The letter requests Regional Administrator Thomas's travel records and itineraries from January 1, 2022, and related documents on reimbursement for political activities under the Hatch Act, no later than December 13, 2024. The signature block names Roger Williams, Chairman, and the letter copies Nydia M. Velázquez, Ranking Member.

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Issuer
Congressional materials
Document type
2024 11 20 Housesbc Majority To Sba Letter To Sba Re Ra Travel
Date
2024-11-20
Case
2024 11 20 Housesbc Majority To Sba Letter To Sba Re Ra Travel

Cite this document

“The Honorable Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration (November 20, 2024).” Original at smallbusiness.house.gov, dated 2024-11-20. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2024-11-20-2024-11-20-housesbc-majority-to-sba-letter-to-sba-re-ra-travel/, SHA-256 152c88556691988838228ae67454d77711f2d734a154e29409fcd583d005db23.

Full text

                                         November 20, 2024

The Honorable Isabella Casillas Guzman
Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 3rd Street SW
Washington, DC 20416

Dear Administrator Guzman:

        The House Committee on Small Business (Committee) writes regarding additional concerns
related to the travel of senior Small Business Administration (SBA) officials. During the 118th
Congress, the Committee has been investigating claims that the SBA has been using taxpayer
resources on partisan or otherwise inappropriate travel. Through the course of the Committee’s
investigation, the Committee received outreach alleging that the Region IV Administrator, Allen
Thomas, is engaged in improper and wasteful travel.

       As the Committee has previously stated, SBA employees traveling and engaging with small
business owners is a valuable part of the SBA’s mission. Conversely, using taxpayer resources for
personal or political travel is unacceptable. Given the Committee’s ongoing investigation, and reports
that Regional Administrator Thomas may have wasted substantial taxpayer resources when he was the
Executive Director of Global TransPark, the Committee seeks to ensure that taxpayer resources are not
being redirected to fund improper travel.1 To that end, the Committee requests the following
information and answers as soon as possible but no later than December 13, 2024:

       1. The travel records of Regional Administrator Thomas from January 1, 2022, through
          December 2024.

       2. The travel itineraries for trips Regional Administrator Thomas has taken, and is currently
          scheduled to take in the future, including where, when, and with whom, from January 1,
          2022, through the end of the year.

       3. All trip summaries and/or related documents memorializing reimbursement for costs
          associated with political activities under the Hatch Act for Regional Administrator Thomas,
          including all reimbursement statements, for all trips encompassed in request 1 and 2 of this
          letter.




1
 NORTH CAROLINA OFFICE OF THE STATE AUDITOR, NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FINANCIAL
STATEMENT AUDIT REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2018, 374 (Apr. 4, 2019).
The Honorable Isabella Casillas Guzman
November 20, 2024
Page 2 of 2



        To schedule the delivery of responsive documents or ask any related follow-up questions,
please contact Committee on Small Business Majority Staff at (202) 225-5821. The Committee on
Small Business has broad authority to investigate “problems of all types of small business” under
House Rule X. Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this inquiry

                                              Sincerely,




                                        Roger Williams
                                          Chairman
                                House Committee on Small Business


cc:    The Honorable Nydia M. Velázquez, Ranking Member

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Our copy
2024-11-20_HouseSBC-Majority-to-sba_letter-to-sba-re-ra-travel.pdf
Original
smallbusiness.house.gov
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