Markey–Rosen Letter to SBA Administrator (June 2, 2026)

Summary

A letter dated June 2, 2026 from Ranking Member Edward J. Markey and other Democratic senators of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler. The letter states that the Administrator will not testify on the President's budget, which it says would cut SBA resources by 67 percent and eliminate 15 of the agency's 16 entrepreneurial development programs. It cites a KPMG audit reporting nearly two dozen findings of non-compliance and an Office of Inspector General report finding the agency below the baseline in nine of the ten security domains measured. It also says responses to questions for the record from the May 21, 2025 hearing arrived a year later. The letter is signed by ten senators, including Jacky Rosen, Jeanne Shaheen, Cory A. Booker and Adam B. Schiff.

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                                              June 2, 2026
The Honorable Kelly Loeffler
Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration
409 3rd Street, SW
Washington, DC 20416

Dear Administrator Loeffler:

    For the first time in at least 25 years, the Senate Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship will not receive testimony from the Administrator of the Small Business
Administration (SBA) about proposals set out in the President’s annual budget. To date, every
other cabinet level official has appeared before a congressional committee this year. Your
testimony is especially important given that the President’s Budget would cut SBA resources by
67 percent and eliminate 15 of the agency’s 16 entrepreneurial development programs.1 As the
head of SBA, you have an obligation to stand before the committee and answer questions about
the effect these damaging actions would have on American small businesses.

    The budget proposal would, if enacted, do away with the vast majority of resources currently
available for new and growing small businesses. Included among the 15 programs proposed for
elimination are the broadly popular Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business
Centers, and the SCORE program. These programs provide essential services to nearly one
million small businesses per year, including historically underserved entrepreneurs such as
women and minorities. Under this proposal, SBA would essentially close its doors to new and
aspiring business owners looking for help and, in doing so, abandon one of its basic missions.

    We have grave concerns not only about the proposed budget, but about the agency’s
performance following a year and a half of reckless and destructive staffing cuts. Two recent
reports issued by independent watchdogs about SBA’s internal controls suggest that the loss of
staff has prevented SBA from meeting basic accounting standards. First, KPMG’s independent
audit of SBA released last month cited nearly two dozen findings of non-compliance.2 This
included “a failure to perform or document updated required risk assessments for all applicable
programs in FY 2025.”

1
  U.S. Small Bus. Admin., FY 2027 Cong. Budget Justification FY 2025 Ann. Performance Rep. (2026),
https://www.sba.gov/document/report-congressional-budget-justification-annual-performance-report.
2
  KPMG LLC, Performance Audit of the U.S. Small Bus. Admin.’s FY 2025 Compliance with the
Payment Integrity Info. Act of 2019 (May 15, 2026),
https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/2026-05/SBA.
Page 2


    Additionally, the Office of Inspector General released a report last month about SBA’s
information security protocols that found that the agency fell below the acceptable baseline for
effective controls in nine of the ten domains being measured.3 Even more concerning, it found
that SBA regressed in three essential areas: information security and continuous monitoring,
identity and access management, and risk and asset management.

    You have consistently maintained that the draconian staff cuts that you and the Department
of Government Efficiency executed over the last year and a half have not compromised the
quality of SBA’s work or its ability to maintain proper information security protocols. However,
these reports make clear that, under your leadership, the agency is not meeting even basic
standards of accountability, risk assessment, and information security. Small businesses that
entrust SBA with their confidential data will no doubt be terrified by these findings, as will
taxpayers who have good reason to doubt whether SBA knows how funding is being spent. The
members of this committee deserve the opportunity to question you about why the agency has
failed in so many of these critical areas.

    Unfortunately, your failure to appear is consistent with the Trump SBA’s abysmal track
record when it comes to transparency and accountability. A case in point: members of this
committee who submitted questions for the record after your last appearance before the
committee on May 21, 2025, received official responses from your agency only last month. That
is one full year after you received those questions. Sadly, the answers your office provided were
neither substantive nor responsive to the questions asked.

    The duty of Congress to conduct oversight is a critical safeguard against executive overreach
and ensures that programs are effective and taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. The members of
the committee have a right to know what is happening at SBA, and require detailed, thorough
responses to our questions. Especially when the President’s official policy is to eliminate two-
thirds of the agency, our committee must be given the opportunity to evaluate the choices you
are making to ensure that SBA is meeting the needs of America's 36 million small business
effectively.
                                            Sincerely,




    Edward J. Markey                                                Jacky Rosen
    Ranking Member                                                  United States Senator




3
 FY 2025 Fed. Info. Sec. Modernization Act, U.S. Small Bus. Admin. Off. of Inspector Gen. (May 19,
2026), https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/documents/reports/2026-05/SBA.
Page 3




 Mazie K. Hirono         Jeanne Shaheen
 United States Senator   United States Senator




 Christopher A. Coons    Cory A. Booker
 United States Senator   United States Senator




 John Hickenlooper       Maria Cantwell
 United States Senator   United States Senator




 Adam B. Schiff
 United States Senator


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