Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship, is seeking continued funding support of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA).
Cardin forwarded correspondence last week to Sens. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), chairman and vice chair, respectively, of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. He is encouraging the agency’s full funding of the MBDA as well as their inclusion of appropriations language that would save the MBDA Business Centers from their scheduled elimination.
“Significant progress has been made in supporting the minority business community since the creation of the MBDA nearly 50 years ago, but we still have a long way to go. Minority-owned businesses continue to face numerous barriers to accessing capital, obtaining contracts, and entering new markets,” Cardin wrote. “Congress must continue to invest in these Business Centers, which are a catalyst for minority business development.”
Cardin conducted a Senate Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee field hearing last month at Morgan State University, exploring access to capital for minority-owned businesses and other issues of importance to minority-owned firms, including the need for business assistance through MBDA Business Centers and opposition to their elimination.
“The Trump Administration has proposed to drastically reduce funding for MBDA,” Cardin wrote in the letter. “In FY18, the Administration proposed to eliminate the Agency in its entirety. In FY19, the Administration proposed a budget of only $10 million, shifting its priorities from serving individual minority business enterprises to solely providing policy and research. As you may know, the Administration does not plan to renew the contracts for the MBDA Business Centers, which are slated to close on March 31, 2019.”
Cardin said in the midst of funding deliberations for the FY19 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, he has requested $40 million be allocated for MBDA.