August 16, 2007

VIA E-MAIL AND HAND DELIVERY

The Honorable Alan B. Mollohan, Chair	
Honorable Rodney Frelinghuysen, Ranking Member
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce,
    Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
U.S. House of Representatives		
Washington, DC 20515			

Re: Census Funding in the FY 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science 
Appropriations Bill

Dear Chairman Mollohan and Representative Frelinghuysen:

I am writing to bring to your attention concerns raised by small 
business researchers regarding H.R. 3093, the FY 2008 Commerce, 
Justice, Science Appropriations bill.  
      
During floor consideration of H.R. 3093, the House of Representatives 
adopted an amendment that would cut funding for the Periodic Censuses 
and Programs by $10 million.  If enacted, this cut would eliminate the 
Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons (SBO), according to 
the impact statement prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau.  Through this 
letter, I wish to explain how the Office of Advocacy and researchers 
who study entrepreneurship and small business rely on SBO and other 
firm size data produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Congress established the Office of Advocacy under Pub. L. 94-305 to 
represent the views of small businesses before Federal agencies and 
Congress.  Advocacy is an independent office within the U.S. Small 
Business Administration (SBA), thus the views expressed in this letter 
do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA or the Administration.  

The Office of Advocacy is congressionally mandated to report on small 
business ownership by women, minorities, veterans, and service-disabled 
veterans and substantially relies on the data collected in the SBO to 
carry out that mission.  The SBO is a vital resource because it is the 
only comprehensive, regularly collected survey that provides 
information on the economic and demographic characteristics of the 
nation’s businesses and business owners.  The loss of this data will 
hamper policymakers and researchers’ understanding of the many 
contributions and challenges of our nation’s small businesses.  In 
addition, the SBO is one of the few data sources that discuss the 
number of franchise, family-owned, and home-based businesses in the 
United States.  With the information from the SBO survey, we can better 
conduct research that recognizes the financing needs of small business 
and other issues of importance. 
      
Small businesses drive the U.S. economy.  Therefore, it is important to 
understand their characteristics and contributions. Small businesses 
represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms, employing half of all 
private sector employees. Over the last decade, small businesses 
generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs. 
      
I have enclosed for your review the most recent list of research 
studies produced by the Office of Advocacy using the Survey of Business 
Owners (SBO) and the firm size data from the U.S.Census Bureau.  You 
may find a comprehensive listing of our research at: 
http://www.sba.gov/advo/research.
      
Thank you for the opportunity to share my views on H.R.3093.  I look 
forward to working with you on this and other issues of importance to 
the small business community.  

Sincerely,

Thomas A. Sullivan
Chief Counsel for Advocacy

cc: The Honorable David R. Obey, Chairman, House Committee on 
Appropriations  
      The Honorable Jerry Lewis, Ranking Member, House Committee on 
Appropriations	
      The Honorable Nydia M. Velazquez, Chair, House Committee on Small 
Business
      The Honorable Steve Chabot, Ranking Member, House Committee on 
Small Business
      The Honorable Carlos M. Guitierrez, Secretary of Commerce
      The Honorable Charles Louis Kincannon, Director, U.S. Census 
Bureau

Enclosure