Washington, Jan 13 -

House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) today issued the following statement on the President's decision to elevate the Small Business Administration (SBA) to Cabinet-level status and reorganize several commerce and trade-related agencies into one department:

“I hope that by elevating the SBA Administrator to a cabinet-level official, the President becomes more sensitive to the needs of small businesses, including their need for more certainty from Washington. This platform could provide an opportunity to advocate for small businesses in an environment where important decisions are made. Hopefully, this is a sign that the White House will seriously consider more policies that help job creators, such as ending any threats of tax hikes on small business owners and rolling back unnecessarily burdensome regulations.

“Decreasing the size of government and reducing bureaucracy is something that I support in principle, however, it is important that any effort to make significant changes to federal commerce and trade programs must be done carefully, and in a way that protects America’s small businesses. I look forward to examining the proposal further and I hope the President will work very closely with Congress before finalizing any changes.”

The Committee held a hearing on July 27, 2011 on the difficulty that many exporting small businesses experience with federal bureaucracy during the trade process.

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