Staff Reports
Two representatives of the Small Business Administration (SBA) have been subpoenaed by a House of Representatives committee, which was left with inadequate information regarding a program aimed at registering voters in a swing state for a month. The SBA and the Michigan state government launched a cooperation in March to provide small business owners with voter registration information. Connecting Michiganders to essential voter registration information is the goal of the collaboration with the Democratic-run Department of State, which is in charge of managing elections in the state.
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Over the past month, the House Committee on Small Business has expressed concerns about the project and made an effort to speak with Tyler Robinson, the special adviser to the SBA, and Chief of Staff Arthur Plews. It was "unacceptable for the SBA to divert resources from serving small businesses to register voters in Michigan," according to a letter sent to the agency in April. Subpoenas were issued in response to the officials' non-appearance; this is the first occasion the committee has subpoenaed an agency.
The chair of the committee, Representative Roger Williams from Texas, voiced his worries regarding the SBA's political engagement, emphasizing that the agency's main goal is to support small companies and that it shouldn't use funds for political or even electioneering purposes. The speaker underscored the significance of openness and supervision, emphasizing that the public has a right to be informed about the SBA's political actions. Additionally, Republican Representative Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania denounced as egregious administrative malpractice the SBA's use of scarce taxpayer funds and time for partisan political campaigns.
Some have criticized the SBA's relationship with the Michigan Department of State, claiming that the Biden Administration is improperly exploiting the organization for political ends. Republicans in the House have reaffirmed their resolve to looking into the situation more thoroughly and holding those responsible for any unlawful acts accountable. The committee said that it had not been able to obtain sufficient testimony from SBA officials and that it had only been provided with cursory written material that did not address the issues raised by the panel.
