ask comes before us at a time when our nation is in dire need of the job creation and growth that hallmarks of a small business economy across america consumers are spending less on goods and services credit markets are tightened and in the wake of this whole prime mortgage crisis people are losing their homes their situation calls from for action and small businesses are ready to do their part to get the chooses to continue decease demotic eradication of this small business administration during the night hundred ninety s the agency had a seat at the press in sailable on a budget of one billion dollars the small business administration expanded essential services to interpret nourse and help them lead one of our nation's greatest periods of economic prosperity today agency is a shell of its former sel evidenced by the low morale of its employees and its budget has been caught by more than fifty percent for a flight two thousand nine eighteen out of twenty six corps programs has be development centers funding is also slash for the seven eight loan programs and the slender fees are increased to the highest level of all level these will be questionable decisions on an average year every dollar invested in other words investing in small businesses is not only good for the economy it helps reduce the deficit clearly small businesses and the american people as a whole these are far better sparges i for one believe it is time for this small business administration to step up to the plate and draw on its lending interpret oriel development and contracting programs to spur the economy the views and estimates we have before us today take needed steps to remedy eight years of shortfalls and focus on fostering the type of growth that will bring us back from the brink of this looming recession our recommendations support they require to succeed we have an important opportunity to do the right thing for small businesses and this morning the night of that each if you do support the commuters views an estimate i will now yield to mr shabbas for any comments he might have on them thank you good morning and i'd like to thank the chairwoman for holding this mark up today on the committee's views and estimates of the president's proposed small business administration budget for fiscal year two thousand and nine the budget submission for two thousand and nine is not substantially different from the submission for the last fiscal year that your woman's views make some salient criticisms and i concur with  those one of the most important things we can do as a committee is to ensure that the s b a has the tools it needs to fulfill its mission to help small businesses the backbone of our country's fundamental economic strength despite agreements with the chairwoman i cannot fully concur with their views and estimates and will be filing separate views with the budget committee i believe that the president's budget request proposes realistic funding levels given the budgetary constraints facing the country i think that the budget accomplishes a good deal by providing additional resources to train s b a employees hire more workers that can provide assistance to small businesses seeking federal government contracts and increase outreach to america's veterans however not everything in the s b a budget requests comports with my stated objective that the agency had the resources available to meet the needs of small businesses and perspective entrepreneurs for example when inflation is taken into account the ability of the as entrepreneurial development partners to meet the needs of their clients could be called into question similarly an increase in the number of procurement center representatives is a start but an insufficient one in my estimation the s needs to allocate more personnel for this vital role in increasing small business participation in the federal procurement system finally the s b a yet again requested a zero subsidy for the micro loan program a supporter of micro lending and the benefits that accrue to low income areas i believe that the small amount in the budget devoted to micro loans is well worth it that being said i must respectfully disagree with the concept that simply having more money thrown at a party problem will solve its administrator's preston has tackled a number of problems from disaster alone backlogs to employee morale he has done so within severe budget constraints sometimes all it takes is asking the right question and someone who wants to find a solution to the problem developing those solutions takes brain power something that federal budget jerry budgetary or resources cannot buy it is my firm belief that administrator preston will continue to strive to make the agency the best it can be before he leaves it to the next administrator i certainly respect the chairwoman is passion and devotion to the interests of small businesses however if it's true that the s b a remains a troubled agency for a more money into it may not of the views and estimates of this small business administration's if flight two thousand and nine budget declare it will report the title of the document a letter to the house committee on the budget expressing the small business committee views in estimates on the fiscal year two thousand and nine budget for the u s small business administration i ask unanimous consent that the views and estimates document in its entirety be open for amendments this time any member s recognition for the purpose of offering an