Text 4

Read the text and choose the most suitable title out of those given below.

- Small Business in the USA

- The Small Business Administration

- The Small Business Act

- Criticism of the SBA

The Small Business Administration, or SBA, is a United States Government agency that provides support to small businesses.

The SBA was established in 1953 by the United States Congress with the passage of the Small Business Act. Its functions are to make loans to small businesses unable to obtain financing from private sources on reasonable terms; to help small firms sell their products and services to the federal government; to make loans to small business concerns affected by natural disasters; to license and regulate privately owned investment companies that make loans to small businesses; to develop and improve the managerial skills of prospective and current small-business owners; and to provide aid and support to women and minority groups in order to increase their participation in small-business ownership. The head of the agency is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate.

The SBA has directly or indirectly helped nearly 20 million businesses and currently holds a portfolio of roughly 219,000 loans worth more than $45 billion making it the largest single financial backer of businesses in the United States.

The SBA has survived a number of threats to its existence. In 1996 the then Republican-controlled House of Representatives planned to eliminate the agency. It survived and went on to receive a record high budget in 2000. Renewed efforts by the Bush Administration to end the SBA loan program have met congressional resistance, although the SBA's budget has been repeatedly cut.

The SBA has been subject to criticism on several occasions. Businesses applying for SBA loans are supposed to have previously been turned down by at least two banks. Designed to avoid direct competition with banks, this provision allows the most promising projects to be funded by the private sector leaving higher risk projects to be picked up by the government resulting in the government holding a higher share of non-performing loans.

The SBA has most recently been criticized for the manner in which it disbursed loans earmarked for businesses directly affected by September 11th. Lax oversight resulted in widespread abuse of the program as the low-interest loans were awarded unaffected business.

2. Draw up a plan of the text and use it to summarize the contents.

3. Find out if there is a specialized government agency in your country, performing the functions similar to those of the SBA. Present its profile to the group.