News

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, issued the following statement after the committee approved Jovita Carranza’s nomination to be Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The nomination now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
 
“I congratulate Ms. Carranza on being favorably reported to the Senate floor. If confirmed, I look forward to working collaboratively with her to modernize the SBA, optimize the agency’s programs, and increase interagency coordination,” Chairman Rubio said. “As Chairman, I recognize the vital role the Administrator plays in ensuring the efficacy of the agency, and am eager for the role of SBA Administrator to be filled. This will better allow the Committee to fulfill our oversight responsibilities and further our efforts to reauthorize the Small Business Act. ” 
 
During her confirmation hearing, Chairman Rubio asked Ms. Carranza to agree to a number of commitments that require immediate action at the SBA. Ms. Carranza’s commitments to Chairman Rubio include:

• Addressing the management challenges at the Office of Investment and Innovation;
• Testifying before the committee in 90 days for an oversight hearing on progress addressing those challenges; 
• Communicating with Congress on the subsidy models and incorporated calculations for all federal credit programs at SBA;
• Ensuring the backlog of staff needed by the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) teams are filled in her first 100 days; 
• Ensuring that, moving forward, federal grant money is not used to repay previous misspent funds identified by the SBA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG);
• Working to modernize the Disaster Loan program and institute internal controls recommended by the OIG to stop waste, fraud, and abuse; 
• Expeditiously working on implementing a women-owned certification program; and,
• Expeditiously providing information to Congress on how SBA plans to help small businesses protect themselves from cyber-attacks.

 
Related:

• December 11, 2019: NOW: Rubio Chairs Hearing on the Nomination of Jovita Carranza to be SBA Administrator