SBA Administrator Loeffler Issues Memo on Day One Priorities
February 26, 2025
Bob Coleman
Founder & Publisher
SBA Administrator Loeffler Issues Memo on Day One Priorities
Following her confirmation and swearing-in as the 28th Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Kelly Loeffler issued a Day One memo on Monday outlining her top priorities for the agency.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our nation, driving innovation, job creation, and prosperity – and there’s no stronger advocate for small business than President Trump or myself. But over the last four years, the SBA has burdened entrepreneurs with bureaucracy – with its programs becoming mired in fraud, waste, and abuse,” SBA Administrator Loeffler said. “That changes today. My first priority is rebuilding the SBA into an America First engine for free enterprise – by empowering small businesses and fueling economic growth.
“From day one, we will uphold the highest standards of accountability, performance, and integrity, where taxpayer dollars will be safeguarded, not squandered. We will streamline operations, drive efficiency, and ensure programs deliver real results. It’s a new day at the SBA, and I’m honored to lead a team that is committed to serving America’s job creators and citizens when disaster strikes.”
1) Promoting “Made in America” with U.S. manufacturing: The vast majority of America’s manufacturers are small businesses, and SBA programs have powered tens of thousands of them. This agency is committed to supporting the America First agenda by rebuilding American supply chains and investing in manufacturing to strengthen our economy and national security.
2) Implementing President Trump’s executive orders: SBA will enforce all of President Trump’s executive orders
To date, SBA has already taken the following actions:
- Eliminated the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, placing DEIA employees on administrative leave.
- Paused grants across the agency that do not comply with President Trump’s executive orders.
- Paused the Green Lender Initiative to reverse the previous Administration’s favoritism for Green New Deal ventures that did not support America’s return to energy dominance.
3) Supporting DOGE: SBA will continue working closely with President Trump’s DOGE as the federal government moves into a new era of accountability, transparency, and efficiency. SBA will prioritize eliminating fraud and waste within the agency, to ensure American taxpayer dollars are utilized in the most productive way possible to benefit small businesses and economic growth and resilience.
4) Mandating full-time, in-office work for SBA employees: Pursuant to President Trump’s presidential memorandum, SBA will require all employees, unless exempt, to return to their respective duty stations five days a week as of today, Monday, Feb. 24, 2025.
5) Prioritizing workforce optimization: As part of the broader effort to support President Trump’s workforce optimization initiatives, SBA will continue to evaluate workforce reduction measures, including the overhaul of all advisory boards, to ensure the agency is operating with maximum efficiency to deliver results for U.S. taxpayers, small businesses, and those affected by disaster.
6) Cracking down on fraud: SBA’s loan programs should be a powerful tool for empowering small business formation and delivering critical aid to disaster victims. The prior Administration left these programs with unaddressed fraud – including an estimated $200 billion in pandemic-era fraud. Starting today, the SBA will institute a zero-tolerance policy for fraud and investigate fraud across all programs. The agency has established a Fraud Working Group and will appoint a Fraud Czar to identify, stop, and claw back criminally obtained funds on behalf of American taxpayers – working across agencies to prevent fraud.
7) Conducting an agency-wide financial audit: As fraud has risen, so too have delinquencies, defaults, and charge-offs on loan programs, exacerbated by the previous Administration’s lax loan underwriting, servicing, and collection efforts. As a result, SBA has not satisfactorily completed a financial audit for several consecutive years. Therefore, the agency will request an independent audit of its financials to address mismanagement, restore the credibility of financial statements, and preserve the solvency of public-private programs like the 7(a) lending program and the Small Business Investment Company program, which are designed to drive economic growth without taxpayer subsidy.
8) Protecting the solvency of loan programs and restoring underwriting standards: Likewise, SBA will review all options to protect the solvency of its lending programs, including revising practices that have jeopardized the zero-subsidy status of programs like 7(a). The agency will also restart its dormant collections programs effective immediately. Furthermore, SBA will restore its underwriting standards, ensuring taxpayer dollars only go to supporting eligible small businesses across America – by conducting a full review of current lending SOPs, ending the “Do What You Do” standard for lending, and enhancing oversight of non-bank lenders.
9) Banning illegal aliens from receiving SBA assistance
10) Restricting hostile foreign nationals from accessing SBA assistance
11) Creating a strike force to cut regulation: For the first time in years, SBA will fully staff and empower the Office of Advocacy to utilize its power to identify and eliminate burdensome regulations promulgated by all federal agencies. The Administrator will work alongside the Chief Counsel for Advocacy to cut past and future regulations across the board and partner with all federal agencies to ensure they are working to reduce bureaucracy and costs for job creators and promote successful business formation.
12) Improving SBA customer service, technology, and cybersecurity
13) Promoting fair competition by returning 8(a) contracting goals to statutory levels: As part of a broader effort to support competition and equal access to federal contracting for all small business owners, SBA has returned the 8(a) SDB contracting goal to its statutory level of 5%.
14) Relocating regional offices out of sanctuary cities
15) Ending partisan voter registration activities
Access the SBA press release here.
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