(Washington, February 4) - Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today released the following statement applauding the inclusion of provisions to rein in the Trump administration and protect essential small business programs in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 appropriations package. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed the FY 2026 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill, which provides funding for all Small Business Administration (SBA) programs, including Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, SCORE Chapters, and Veterans Business Outreach Centers.

"Small businesses are essential to our economy, and fully funding federal programs that support entrepreneurs everywhere is a must for Main Street," said Ranking Member Markey. "I am proud to have worked with my Senate colleagues to secure funding to invest in America's entrepreneurs and provisions to rein in the Trump administration's attempts to extinguish programs meant to provide support to women, veterans, and other historically underserved small business owners. We must continue to fight back against Trump's reckless agenda that puts Main Street last and ensure that federal funding reaches small businesses-not CEO billionaires and big corporations."

Trump's SBA has ignored congressional directives and withheld millions in congressional funding from programs that support America's small businesses. Ranking Member Markey has steadfastly advocated for congressionally directed funding to be released, working closely with Senate appropriators to include stronger guardrails on SBA Entrepreneurial Development Program (EDP) funding in the FY 2026 FSGG appropriations bill. These guardrails include, for the first time ever, inserting all EDP account programs in the legislative text of the appropriations bill. This provides greater legal protections for programs and strengthens anti-impoundment protections. In addition, Ranking Member Markey worked with Senate appropriators to combat SBA withholding congressional funding by requiring SBA to spend at least 80% of program funds in the first year in which they were appropriated.

Ranking Member Markey applauds Senate appropriators for providing $2.4 million above the level he requested for SBA's Veteran's Outreach programs, which are vital to supporting service members, veterans, and their families starting or growing a small business. This increase in funding will ensure our nation's veterans and their families receive the counseling and training support they deserve.

Last May, Ranking Member Markey asked Senate appropriators to preserve and protect SBA's entrepreneurial ecosystem. The FY 2026 FSGG Appropriations bill provides $1.25 billion for SBA, including $330 million to administer SBA's entrepreneurial development programs. This is a strong, bipartisan rebuke of President Trump's FY 2026 budget request, which called for the elimination of nearly all entrepreneurial development programs.

On May 2, Ranking Member Markey denounced the cuts to small business programs in President Trump's FY 2026 budget proposal. President Trump fought to cut 33% from small business programs and services, including programs aimed at helping underserved communities, women, and veterans. On May 16, Ranking Member Markey led Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Democrats in condemning President Trump's FY 2026 budget proposal and called on SBA Administrator Loeffler to release already appropriated funding to SBA's counseling and training programs.