Black Enterprise.com

Small black-owned businesses, among the nation’s most rapidly growing firms in recent years, could be hindered by President Trump’s budget cuts, entrepreneur advocates say. U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) recently stated that the Trump Administration’s fiscal 2020 budget could cost small businesses millions in additional loan fees owed to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and reduce critical business counseling. He and organizations like the U.S. Black Chambers (USBC) are concerned that the proposed budget will burden the SBA, which black and other minority-owned firms often turn to for capital and support to help grow their businesses. For instance, the uptick of black-women owned businesses helped the SBA achieve double-digit dollar gains in 2018 in loan approvals for those firms, BLACK ENTERPRISE reported. A senior administration official stated the SBA’s total new request in the president’s FY2020 budget is $820 million.