Bush’s New Small Business Man Under Fire

September 1, 2008 by admin · Leave a Comment 

Bush recently announced his appointment of Santanu Baruah as the new head administrator for the Small Business Administration (SBA).  Until last Monday, Baruah held the position of Assistant Secretary for Economic Development at the Department of Commerce.

In his acceptance speech, Baruah paid special attention to the upcoming hurricane season and its expected effects on small businesses.  He also declared a desire to help small businesses navigate the current credit crisis successfully, so they can get the funding they need to stay afloat.

In possible deference to the high likelihood of an increased Democratic weight in Congress after elections, Baruah underscored his goal of working in a bipartisan manner to serve small businesses throughout the country.

Response to Baruah’s appointment was mixed, especially amount women.  On the one hand, the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC)appears to welcome the new SBA head with open arms.  They share with their site’s readers that Baruah’s mother ran her own small business while she was raising her family.  On the other hand, many women are concerned about a particular rule which he supported during his tenure in the Department of Commerce.

The rule in question is in regards to the government’s contracting program for women-owned businesses.  This multimillion dollar provision was instituted last December, and although it claims to help women contractors, most women’s business organizations and their supporters think that it will actually make it even harder for women to obtain government contracts.  Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) went so far as to say that the rule was unconstitutional.

A final draft of the rule was sent to the SBA already, but the contents will not be disclosed until October.  Critics are concerned that the provision may not have been adequately adjusted to be fair in their view.

Even supporter and fellow party member Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) seems chagrined by Baruah’s Women’s contracting rule.  She reportedly tried (unsuccessfully) to extract a pledge from him last month to rescind his support of the rule.

This appointment comes at a time when gender issues are hot, especially with Presidential Candidate John McCain’s choice of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK).