The Assoc. of Small Businesses in Technology warns, "Bush intends to damage the small business community in favor of large corporations by proposing new regulations that will ultimately reduce small business participation in U.S. federal government contracting. An emergency town hall meeting has been organized by the Association of Small Businesses in Technology, Inc. (ASBT)" to address this crisis. 'New regulations that are being proposed by the Small Business Administration would ultimately hinder the ability of small businesses in the U.S. to compete with large corporations; such has Halliburton, for U.S. federal government contracts. The regulations will significantly change the present size standards which currently assist small businesses and their entrepreneurs in competing with large corporations in the U.S. federal government contracting arena'."

"This week, Bush had the audacity to address a group of women's entrepreneurs after having shutdown the very program that many of these small business owners rely on: the Small Business Administration 7(a) program. Though Bush was pressured into reviving the program, he did so with so many strings and restrictions attached that it amounted, said Kerry, to 'yet another budget gimmick, a non-starter. Small businesses and lenders alike have told Congress that it's not workable, and that they oppose it."The Bush scheme threatened 53 women's business centers with closure. So while Bush had a photo op, Kerry helped craft legislative changes that will keep the women's centers open and keep the SBA 7(a) program alive and well.

Proposed Bu$h regime budgetary cuts include an 88% decrease in funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), whose mission is the spread of new technologies to small business (those with fewer than 500 employees, contributing about half the country's private gross domestic product). Established in 1988 with strong bipartisan support, the MEP is a national, but decentralized, federal-state-private sector partnership network of 70 non-profit centers with more than 400 field offices charging fees for-services. It has completed more than 149,000 projects, with resulting productivity gains more than 4 times greater than comparable firms. Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are leading 50 Senators (including 17 Republicans) in bipartisan opposition. Since productivity is the engine driving our national economic engine, Bu$h's proposal again demonstrates his lack of foresight by cutting proven investments in workers and technology.