A bill introduced last week seems aimed at baring companies with Chinese ownership from receiving any benefits offered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
At least, we think so. The text of the bill is not yet available.
The Congress.gov link to the legislation (click on Bill S.993) gives only a description (“A bill to prohibit certain business concerns from receiving assistance from the Small Business Administration, and for other purposes.”), its sponsor (Sen. Marco Rubio), and the latest action (read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship).
Though the description says nothing about China, and we don’t know what’s in the bill yet because the text is not available, news reports indicate that the purpose is to keep U.S.-based businesses with ties to China from receiving SBA assistance. Reportedly, the bill would “prevent SBA loans and guarantees from aiding small businesses that are headquartered in China or that have at least a quarter of their voting stock owned by Chinese investors.”
Sen. Rubio introduced the bill the same day he reintroduced a bill called the Federal Acquisitions and Contracting Transparency (FACT) Act, which would require federal contractors to disclose ties to China. Rubio has been pushing the FACT Act for several years now.
What’s unclear is whether the prohibition would stop at loans and guarantees or would it extend to SBA programs, such as the 8(a), SDVOSB, WOSB, and HUBZone.
So far it’s just a bill, that may or may not find the traction necessary to be law. But we’ll keep an eye on it.