During a House Small Business Committee hearing, Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) questioned SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler about workforce reductions, and demanded more full responses to Committee letters and inquiries.
00:09Members of this committee have sent you nine letters requesting information on the major changes at SBA.
00:18Our letters went unanswered, questions were ignored, and documents were not provided.
00:25We have the right to exercise oversight of the agency.
00:32So would you commit to responding fully and promptly to all oversight requests, yes or no?
00:40Ranking member, we've responded to every single letter, and we've been very focused on ensuring this agency has great transparency.
00:49We've put out numerous announcements.
00:51We've responded to every letter to make sure that you have that.
00:54I look forward to working with you.
00:55I want to make sure that our small businesses have bipartisan support.
00:59So I want you to know that this type of response is unacceptable.
01:04That we expect for you to answer our question point by point.
01:10That's the real answer.
01:13What I'd like to say is that what we're focused on is serving the needs of small business.
01:19And what we have done in the last 100 days is make sure that small businesses know that we are there for them for the very first time.
01:26This agency was working from home for four years.
01:28Reclaiming my time.
01:29I have too many.
01:3090% of the staff.
01:31Reclaiming my time.
01:32I have too many questions.
01:34And I waited this long to have this opportunity.
01:43Ms. Leffler, how many employees resigned through the deferred resignation program in round one and two?
01:50Ranking member, we have taken a very careful review of the agency to streamline it.
01:58The agency doubled under the Biden administration during COVID and never returned to the size that it was during the Trump administration.
02:04I just want to know the numbers.
02:06It's a question about how many employees.
02:09Yes, ma'am.
02:10At this point, we have reduced the agency head count by 2,700 employees, returning it to the same size that it was during the first Trump administration when small business was booming
02:19and we had the best economy in my lifetime.
02:22We have heard that the Office of Field Operations saw a 20% cut.
02:27Is that correct?
02:29No, ma'am.
02:30The Office of Field Operations had really been depleted under the Biden administration, consolidated back in Washington,
02:36and our small businesses were left without contacts on main street.
02:39Okay.
02:4090% of the staff is working from home.
02:41You say that is no.
02:42That the 20% is incorrect.
02:44So how many field offices are operating with a reduction of 25% or more employees since January?
02:51Ranking member, what we found was that we had 35 offices across the country that had zero or one employee working in them.
03:00What we've done is streamline and right size the agency to put our mission focus back on small businesses on main street.
03:07So what about critical resources?
03:08Would you provide the committee with those numbers?
03:13Of course, we'd be happy to work with you and share information.
03:16Would you provide the committee with copies of the agency reduction in force and reorganization plans that you submitted to OPM on March 13 and April 14, as well as the monthly reports beginning with May?
03:30I think you'll find this is the most transparent administration that we've ever had in the history.
03:34I'm not asking you if it's transparent or not.
03:36Would you submit to us?
03:38We have the right to know.
03:39We have the right to know.
03:40Information with you as appropriate.
03:43I saw that you praised Elon Musk last week in a tweet.
03:49And so did you see Elon Musk recent tweet saying that the Trump administration's massive outrageous pork field congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination?
04:05Do you support his position on the reconciliation bill now?
04:10What I was shocked was that every single Democratic member of this committee voted against small tax, small business tax cuts.
04:16We're not talking about Democrats.
04:19We Democrats voted against the bill exactly because of the characterization of Elon Musk.
04:26So the ugly bill, short chain, people in this country taking more than 700 million people will be affected by the cuts on Medicaid.
04:39Ranking member, this is not true.
04:42My next, my next, my next, I ask you if you, I ask you.
04:46It's a tax cut bill that secures our border.
04:48Reclaiming my time.
04:49And cuts $1.6 trillion.
04:50You're talking about the beautiful bill.
04:52I'm talking about the ugly bill and the characterization of Elon Musk that was paraded on every meeting in the White House.
05:01It was good then.
05:02Now that he is sending a warning to the American people that this bill is going to bankrupt our federal government.
