Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act

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Bill ID: 119/hr/4549
Last Updated: December 2, 2025

Sponsored by

Rep. Goodlander, Maggie [D-NH-2]

ID: G000604

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Bill Summary

Another masterpiece of legislative theater, brought to you by the esteemed members of Congress. Let's dissect this farce, shall we?

**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act (HR 4549) claims to "clarify" the responsibilities of the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Rural Affairs. In reality, it's a thinly veiled attempt to create more bureaucratic busywork and justify additional funding for this office.

**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill amends Section 26 of the Small Business Act by:

1. Requiring the Assistant Administrator to have experience with rural affairs and small business concerns (because, apparently, that wasn't a given). 2. Expanding the Office's responsibilities to include hosting webinars and outreach events for rural small businesses. 3. Mandating annual reports on the Office's activities, which will undoubtedly be filled with meaningless statistics and self-congratulatory language.

**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The usual suspects:

1. Rural small business owners, who will supposedly benefit from this "enhanced" support (but probably won't). 2. The SBA, which gets to justify more funding for its Office of Rural Affairs. 3. Lobbyists and special interest groups, who will use this bill as a Trojan horse to push their own agendas.

**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a classic example of "legislative placebo effect." It creates the illusion of action while doing nothing meaningful to address the real challenges faced by rural small businesses. The actual impact will be:

1. More bureaucratic red tape and paperwork for rural small business owners. 2. Increased funding for the SBA's Office of Rural Affairs, which may or may not trickle down to actual support for rural businesses. 3. A nice PR boost for the bill's sponsors, who can now claim they're "supporting" rural America.

In conclusion, HR 4549 is a masterclass in legislative flimflam. It's a solution in search of a problem, designed to create more bureaucratic busywork and justify additional funding for the SBA's Office of Rural Affairs. Bravo, Congress!

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Project 2025 Policy Matches

This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document. Higher similarity scores indicate stronger thematic connections.

Introduction

Moderate 64.1%
Pages: 783-785

— 750 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise THE SBA IN A CONSERVATIVE ADMINISTRATION Reforming and restructuring the SBA under a conservative Administration would meet the needs of America’s small-business owners and entrepreneurs, not special interests in Washington, D.C. Entrepreneurs believe the SBA is fairly archaic in its operations and programming and must be transformed to serve small businesses in the modern economy effectively.33 Therefore, a restructured and reformed SBA would end the long-term deficiencies, practices, and problems that have prolonged the decades-long cycle of waste, fraud, and mismanagement. Moreover, the SBA Administrator and leadership can provide significant value to all small businesses by strongly advocating for their policy needs and fostering an agencywide culture that values all small-business owners and does not exclude certain groups. Under a conservative Administration, success would yield: l A highly qualified SBA Administrator and leadership team that can competently run the agency and enthusiastically advocate for the policy issues and needs of small-business owners and entrepreneurs. l A tighter, more focused SBA that concentrates on congressionally authorized programs. l An accountable SBA Administrator and staff who report regularly to Congress, respond on a timely basis to requests from individual Members of Congress, and satisfactorily implement or respond to IG and GAO recommendations. l A full accounting of and an end to waste, fraud, and abuse in all COVID-19 relief programs, including the PPP and EIDL programs, and action that follows the rule of law by ensuring that loan recipients who are not eligible for loan forgiveness or who falsified loan applications either pay back the funds or are referred to law enforcement. l An end to SBA direct lending. l An approach to small-business lending and capital programs that supports a resilient small-business supply chain (for example, by financing technological upgrades and capital expenditures). l Outreach to all small businesses and those that are eligible for program support across sectors and geographic areas. Through congressionally authorized programs and collaboration with partners and business associations, the SBA could use the latest technology and platforms to — 751 — Small Business Administration implement relevant initiatives to reach small businesses. Programs would be nonduplicative and implemented on a first-come, first-served basis. l A modern, revamped, and streamlined SBA that better utilizes current technology and platforms for operations, for reporting, and in its programs to reach, service, and engage small businesses. l An Office of Advocacy that is strengthened by a renewed mandate and additional resources to protect against overregulation along with a research agenda that includes measuring the total cost that federal regulation imposes on small businesses. Accountability and Managerial Practice. The SBA lacks accountability and managerial practices to measure the effectiveness, success, and integrity of its various programs. As a future Administration evaluates agency structure and the particulars of how the SBA is spending appropriated funds, it should immediately require actions and procedures to compel a culture of accountability and perfor- mance. Specifically: l Require performance metrics and internal procedures to safeguard taxpayer dollars and program integrity. As noted in an October 2022 IG report, failure to adopt procedures that would reliably capture data and information for various programs, coupled with significant challenges and weaknesses regarding IT investments, systems development, and security controls, presents significant risks to program integrity and increased risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.34 Addressing these shortcomings and risks should be a priority challenge and action item for the next Administration. As underscored by the Inspector General in his introduction to the report, “Pandemic response has, in many instances, magnified the challenging systemic issues in SBA’s mission-related work.”35 l Review all internal government watchdog recommendations and require that SBA management implement or address outstanding and ongoing OIG and GAO recommendations within a specified time frame (ideally within 90 days of a recommendation) and on an ongoing basis. Strengthening the Office of Advocacy. The SBA Office of Advocacy (Advo- cacy) is “an independent office” within the SBA.36 It accounts for about one one-thousandth of SBA spending and 0.75 percent of SBA personnel. Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, both under its current authority and with suggested

Introduction

Moderate 64.1%
Pages: 783-785

— 750 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise THE SBA IN A CONSERVATIVE ADMINISTRATION Reforming and restructuring the SBA under a conservative Administration would meet the needs of America’s small-business owners and entrepreneurs, not special interests in Washington, D.C. Entrepreneurs believe the SBA is fairly archaic in its operations and programming and must be transformed to serve small businesses in the modern economy effectively.33 Therefore, a restructured and reformed SBA would end the long-term deficiencies, practices, and problems that have prolonged the decades-long cycle of waste, fraud, and mismanagement. Moreover, the SBA Administrator and leadership can provide significant value to all small businesses by strongly advocating for their policy needs and fostering an agencywide culture that values all small-business owners and does not exclude certain groups. Under a conservative Administration, success would yield: l A highly qualified SBA Administrator and leadership team that can competently run the agency and enthusiastically advocate for the policy issues and needs of small-business owners and entrepreneurs. l A tighter, more focused SBA that concentrates on congressionally authorized programs. l An accountable SBA Administrator and staff who report regularly to Congress, respond on a timely basis to requests from individual Members of Congress, and satisfactorily implement or respond to IG and GAO recommendations. l A full accounting of and an end to waste, fraud, and abuse in all COVID-19 relief programs, including the PPP and EIDL programs, and action that follows the rule of law by ensuring that loan recipients who are not eligible for loan forgiveness or who falsified loan applications either pay back the funds or are referred to law enforcement. l An end to SBA direct lending. l An approach to small-business lending and capital programs that supports a resilient small-business supply chain (for example, by financing technological upgrades and capital expenditures). l Outreach to all small businesses and those that are eligible for program support across sectors and geographic areas. Through congressionally authorized programs and collaboration with partners and business associations, the SBA could use the latest technology and platforms to

About These Correlations

Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.