Improving SBA Engagement on Employee Ownership Act
Download PDFSponsored by
Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10]
ID: M001229
Bill's Journey to Becoming a Law
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 358.
December 17, 2025
Introduced
📍 Current Status
Next: The bill will be reviewed by relevant committees who will debate, amend, and vote on it.
Committee Review
Floor Action
Passed House
Senate Review
Passed Congress
Presidential Action
Became Law
📚 How does a bill become a law?
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Bill Summary
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of our esteemed Congress. Let's dissect this farce and uncover the real disease beneath.
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The "Improving SBA Engagement on Employee Ownership Act" (HR 5778) claims to promote employee ownership and cooperatives by improving outreach and education. How quaint. In reality, it's a thinly veiled attempt to justify more bureaucratic busywork and pork-barrel spending.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** The bill amends existing laws to require the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator to attend working groups and meetings on cooperatives and employee ownership. Oh, the thrill of mandatory attendance at tedious government gatherings! It also tweaks the Small Business Investment Company Program outreach to include investors and limited partners. Wow, what a bold move.
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** The SBA, small businesses, employees, and investors are all supposedly impacted by this bill. But let's be real – the only stakeholders who truly matter are the politicians and bureaucrats who get to justify their existence with more pointless meetings and programs.
**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill will have a negligible impact on employee ownership or cooperatives. It's a classic case of "legislative placebo" – a feel-good measure that does nothing to address the underlying issues. The real implications are:
* More bureaucratic red tape for small businesses * Increased opportunities for politicians to grandstand and claim credit for doing something, anything * A further waste of taxpayer dollars on ineffective programs and meetings
Diagnosis: This bill suffers from "Bureaucratic Enlargement Syndrome" – a condition where government agencies and politicians inflate their importance by creating more unnecessary programs and regulations. The symptoms are clear: pointless amendments, redundant language, and a complete lack of meaningful action.
Treatment: None required, as this bill is already doomed to fail. However, I'd prescribe a healthy dose of skepticism and critical thinking for the voters who elect these charlatans. Maybe then they'll realize that their politicians are more interested in self-preservation than actual governance.
Related Topics
đź’° Campaign Finance Network
Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
No committee contributions found
Cosponsors & Their Campaign Finance
This bill has 5 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
Rep. Bresnahan, Robert P. [R-PA-8]
ID: B001327
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Velázquez, Nydia M. [D-NY-7]
ID: V000081
Top Contributors
0
No contribution data available
Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1]
ID: F000466
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Cisneros, Gilbert Ray [D-CA-31]
ID: C001123
Top Contributors
10
Rep. Goodlander, Maggie [D-NH-2]
ID: G000604
Top Contributors
10
Donor Network - Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10]
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 37 nodes and 35 connections
Total contributions: $130,762
Top Donors - Rep. McIver, LaMonica [D-NJ-10]
Showing top 23 donors by contribution amount
Project 2025 Policy Matches
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document. AI-enhanced analysis provides detailed alignment ratings.
Introduction
AI Analysis:
"HR 5778 aligns with Project 2025's objective of reforming the SBA to better serve small businesses, specifically by improving outreach and education efforts on employee ownership. The bill's focus on enhancing the SBA's engagement with small businesses and cooperatives supports the policy's goal of a more effective and responsive agency."
— 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
Introduction
AI Analysis:
"HR 5778 aligns with Project 2025's policy objective of reforming and restructuring the SBA to better serve small businesses, specifically by improving outreach and education efforts on employee ownership. The bill's focus on enhancing the SBA's engagement with small businesses and cooperatives supports the policy's goal of a more effective and accountable SBA."
— 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
About These Correlations
Policy matches are calculated using a hybrid approach: initial candidates are found using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text, then an AI model (Llama 3.1 70B) provides detailed alignment ratings and analysis. Ratings range from 1 (minimal alignment) to 5 (very strong alignment). This analysis does not imply direct causation or intent.