Small Business Committee Hearing Highlights SBIC Success, Impact of Bipartisan Investing in All of America Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 30, 2026) – At a House Small Business Committee hearing with U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Associate Administrator Josh Carter last week, members of the committee, led by Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX), highlighted how Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) have driven much-needed capital to Main Street and created millions of jobs. Members also discussed how the Investing in All of America Act, which was signed into law by President Trump last month, will fuel even stronger investment in rural and underserved areas, manufacturing, and critical industries.

“I want to thank Chairman Williams for calling attention to the incredible impact Small Business Investment Companies are having in local communities across the country,” said SBIA President Brett Palmer. “As Chairman Williams emphasized in his remarks, under the leadership of SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler and Associate Administrator Josh Carter, the SBIC program has reached a historic $53 billion in combined private capital and SBA leverage, the largest in the program’s history. The Investing in All of America Act builds on that success by getting more capital to the areas and industries that need it most, including rural communities, manufacturing, and industries critical to national security.”

SBIA looks forward to working with Congress and the SBA to ensure its full and swift implementation.

Following are key excerpts from the hearing:

On the track record of success in the SBIC program and the SBA’s historic level of private capital mobilization:

Chairman Williams: “For more than 20 years, the SBIC program has operated at a zero-subsidy cost to the taxpayers, and over the past five years, it has run with a near zero default rule rate. And under Administrator Loeffler’s leadership, this office has delivered historic results. In fiscal year 2025 the SBIC program closed with a record $53 billion in combined private capital and SBA leverage. In addition, the SBA has approved 48 new SBIC licenses and issued a record 88 green light letters, building a pipeline projected to drive approximately $27 billion in new private sector investment concentrated in manufacturing, critical technologies, and the industries our country needs most.”

Associate Administrator Carter: “For more than six decades, the SBIC program has served as one of the federal government’s less well-known but most successful investment programs. In addition to providing capital, fund managers bring industry expertise, strategic guidance, and business relationships that help entrepreneurs grow and succeed. Today, approximately 360 active funds manage more than $55 billion in total capital. And since the program’s inception, SBICs have deployed more than $147 billion through over 200,000 investments in American small businesses. These investments supported the creation of more than 10.6 million new jobs since 1995. Congress has also taken an important step to ensure the continued growth of the SBIC program through the passage of the Investing in All of America Act, one of the most significant enhancements to the SBIC program in years.”

On bipartisan support for the Investing in All of America Act:

Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI): “When people ask, ‘is Congress actually getting anything done?’ Yes, it is, and I’m so proud, and I will give credit where credit is due. I’m grateful to President Trump for signing this into law, and it’s going to really make a big difference. There are very few bills like this that have actually been signed into law this Congress, and we’re really, really grateful.”

On how the Investing in All of America Act will drive more capital to rural and underserved areas, manufacturing, and industries critical to national security:

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA): “Onto the SBIC programs, $53 billion dollars of combined private capital, the largest amount in the program’s 67-year history, so congratulations to you there. Your flagship program is the SBIC program, which, by the way, is run tremendously well by some people in this room. So we appreciate that. With the All of America Plan and the increases in the Investing in All of America Act, focused on rural areas, tech, and manufacturers. Tell us how that legislation has allowed you to serve more of where it was intended to serve and support loans.”

Associate Administrator Carter: “Again, I just want to thank this body. Thank you for sponsoring and Congresswoman Scholten for sponsoring. It’s an incredible bill. I know it’s been worked on for years, and many folks in this room have been very focused on it. I think it’s brilliant. You look at what’s happened. You can look at CPI, but you can also look at the Russell 2000… It’s gone up, 90% since 2015. So if you just think about in like purchasing power that our funds have, it’s 90% lower had you not done this. So, it was huge, and to me, the brilliance is the bonus leverage. It’s a way that we’re providing capital, but our country has such a need right now to reindustrialize. We’re in a geo-economic competition against very strong adversaries that think in decades and have been doing this for 30 years, and hollowing out our manufacturing base. You create an incentive for them to invest in manufacturing, critical technologies, rural, etc., and its economic impact. It’s economic, it’s rational, and it’s scaling the investors that are professional investors as opposed to us picking all the companies ourselves. It’s brilliant.”

Rep. Tony Wied (R-WI): “I was very pleased to see the President sign the bipartisan Investing in All of America Act and the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act earlier this year. How do these laws strengthen OII’s programs?”

Associate Administrator Carter: “[W]e’ve spoken about it already with Investing in All of America Act, but I think it’s a brilliant way to incentivize the type of investment that we need in a way that’s different than just making the investment. We’ve all seen the challenges of the government making every investment decision. It doesn’t always go well. This program allows the professional investors, who are the experts, and it highly incentivizes them, through the structure of a fund, to have those companies succeed. Unlike loans, where they get securitized and there’s not that accountability and that same tie, these managers get paid more money if their company succeed, and that’s using economic principles to incent what we want. I think it’s a phenomenal partnership.”

On the critical role SBICs have in providing much-needed capital to small businesses outside of coastal hubs:

Rep. Clay Fuller (R-GA): “One of the things that I want to celebrate with President Trump and Administrator Loeffler and the work that you’re doing. For far too long, investment capital stayed on the East and West Coasts, it didn’t go into Appalachian communities like mine and what I represent. So, if you can expound on how your leadership and the work you’ve been doing has been getting capital into underserved communities, like in Appalachia?”

Associate Administrator Carter: “[A]gain, SBICs, we got them spread across the country. We’re working urgently to expand that. We don’t lower our standards. It’s been zero subsidies since 1990. Our team’s phenomenal – the people, the process, the way they do due diligence, the way they monitor, the way they examine – we’re not lowering our standards. That’s not what this is, but we’re working aggressively to double, triple, quadruple this program so that we can get more capital out to the small businesses across our country that need it, not just on the Coast.”

Watch a replay of the hearing >