At House Small Business Committee Hearing, SBIA President Brett Palmer Advocates for Solutions to Boost Investment in American Small Businesses & Manufacturers
Palmer Emphasizes Critical Role Small Business Investment Companies Have In Expanding Access to Capital in Rural and Underserved Areas
WASHINGTON, DC (April 3, 2025) – Brett Palmer, President of the Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA), the association for private equity funds investing in American small businesses, was invited to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Small Business in a hearing titled, “Fueling America’s Future: How Investment Empowers Small Business Growth.”
Mr. Palmer’s testimony focused on the critical role Small Business Investment Companies have in expanding access to capital for small and mid-size American businesses, especially in rural and low-income areas, in the manufacturing sector, and in industry sectors vital to national security – all of which is done with no taxpayer subsidy.
Below are key excerpts from the hearing.
Mr. Palmer’s opening statement:
Mr. Palmer: “[O]ur mission is to maintain a robust, healthy, and competitive market for small business investing right here in the United States…For nearly 70 years, SBICs have been a critical part of getting institutional capital to small businesses that are often overlooked by the biggest financial firms in the most concentrated population areas. SBICs are an American success story, an example of successful public policy that aligns the power of private markets with the public interest of job creation, [and] economic growth…”
View the full opening statement >
Responding to House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) on how the SBIC program supports the revitalization of American manufacturing and rural communities:
Mr. Palmer: “...Manufacturing is important. It’s important nationally, it's important to SBICs, it’s important to our national security, it’s important to our economy…Our manufacturing base has to constantly be reinvented. We have new manufacturers that need to be created, but we also need to take the manufacturing base that we have and take it to the next level with new technologies, new efficiencies, new markets, and that's done commonly through SBICs…”
Responding to Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) on how the Investing in All of America Act will drive more investment in rural communities:
Mr. Palmer: “I think if we get this legislation through and it becomes law, I think you will see every SBIC, or nearly every SBIC, dedicate their business development teams to finding small businesses in those areas…I think you'll see a meaningful pivot for a lot of those business development folks to get out of where they normally are and spread their deal sourcing and small business opportunity seeking to those areas.”
Responding to Rep. Pete Stauber (R-MN) on how to strengthen SBIC investment in underserved and rural communities in America’s heartland:
Mr. Palmer: “The key is…geographic diversity matters because proximity matters, and also sizes. You have to allow for small SBICs as well as big SBICs…The program has grown from when I started in 2008, from about $2 billion in capital, between private capital and SBA leverage, to nearly $50 billion today, and it’s done that with zero subsidy…I think there is massive room for more growth than that, and I think licensing is helpful.”
Responding to Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT) on addressing the challenges that rural small businesses face in securing capital:
Mr. Palmer: “I don’t think anyone has provided adequate attention to rural America. Part of it is because there are fewer people, and it just doesn’t get media coverage…Rural America has suffered from that for a long period of time. I think this hearing has been fantastic in helping to highlight that…There are definitely unique challenges that rural America has, whether it be broadband, whether it be infrastructure for manufacturing as far as rail lines and highways, employee base. There are unique challenges, but I think this is where informed public policy can help develop that, but we have to be deliberate about helping rural America.”
Responding to Rep. Brian Jack (R-GA) on why SBIA strongly supports passage of the Investing in All of America Act:
Mr. Palmer: “The program works, that’s number one…There's more opportunity for more small businesses to get capital, for more businesses to innovate, and we’re capped. Inflation has chewed up the leverage caps that were put in place in about 2010-2012, that time period. And so, there's more private market interest in small business, but it can't be levered…We know there are parts of America that have been forgotten for a long time. They've been overlooked and they need to be looked at. That covers manufacturing, that covers rural America, that also covers inner-city, low-income areas. What it does is it uses a market-driven mechanism, not a government mandate, but an opportunity for private equity funds, and venture capital funds to look at those areas, and then invest in them and be able to access the SBIC leverage. So, it is a market-driven incentive to get more to all of America…”
Responding to Rep. Derek Tran (D-CA) on how to utilize the SBIC program to invest in critical technologies and strengthen national security:
Mr. Palmer: “...Other countries are actively supporting their companies with subsidies, with industrial espionage, with all sorts of other things. We don’t need to do the underhanded stuff; we just need to do the smart stuff. And the smart stuff is making sure we’re putting our money where our mouth is. Making sure we’re supporting investing in American manufacturing and industries that we want here…”
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The Small Business Investor Alliance (SBIA) is the premier organization of lower middle market private equity funds and investors. SBIA works on behalf of its members as a tireless advocate for policies that promote competitive markets and robust domestic investment for growing small businesses. SBIA has been playing a pivotal role in promoting the growth and vitality of the private equity industry for over 60 years. For more information, visit www.SBIA.org or call (202) 628-5055.
