House Chair Again Urges Biden to Fill SBA Post

The chair of the House Small Business Committee again is calling on President Joe Biden to fill a long-vacant position that advocates on behalf of small-business owners, the Washington Examiner reported.

Roger Williams, R-Texas, on Friday sent a third letter to Biden, urging the president to nominate a chief counsel for advocacy at the Small Business Administration.

Williams previously wrote to the Biden administration about filling the post on Feb. 16, 2023, and then again on April 28.

The position has not been filled since Darryl DePriest left in January 2017. Major Clark, deputy chief counsel for advocacy, has been performing the chief counsel’s duties for the last six years.

"We wrote to President Biden a year ago — at the beginning of this Congress — and again last April but have still not received any response or action on our request," Williams said in a statement provided to the Examiner.

"This is completely unacceptable as the Office of Advocacy serves as a watchdog against burdensome regulations and works to help Main Street thrive. I strongly urge the President to quickly nominate a qualified candidate and hope he understands how important this position is."

The SBA advocacy position serves as an "independent voice for small businesses within the federal government," Williams wrote.

The position also serves as a watchdog for compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

"In the year since we made the initial request to nominate someone, small businesses have continued to deal with an unprecedented onslaught of regulations," Williams wrote to Biden, the Examiner reported. "Your Administration has added nearly 280 million hours of paperwork and $447 billion in regulatory costs to American businesses."

The SBA’s Office of Advocacy, created by Congress in 1976, is led by the chief counsel, who is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Then-President Donald Trump nominated David Tryon to SBA chief counsel for advocacy in 2018, but the nomination never went before the full Senate for a vote.

In May, the American Action Forum reported that the SBA Office of Advocacy input translated to the lowest amount of savings for small business owners in the previous 10 years despite both a record level of regulatory activity and the agency engaging federal agencies at its highest rate over that span.

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