Small Businesses Favor Regulation, But Often Ignored by SBA Office of Advocacy
By Katie Tracy
Small businesses serve an important role in our economy and society and have a right to be heard by the federal agency that is supposed to represent them before the executive branch. Instead, that agency, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy, routinely fails to champion their support for strong safeguards.
Small businesses often support federal rules because they understand their role in ensuring markets function well, including by helping small businesses compete on an even playing field against much larger corporations. Regulations also provide certainty, helping small businesses prepare for the future and invest responsibly to boost their operations.
A clear example of small business support for strong standards is the campaign in opposition to the 2026 U.S. Farm Bill led by small farmers and ranchers. The organizers have been speaking out against the bill because it “prioritize[s] industrial agriculture at the expense of independent farmers and ranchers.”
Yet the Office of Advocacy, the federal agency that was created to be “a voice for small business within the executive branch,” has not spoken out against the farm bill or its impact on small farmers, according to its website. Instead it has only issued a statement supporting House passage of the bill, pointing to a specific amendment that would limit diesel emission standards for farm equipment. The Senate farm bill does not include some of the provisions concerning farmers, though it still fails to level the playing field for small businesses.
A recent report by the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards argues that this is typical of the SBA Office of Advocacy, as the office is ideologically bent toward rolling back federal rules. When small businesses have voiced support for rules to the SBA Office of Advocacy, their views have been downplayed or outright ignored. The Office of Advocacy instead champions the priorities of major corporations that favor weaker federal standards.
In line with CSS’s findings, the Office of Advocacy established a “Deregulation Strike Force” in December 2025, that “dedicate[s] a full team to . . . identifying and eliminating excessive Biden-era regulations. . . .” Likewise, Advocacy established a “Red Tape Hotline,” to hear directly from small business owners about “federal regulations that hurt their ability to grow, compete, or innovate.” Neither project has asked for feedback from small businesses about rules they support.
Public Citizen submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to see exactly what kinds of complaints the agency received during the first year of the red tape hotline. Although the Office of Advocacy has not yet provided a full response to that FOIA request and has not responded to an appeal, the partial information provided in response suggests that many of the concerns raised do not translate to Advocacy’s separate “Small Businesses’ Most Wanted Reform” list.
The partial document Advocacy sent in response to the FOIA request showed that submitters raised the most concerns about SBA loans, various types of fraud, fake online reviews, and general business matters. Yet the Office of Advocacy’s most wanted list claims that small businesses are most concerned with complex regulatory matters, including several that are only proposed rules, like OSHA’s proposal to limit workers’ exposure to excessive heat and EPA’s procedures for evaluating chemical risks.
Genuine small businesses, like local mom-and-pop shops, are often run by people living within or surrounding the community in which they operate. The owners often care about the health, safety, and wellbeing of their workers and customers. As the document received by Advocacy shows, they are less interested in rolling back clean air standards than they are in acquiring small business loans that can help them pay their bills, hire talented staff, meet legal obligations, invest in their business, and expand their operations.
The Office of Advocacy’s mission is clear–to be the independent voice for small businesses within the federal government. Public engagement, including from small businesses, is crucial to a functioning and responsive democratic government. Thus, Congress should take action to reign in the Office of Advocacy and stop major corporations from trying to pass their harms onto Americans and knock out small business competitors.
As CSS recommends in its report, Congress should abolish the SBA Office of Advocacy and reallocate its resources to other worthy SBA programs that provide small business compliance assistance. Additionally, Congress should establish a federal Office of the Public Advocate, as the EXPERTS Act proposes. This office would be tasked with working with the public, including real small businesses, to ensure their voices are heard and included in dialogue across the federal government.