The new chairman of the House Small Business Committee signaled that the Small Business Administration won't be immune from budget cuts in Republicans' quest to slash government spending.

Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., plans to hold hearings on whether certain SBA programs "should be eliminated as a result of their ineffectiveness or duplication of programs provided by other agencies," according to the oversight plan drawn up by the committee chairman.

The committee also will focus "on streamlining and reorganizing of the agency's operations to provide maximum assistance to small-business owners," the plan states. Some jobs in SBA's Washington headquarters could be eliminated.

In its search for ways to cut spending, the committee also will examine programs such as the Treasury Department's new Small Business Lending Fund, which will provide up to $30 billion in cheap capital to community banks. SBA's Express loan programs, which offer loans with streamlined paperwork, also will be considered for cuts, as will the agency's Emerging Leaders Initiative and Drug-Free Workplace Program.

The committee also will focus on the risk to taxpayers posed by the SBA's loan and venture capital programs, and propose eliminating certain programs if the risk is too high. It also will consider limiting the SBA's authority to create new pilot programs.

Graves also proposes aggressive oversight of non-SBA programs and policies that affect small businesses, including the regulatory burden imposed on firms by other agencies, taxes that hinder the ability of small businesses to create jobs and the cost of health-care reform to small businesses.

For more information, see www.house.gov/smbiz

SBA awarding $50M for small-business training

The Small Business Administration awarded nearly $4 million in grants to six Small Business Development Centers for expanded training and counseling to business owners.

The grants are the first in a series of grants totaling $50 million that were created by the Small Business Jobs Act, which was signed into law Sept. 27. SBDCs in Alaska, California, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan and South Carolina received the first round of grants, which supplement the regular funding provided for these centers.

Carol Lopucki, who heads Michigan's Small Business and Technology Development Center, said her center's $1.6 million grant will enable it to hire "nine finance and strategy specialists to work directly with existing companies. We are off and running. The hiring documents started spinning the moment this hit the ground."

For more information, see www.sba.gov

Union numbers drop; private sector takes hit

Only 14.7 million American workers belonged to labor unions in 2010, a decline of 612,000 from the previous year.

The percentage of workers who belonged to unions fell to 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Only 6.9 percent of private-sector workers belonged to unions. Labor is doing much better in the public sector: 36.2 percent of government employees were union workers. More than half of all union members are in the public sector.

New York led states in union membership, at 24.2 percent of its total work force. North Carolina was last at 3.2 percent.

Private-sector industries with the highest unionization rates were transportation and utilities (21.8 percent), telecommunications (15.8 percent) and construction (13.1 percent).

The decline in union membership is not good news, according to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who noted that union members make more money than other workers.

"When coupled with existing data showing that union members have access to better health care, retirement and leave benefits, today's numbers make it clear that union jobs are not only good jobs, they are central to restoring our middle class," Solis said.

"As workers across the country continue to face lower wages and difficulty finding work due to the recent recession, these numbers demonstrate the pressing need to provide workers with a voice in the workplace, and protect their right to organize and bargain collectively," she said.

Randy Johnson, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had a different take on why union membership is declining.

"Clearly what the unions are selling, American workers aren't buying," he said.

For more information, see www.bls.gov

Kent Hoover: khoover@bizjournals.com