Washington, DC — More than 20 partners of the Small Business Rising coalition—representing hundreds of thousands of small businesses nationwide—released a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) expressing their disappointment with the agency’s past financial partnerships with monopolies—such as Amazon, Google, and Visa—for National Small Business Week (NSBW). The letter urges the agency to enlist partners who are aligned with its mission to help Americans start, grow, and build resilient businesses, not mega-corporations that use their power and dominance in the market to stifle competition from smaller competitors.
The letter was covered in POLITICO Influence.
A letter excerpt can be found below, with the FULL LETTER AVAILABLE HERE:
“The undersigned members of the Small Business Rising write to express our disappointment with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) past financial partnerships with monopolistic corporations—such as Amazon, Google, and Visa—for National Small Business Week (NSBW). We urge the agency to enlist partners who are aligned with the SBA’s mission to “help Americans start, grow, and build resilient businesses,” not mega-corporations that use their power and dominance in the market to stifle competition from smaller competitors.
“In 2023 and preceding years, the financial sponsors for NSBW included corporations targeted by policymakers and regulators for their predatory tactics and harms to smaller competitors and consumers. Amazon is currently the target of a complaint brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general. Along with Mastercard, Visa’s monopoly power is the focus of the 2023 Credit Card Competition Act in Congress, which would inject competition into the duopolistic credit card processing industry.
“The very corporations identified as posing the biggest threat to our diverse network of independent businesses are given top billing to promote their products and services in the 2023 NSBW programming.”
Signed,
American Booksellers Association
American Independent Business Alliance
American Specialty Toy Retailing Association
Cambridge Local First
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Local First Arizona
Local First Ithaca
Local Return
Love Live Local Inc
Lowcountry Local First
Main Street Alliance
New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association
North American Hardware and Paint Association
Provender Alliance
Running Industry Association
Shop Local Raleigh
SMSBF
Sonoma County GO LOCAL
Spokane Independent Metro Business Alliance
StayLocal, an initiative of Urban Conservancy
Workplace Solutions Association
Yorktown Small Business Association
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