Sponsors
The bill secures SBA staffing and service continuity that benefits federal employees and small businesses (including disaster relief recipients) but does so at higher taxpayer cost and with reduced agency flexibility and potential fairness concerns.
Federal employees working in SBA counseling, lending, disaster relief, and contracting-certification offices keep their jobs and pay protection — they are shielded from RIFs and, if removed, would be rehired to prior positions with back pay.
Small business owners (including those in rural communities) retain more reliable access to SBA services — counseling, lending oversight, contracting certification, and disaster assistance — because staffing continuity and rapid restoration of experienced personnel preserve service capacity.
Continuity of SBA disaster-relief operations is preserved, reducing interruptions in emergency support and recovery assistance for affected communities and businesses.
Taxpayers face higher costs because protected staffing rules plus mandatory rehiring and back pay increase federal personnel expenditures.
The SBA's flexibility to reorganize and reallocate its workforce is constrained, and forced reinstatements can disrupt workforce planning and ongoing efficiency or modernization efforts, potentially harming service delivery long-term.
The statutory 60-day reinstatement requirement creates administrative, legal, and HR processing strain and costs for the agency, complicating implementation and timely workforce management.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Bars RIFs in SBA offices that deliver counseling, lending oversight, disaster relief, or contracting certifications and requires rehiring and back pay for employees RIF'd from Jan 20, 2025 to enactment.
Introduced July 10, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress July 10, 2025
Prohibits reductions in force (RIFs) at Small Business Administration offices that provide counseling/training to entrepreneurs, oversee lending programs, run disaster relief, or issue contracting certifications, and requires the SBA to re‑employ any employee removed by a RIF between January 20, 2025 and the date of enactment. Re‑employed individuals must receive the same position and rate of basic pay they held on the removal date and must be paid back pay for the period from removal through re‑employment, with re‑employment required within 60 days of enactment. Amends the Small Business Act by adding a new statutory definition of “covered office,” creates a broad statutory bar on RIFs in those offices that applies notwithstanding other law or regulation, and renumbers the existing statutory provision that follows the new section.