The Small Business Administration (SBA) is set to reduce its staff by 43% as part of a broader restructuring effort under the Trump administration’s push to cut government spending and eliminate bureaucratic waste.
On Friday, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler announced that 2,700 jobs would be eliminated from the agency’s 6,500-person staff. She explained that the SBA had drifted away from its core mission and had grown too large and inefficient in recent years.
“The SBA was created to be a launchpad for America’s small businesses by offering access to capital, which in turn drives job creation, innovation, and a thriving Main Street. But in the last four years, the agency has veered off track—doubling in size and turning into a sprawling leviathan plagued by mission creep, financial mismanagement, and waste,” Loeffler said in a statement.
According to Loeffler, the SBA’s workforce doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of its offices now sit underutilized, with rows of empty desks due to remote work policies. In a video statement posted to X, she emphasized the need for the agency to operate more efficiently.
“Just like the small business owners we support, we must do more with less. We have therefore submitted plans to pursue a strategic restructuring that will realign the agency and its resources with our founding mission,” she said.
The restructuring is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to overhaul federal agencies, reducing unnecessary programs and redirecting resources toward more effective and accountable governance.
Loeffler also criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the SBA, stating that the agency had been politicized and mismanaged. She pointed to new lending and contracting programs tied to partisan policies like the Green New Deal and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives, which she claims diverted focus away from small business support.
“The last administration deployed the full force of this agency to advance a new partisan agenda. Predictably, the SBA’s services suffered. For four full years, the agency failed to pass an audit,” she said.
Additionally, she highlighted concerns over financial mismanagement, including:
“Our largest loan program, which should operate at zero cost to taxpayers, saw negative cash flow for the first time in over a decade.”
“Meanwhile, they refused to investigate or prosecute more than $200 billion in pandemic-era fraud that is still to this day owed to American taxpayers.”
As part of a broader government restructuring, President Donald Trump has also transferred responsibility for managing student loans to the SBA. This move follows Trump’s executive order on Thursday, which scaled down the Department of Education, leaving it with only its core functions.
Loeffler reaffirmed her commitment to refocusing the SBA on its original mission—providing capital access and support for small businesses.
“As administrator, I’m committed to restoring the SBA’s mission of promoting America’s small businesses with accountability and results. Because when we restore our mission, we will also restore the historic prosperity that lifted up millions of small businesses during President Trump’s first term. In short, we will make Main Street great again,” she concluded in her video statement.