Obama Administration Policies Will Divert Funds From Middle Class Economy

The Obama Administration is diverting federal contracts intended for middle class firms to many of the largest corporations in the world. Information on the government's Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) indicates that Obama officials are counting billions of dollars in contracts awarded to corporate giants around the world towards the federal government's 23 percent small business contracting goal.

The Obama Administration claimed, "2008 was a record year" for federal contracts awarded to small businesses. Some of the firms Obama officials counted as small business included, General Electric, Xerox, Office Depot, Staples, Dell Computer, AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, 3M Company, General Dynamics, Booz Allen Hamilton, Northrop Grumman, L-3 Communications, GTSI, Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Obama officials also counted dozens of large foreign owned firms such as Rolls-Royce, British Aerospace (BAE) and French firm Thales Communications as small businesses. Over $254 million in contracts to Ssangyong Corporation in South Korea, and over $283 million in contracts to the Italian based Finmeccanica SpA were also counted towards the government's small business goal. Finmeccanica SpA is a publicly traded company headquartered in Italy with over 73,000 employees.

Federal law requires that a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of all federal contracts be awarded to small businesses. Obama officials have further reduced the volume of federal contracts going to middle class firms by under-reporting the actual federal acquisition budget, which is the total dollar amount the percentage is based. Obama officials used a figure of $434 million to arrive at 21.5 percent of federal contracts awarded to small businesses. The actual federal acquisition budget including top-secret projects is in excess of $650 billion)

The American Small Business League (ASBL) projects that by counting big businesses in the United States and Europe as small businesses, and by under reporting the actual federal acquisition budget, the Obama Administration may be shortchanging middle class firms out of as much as $100 billion a year in federal small business contracts.

During his campaign, President Obama released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants." A new bill has been introduced into the House of Representatives that would completely halt the flow of federal small business contracts to large businesses. President Obama has not issued a statement of administration policy endorsing the Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act, H.R. 2568.

Please click here to watch our response to the Obama Administration's small business contracting statistics

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Comments

[Read2know]

It would make sense to help out the Middle Class so that the economy would get better, and more jobs would be created. Instead they are helping out large corporations and saying they are helping the Middle Class with little action, as more people lose their homes and their jobs.

[masher]

And you are suprised about Obama working against working class families because...­???
Seriously, it was clear by February that Obama was against American working families. Obama is all about Wall Street and the elite.

Obama == Bush + great speeches.

[Radar423]

I took over a new job last year.
Every time a problem came up, I said it stemmed from the guy who had the job before me.
My boss said, "Fix It!!"
I told him that it wasn't that simple, there were bigger issues to fix other than the one that affected the sales of the company,li­ke... what about the health of the workers?
I got fired, then the company closed. So Mr. Obama, about the economy...­..........­...

FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have 3 years left before I fire you.

[kevlar0076]

Here is a point, yes, the 2008 numbers relate back to the Bush Administration, but the real damning point here is that Obama not only has not acknowledged the abuses that are present, he is NOT DOING ANYTHING about it, that is what the real problem is. We voted the Republicans out and the Dems in charge and in control and they just keep dropping the ball on what is really important. It seems that instead of change we are just getting more business as usual.

[IntellectuallyHonest]

That's not surprising since the only people he deals with as President, with few exceptions, are the super-wealthy.

[DinkSinger]

One problem. The contracts in question were entered into by Bush's SBA, not Obama's. Fiscal Year 2008, ended on September 30, 2008. Even the for the current fiscal year of 2009, which ends this month, Obama's SBA Administrator will be in office for less than half of the year.

[denny8844]

With something as egregious and dishonest as these kinds of reports being manipulated how can we trust the administration to do the really important things right Libs need to get real

[wifitekman]

How can Obama get continued support while he continues to erode the fabric that holds this country together. The character of the dude is why he's losing so much ground with his constituents. Why give the jobs that fuel America away? No jobs, bad economy, isn't that what he stood for? Isn't the economy what everyone wanted to see improve? Or is bama just shedding the jobs Americans don't want so there is room for the new government green jobs? Which reminds me, bama is creating more jobs. According to a recent CNN report, teachers, health department and other government jobs (bigger government payroll) are growing. Isn't socialism neat? Praise bama, I want have to worry about putting gas in my car, or pay my rent, or worry about food, because I won't be able to afford any of those luxuries. But I might qualify for food stamps, and subsidized housing and free schoolen, then I can get me guvment job.

[RebaG]

Okay, maybe their reporting is skewed who was the president in 2008? Whose administration was in charge of distributing contracts?

[iridium53]

Thank you.

Just another indication of the Team Obama management capability, truthfulness and congruency of words versus actions:

Words: During his campaign, President Obama released the statement, "It is time to end the diversion of federal small business contracts to corporate giants."

Actions: Information on the government's Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) indicates that Obama officials are counting billions of dollars in contracts awarded to corporate giants around the world towards the federal government's 23 percent small business contracting goal.

I have a dream that Americans will one day live in a nation where we will not judge Presidential performance by the color of his(her) skin or words, but by evidence of the content of his(her) character.