Federal Daily - August 19, 2008

Bush Names SBA Acting Administrator

President Bush on Aug. 15 designated Sandy K. Baruah of Oregon to serve as acting administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), pending his confirmation by the Senate as administrator. Baruah comes to the agency from the Department of Commerce, where he served as assistant secretary for economic development. “I intend to help SBA carry on its mission as it navigates the height of hurricane season and deals with the current economic challenges and tightening credit opportunities for small business,” Baruah said. “I’m also committed to continuing former SBA Administrator Steve Preston’s reform agenda and seeing its improvements through.” Bush nominated Baruah to serve as administrator in June. To see more, go to: www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_
homepage/news_release_08_78.pdf.

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GAO: DoD Should Measure Success of Reserve Employment Info Programs

DoD needs to find ways to better assess the effectiveness of department programs that promote good working relationships between reservists and their employers, said the Government Accounting Office. That conclusion, outlined in an Aug. 15 report, is the result of the Military Reservists and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 2008, which directed GAO to examine options for promoting positive working relationships between reservists and their civilian employers. In its assessment, GAO did find that DoD is working to educate members of the Guard and reserve of their employment rights and their obligations to employers, and that the department is endeavoring to improve relationships between reservists and their employers. However, GAO said, DoD does not measure the effectiveness of any of these efforts, which come primarily through DoD’s office of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). To ensure the success of the programs, GAO recommended that DoD develop ways to measure ESGR’s performance. GAO said DoD also should follow up its prior outreach efforts to employers, and develop initiatives to conduct new outreach to small businesses that employ reservists. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/new.items/d08981r.pdf.

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Governors Urge DHS to Bolster Border Infrastructure

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was the target as border governors from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and several Mexican states signed a joint declaration urging the department to clear obstacles to Mexican travel into the United States. In highlighting the agreement signed at the 26th Border Governors Conference last week in California, one trade group—the non-profit California Travel & Tourism Commission—pointed to a white paper from the border governors suggesting that DHS put more resources into improved infrastructure and technology for land ports of entry and airports to meet demand, rather than continue to rely strictly on adding staff to address border issues. Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of the industry group, said the financial stakes are significant to border states—in California, for example, inbound travel from Mexico accounts for about $1.58 billion in annual spending. “Declines in that market would have a major impact on our economy, including loss of jobs,” said Beteta. To see more, go to: www.bordergovernors.ca.gov.

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