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Since 1958, the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program has been an integral part of SBA’s mission to provide small businesses with affordable capital and helping them create good-paying jobs.

The specific goal of the SBIC program is to fill the gap between the availability of venture capital and the needs of “high-growth potential” small businesses in startup and early-stage situations. It achieves this purpose by partnering private and public investments in early stage and start-up businesses. We need to look no further than companies like Apple, Tesla, and FedEx.

They have all achieved what we hope for every small business – extraordinary growth and success.  And, they each received early-stage financing from SBICs.

One of the SBIC program’s greatest strengths is its hands-off approach, giving fund managers the autonomy and flexibility to invest in almost any business sector they choose, from apparel to cutting-edge technology.

This freedom – coupled with sound investment strategies – has led to the program’s bipartisan popularity and success. Though the SBIC program has helped increase the flow of affordable capital to worthy small companies, access to capital remains the number one priority for small firms across America.

Congress can and should do more to ensure the program and its participants can meet growing demand.  This includes periodically conducting oversight to ensure the program is being administered as efficiently as possible.

Earlier this year, led by Ms. Chu, the House passed H.R. 116, which will strengthen the SBIC program by allowing banks and Federal savings association to invest up to 15 percent of their holdings into SBICs.  This increase in capital available to small businesses, at no cost to taxpayers, will provide entrepreneurs with enhanced opportunities to grow and expand their businesses, and create good-paying American jobs in the process.

However, we know that much more work needs to be done to fully optimize the rules governing the program. Over the past two years, I’ve heard consistent complaints from SBIC funds and other industry stakeholders about serious delays in licensing approvals.

Reports in the press indicate that approvals that used to take six months are now taking a year to complete, or even longer. These delays are causing would-be participants to look outside the SBIC program for opportunities to deploy capital to the small private equity space.

It is simply unacceptable for a federal government program to be operated so poorly that it becomes unattractive to potential participants.

Another priority is to ensure that Venture Capital and Private Equity in the SBIC is reflective of the diversity that exits across the nation. That includes having women and minorities in leadership positions as SBIC fund managers and making sure that women- and minority- owned businesses are receiving the investments from SBICs.

So today, on the first panel, I look forward to hearing from the Associate Administrator about how he has worked to address these concerns, and his plan to permanently fix these problems. I also look forward to hearing from the second panel of industry participants and insiders about other challenges and ideas to continue optimizing the program and increasing more participation.