June 5, 2001

Washington, D.C. - One of the nation's leading small business advocacy organizations joined Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) in his release of a report about  federal government mismanagement including a "top ten list" of its worst problems. According to the group, small business owners will dutifully go about their business following the report's findings, but will do so increasingly annoyed and perturbed that the same federal agencies that pick away at their business practices are plagued by incessant mismanagement.

"It's not fair that small business owners fund bad government, especially when it demands so much of them. The federal government imposes hundreds, if not thousands of new rules and regulations on the business sector each year. In addition, the precious tax dollars of small business owners directly finance this blatant mismanagement.  I am hopeful that Senator Thompson's expose of bad government and his blueprint for action will be pursued by the Bush Administration," said Karen Kerrigan, chairman of the Small Business Survival Committee (SBSC).

Despite the report's lousy news for taxpayers, Kerrigan was optimistic that something could be done to turn the tide. The report -- titled "Government at the Brink" --  includes a list of recommendations to help fix many of the problems. OMB Director Mitch Daniels was also on hand to accept the report's findings, and Kerrigan encouraged him to waste no time tackling the range of mismanagement issues detailed by Senator Thompson.

"Billions and billions in tax dollars are wasted each year on mismanagement. My hope is that President Bush and his Administration will quickly implement these recommendations, with the end result being a tax cut from the savings," added Kerrigan.

SBSC is a national small business advocacy organization with 70,000 members nationwide.  For more information, please call (202)-785-0238, or visit the group's website at www.sbsc.org.