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  <title>Air Force Small Business News</title>
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  <description>The latest headlines from Air Force Small Business.</description>
  <language>en-us</language>
  <pubDate>Thu, 8  Sep 2011 12:30:33</pubDate>

  <lastBuildDate>Thu, 8  Sep 2011 12:30:33</lastBuildDate>
  <webMaster>webmaster@airforcesmallbiz.org</webMaster>

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	<title>Air Force Small Business</title>
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		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>SBA Delivers Entrepreneurs&#039; Ideas to Obama</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/capital/2011/09/06/sba-advises-white-house-on-promoting-entrepreneurship]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Small Business Administration today presented the White House with suggestions on how to reduce barriers to entrepreneurship, gathered from eight roundtables it held around the country as part of the Startup America initiative. About 1,000 entrepreneurs and investors participated in these roundtables. The SBA forwarded around 200 distinct ideas, including ways to reduce regulatory burdens, to the appropriate federal agencies. An interagency committee will work with President Barack Obamas Jobs and Competitiveness Council to develop a short list of high-impact proposals.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/capital/2011/09/06/sba-advises-white-house-on-promoting-entrepreneurship]]></guid>
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		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>More business for small businesses</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62500.html]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Our debt has dominated much of the political discussion here in Washington this year, and it will definitely be at the forefront this fall as the new congressional supercommitte searches for $1.5 trillion in federal savings. So, as we continue to address our record $14.3 trillion debt, we must look at ways to save money &ldquo;and reevaluate how the government spends taxpayer dollars, making sure we make the best use of our limited dollars. One function being scrutinized is federal contracting. Each year, the government dedicates over half a trillion dollars to the purchase of goods and services through federal contracts with private sector businesses, both big and small. Because this is a significant amount of federal dollars, we owe it to the taxpayers to make sure that we are using them wisely and efficiently. While Im committed to decreasing the total number of dollars, we also need to ensure that every penny spent results in the best possible value to the taxpayer. One way to do this is to increase contracting opportunities for small businesses.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62500.html]]></guid>
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		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>100 US Small Businesses Create 10,000 New Jobs</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2011/09/01/100-us-small-businesses-create-10000-new-jobs.htm]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), source of great loans but no grants, is proudly highlighting 100 small businesses that have each created at least 100 new jobs. That&#039;s 10,000 new jobs created by small businesses, all of which received support from the SBA. The job-creating small businesses featured on the SBA 100 web site ranged from a small brewery in Delaware, to an Alaskan Dairy Queen owner, to an Oregon-based sportswear company that now generates over $1 billion in annual revenue.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2011/09/01/100-us-small-businesses-create-10000-new-jobs.htm]]></guid>
		</item>
			  

			  

		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>Owens urges lawmakers to extend contracting program for small businesses</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110902/NEWS02/709029889]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Rep. William L. Owens this week urged fellow lawmakers to extend the north countrys participation in a program that gives local small businesses an advantage in gaining federal contracts. But the Obama administration gives no sign that officials support the request, meaning local businesses are still on target to lose that advantage in October. Mr. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, asked leaders on the House Small Business Committee to extend the areas eligibility for the HUB zone program, which gives a contracting advantage to small businesses in areas with high poverty and unemployment, along with eligibility for other areas in a similar situation. Jefferson County is participating as a redesignated zone, meaning it maintains eligibility only until the 2010 census is released, in this case Oct. 1. The area lost its designation after the 2000 census but Congress redesignated all the expiring HUB zones in 2006.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110902/NEWS02/709029889]]></guid>
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		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>Panetta warns DOD small-biz contracting goal is impending</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://defensesystems.com/articles/2011/09/02/defense-department-small-business-leon-panetta.aspx?admgarea=DS]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has warned the Defense Department&#039;s senior leaders that they will not reach the small business contracting goal for the fiscal year if they keep moving at the current pace. With only six weeks left in this fiscal year, we are falling short of meeting our departmentwide small business contracting goal of 22.3 percent, he wrote in a memo Aug. 24. I therefore urge you and everyone in your organization who is involved in the acquisition process to review all planned acquisitions for the remainder of the year to identify opportunities for increased contracting with small businesses."]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://defensesystems.com/articles/2011/09/02/defense-department-small-business-leon-panetta.aspx?admgarea=DS]]></guid>
		</item>
			  

			  

		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>Entrepreneurs: Minority businesses need fair rules to survive</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=125614]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Local entrepreneurs are hoping that the 29th annual Minority Enterprise Development Week Conference, scheduled for Sept. 27 to 30, will address issues that affect them. The theme of this year&#039;s conference, to be held at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, is "Emerging Industries & Markets: A Blueprint for Success." The meeting will focus on helping minority-owned small businesses expand their operations and establish a presence in the global marketplace, while helping them weather the current economic climate.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=125614]]></guid>
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		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>Survey: Md. businesses support veterans</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=125587]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[Maryland ranks among the top 20 states for veteran-owned businesses and the Free State is also among the top five in the percentage of retired military employed in its workforce, according to a recent survey published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The Maryland Survey of Business Activity placed the state 16th in the percentage of companies owned by veterans and fourth in the percentage of workforce employed by veteran-owned firms. Ten percent of Maryland businesses -- more than 54,000 companies -- are owned by veterans, compared with 9 percent of veteran-owned businesses in the nation, according to the report.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/business/display.htm?StoryID=125587]]></guid>
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		<item year="2011" month="09" day="08">
			<title>Veteran Owned Companies to See More Business</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.activefilings.com/business-trends/veteran-owned-companies-to-see-more-business/]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The stories of modern day veterans coming home to nothing brings back memories of Vietnam where they were not hailed as heroes but instead ignored and left to fend for themselves with nothing. It may not be as severe for the veterans returning from the Middle East today but one parallel exists between the modern day wars and the wars of the past: Veterans are returning with no means of earning an income. That may be changing thanks to a series of government incentives to award a portion of the Federal and state contracts to veteran owned businesses. Anybody who owns a small business knows one main fact that keeps small business owners working long hours with little vacation time: When a small business has their doors closed, the customers go somewhere else and when that happens, its hard to get them back. For military personnel who had to leave their businesses to serve their country, when they returned their customers had gone elsewhere forcing many of these business owners to start from scratch.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.activefilings.com/business-trends/veteran-owned-companies-to-see-more-business/]]></guid>
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		<item year="2011" month="09" day="01">
			<title>Proposed Legislation will Affect Texas Small Businesses and Threaten Local Jobs, According to Save SBIR</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.bradenton.com/2011/08/26/3448406/proposed-legislation-will-affect.html]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) is in danger of being eliminated, and along with it the tens of thousands of high paying jobs the program helps create each year. The U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to take up House Bill 1425 in early September, a bill that proposes detrimental changes to SBIR. SBIR is recognized by independent agencies as one of the most successful federal programs funding research and development through partnerships with small technological businesses. Negotiations on the legislation between the U.S. House and Senate have stalled, leaving SBIR to expire at the end of September. One of the major issues during the negotiations has been The Velazquez Amendment, introduced by Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY-5), which would eliminate the current merit-based system, subjecting this successful program to political whim, and funneling money to unproven projects that may not turn into viable, useful technologies for agencies like the National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy and Department of Defense, which rely on cutting edge SBIR technologies to protect our armed forces.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.bradenton.com/2011/08/26/3448406/proposed-legislation-will-affect.html]]></guid>
		</item>
			  

			  

		<item year="2011" month="09" day="01">
			<title>Small Business Administration: the Most Important Agency in Washington Today</title>
			<link><![CDATA[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-chapman/small-business-administration_b_932007.html]]></link>
			<description><![CDATA[The latest Census Bureau data indicates that small businesses are responsible for 90 percent of all net new jobs. A report from the Kauffman Foundation found that small businesses have created virtually 100 percent of all net new jobs since 1980. Small businesses employ more than half the private sector workforce, are responsible for half of GDP and account for 90 percent of all U.S. exports. It is undeniable that small businesses are the lifeblood of our nation&#039;s economy. To think about closing the only agency in the country that helps small businesses is unconscionable.]]></description>
			<guid><![CDATA[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-chapman/small-business-administration_b_932007.html]]></guid>
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