Wisconsin Minority Business Development Agency Office is Closing, and We Demand Answers
This statement, shared by U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin’s press team, appeared in the Hudson Star Observer on April 24, 2025.
Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s closure of Wisconsin’s newly established Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Center that provides small business owners technical assistance, assisting with access to capital and contracts, and supporting job creation and retention:
“The Trump Administration owes the small business owners and entrepreneurs of Wisconsin some answers as to why he is ripping away this key resource that helps them create jobs, reach new customers, and grow our economy,” said Senator Baldwin. “I fight hard to support our small business owners and their workers, including bringing this office to Wisconsin, and I’m not willing to let Elon Musk and Donald Trump cut the legs out from under them so they can fund new tax breaks for themselves and huge corporations.”
During his confirmation hearing before the Commerce Committee, Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he did not support dismantling the agency which was created by President Nixon in 1969 and codified into law by Congress with bipartisan support and Senator Baldwin’s leadership in 2021. The MBDA is responsible for promoting the growth and global competitiveness of minority owned businesses, including by assisting these businesses with access to capital, contracts, markets and business networks through partnerships with private and public entities. In Fiscal Year 2024 alone, the MBDA helped the country’s more than 12 million minority businesses access over $1.5 billion in capital and create or retain approximately 23,000 jobs.
Senator Baldwin worked with Republicans to include the Minority Business Development Act of 2021 as an amendment to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, making the MBDA permanent and increasing its funding authorization and reach. Baldwin then worked to bring a new Minority Business Development Center to Wisconsin, along with a $1.61 million grant to support its work assisting small businesses.
Earlier this year, President Trump released an Executive Order, going back on Secretary Lutnick’s word and undermining the Minority Business Development Agency. In response Senator Baldwin sent a letter demanding answers from the Administration and requesting their report outlining the proposed cuts and its potential impact on small business owners across America. The Executive Order required a report from MBDA to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget explaining which of its components or functions are statutorily required and to what extent, to determine what can be restructured or cut. As Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce subcommittee charged with oversight of MBDA, Baldwin requested a copy of that report by April 2nd, 2025, which she did not receive.
Senator Baldwin also joined Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) in demanding documents and full accounting of Trump Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s actions to shutter the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) despite vowing not to support efforts to dismantle it.