House Small Business Committee backs HR 2066 to steer more SBIC capital to rural, manufacturing and security-related firms

The House Committee on Small Business voted to report HR 2,066, the Investing in All of America Act of 2025, favorably after adopting an amendment in the nature of a substitute. The committee adopted the substitute and later, when resumed, recorded a roll call showing 23 ayes and 0 noes on the final disposition to report the bill favorably to the House.

Representative Muser, sponsor of HR 2,066, said the bill "would incentivize small business investment companies, SBICs, to deploy additional capital to small businesses located in rural or low income areas, as well as small businesses in manufacturing and national security technology sectors." He described SBICs as "privately owned and managed investment funds that are licensed and regulated by the SBA" that pair private capital with SBA‑guaranteed leverage.

The bill, as explained by Muser and cosponsor Representative Colton, excludes certain amounts of leverage invested in qualifying rural, low‑income, manufacturing or national security‑related small businesses from an individual SBIC's leverage cap, a change intended to encourage private investment in underserved communities and critical manufacturing sectors. Colton noted that "less than 20% of small business investment companies' funds are reaching these communities," arguing the change would help close that gap.

Ranking Member Velasquez described the bill as statutory improvements that provide SBICs with access to additional leverage for investments in capital‑intensive, early‑revenue technology firms and said the change would better match SBIC capacity to the needs of small critical‑technology firms. Committee members described the measure as not requiring new spending and designed to allow the SBIC program to continue operating at no net subsidy to taxpayers.

Procedure and votes: the committee first adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute; a recorded roll‑call vote was requested and deferred under Committee Rule 13 and House Rule 11. When the committee resumed consideration later in the day, the clerk reported the final vote on HR 2,066 as 23 ayes and 0 noes, and the motion to report the bill favorably was agreed to.

Clarifying details discussed during the markup included committee statements that over the past two decades SBIC‑backed businesses have created roughly 3,000,000 new jobs and supported an additional "10 and a half million" jobs, and that SBICs had invested "over $130,000,000,000" in recent years (transcript figures). Members emphasized that the bill would not change the program's subsidy posture, which committee speakers described as operating at "0 subsidy cost to the American taxpayer."