29th March 2005: There is good news for the Small Business Administration (SBA). The Senate has added $78 million to President Bush's proposed 2006 budget for the SBA.

This increases the SBA's budget to $671 million. However, a final decision on this will be made later this year.

Many of its counseling and training programs would receive more funding under the Senate budget.

This includes Small Business Development Centers and Women's Business Centers among others.

The Senate also proposes to fund additional procurement center representatives. These are the people who help small businesses win federal contracts.

The SBA Administrator said that they would serve more and more small businesses in the coming year. The SBA expects to approve more than 100,000 loans worth close to $16 billion this year. This would break last year's records.