25. Small Business Administration · Notable · Needs Congress
Create larger Section 7(a) loans for manufacturing investment
Printed page 756 25. Small Business Administration
“Ask Congress to make available a category of Section 7(a) loans with a larger available principal that is used to finance manufacturing facility construction and equipment upgrading. The proposed SBA Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2019, for example, would have increased the maximum loan principal to $50 million for advanced manufacturing construction and upgrading.”
What has happened
- Attempted
The SBA announced a rule, effective 2026-07-04, letting a borrower combine 7(a) and 504 borrowing up to $10 million — doubling the cumulative limit from $5 million — and said the change gives "capital-intensive small businesses … greater flexibility to pair long-term financing for real estate and equipment with working capital". It is an executive route around the statutory 7(a) ceiling rather than a larger 7(a) principal: the 7(a) limit itself stays at $5 million, and the extra $5 million must come through the 504 program.
- Attempted
The House passed H.R. 3174, the Made in America Manufacturing Finance Act, by voice vote under suspension of the rules. The bill defines a "small manufacturer" as a concern in NAICS 31–33 with all production facilities in the United States and raises the 7(a) ceiling for such borrowers to a $10,000,000 gross loan amount, against $5,000,000 for everyone else — the larger available principal the Quote asks for, at a fifth of the $50 million the Mandate's example named. The Senate received it on 2025-12-02, vitiated its referral to Finance on 2025-12-04 and placed it on the calendar; the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee held hearings on 2026-05-13. It has not passed the Senate.
- Attempted
The SBA created a 7(a) category dedicated to manufacturers — the Manufacturer's Access to Revolving Credit (MARC) Loan Program, open to businesses in NAICS 31–33 and structured as either a revolving line or a term loan. It is the first SBA loan program dedicated to small manufacturers, and the release records that the agency has "committed to … doubling the 7(a) and 504 loan limit for manufacturing". It is not yet the ask: MARC finances short-term working capital, not facility construction or equipment upgrading, and it carries no larger principal.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Three steps, all attempted (playbook §3b: one-chamber passage, and executive action that routes around a Requires-Congress ask). None delivers a piece of the named object — a Section 7(a) category with a larger principal for manufacturing construction and equipment — so none is partial.
- Supporting, not cited as Evidence: the SBA waived most upfront fees for NAICS 31–33 borrowers in FY2026 (2025-09-18 release) and delivered the first MARC loans on 2025-12-17.
- H.R. 3174’s action history was read from
govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr/BILLSTATUS-119hr3174.xml(keyless).
- Action
- create
- Object
- Section 7(a) loan category for manufacturing construction and equipment
- ID
- 2059