Kerry Rips SBA Budget Proposal President Bush proposed a 6% increase in SBA’s core operating budget for fiscal 2009, while cutting spending in many departments and agencies. Democrats immediately denounced the budget as inadequate. In recent years Congress has generally appropriated more money than the president requested for SBA. The president’s budget would provide more than $87 million for technical assistance through small business development centers and almost $12 million for grants to women’s business centers. Those amounts are substantially less than Congress approved for the current year. Senate Small Business Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-MA, said the budget includes no money for additional procurement center representatives to monitor contract bundling and break out contracts for small firms. SBA added a small number of PCRs during 2007 and 2008 to bring the total number to 57. Kerry said all but about 30 of them also have additional duties. Congress has called for increasing the number to 100.