SBA, Senate At Odds Over Women's Business Centers The Senate has passed legislation that would provide full funding for existing women’s business centers during the current fiscal year, but small business advocates and SBA are still at odds over future funding for the centers. The bill, S. 2267, would direct more money to sustainability grants to centers that have been in operation more than five years. “By adopting this bill, the Senate has signaled its intention to preserve much-needed funding for the WBCs currently in operation,” said the prime sponsor, Senate Small Business Committee Chair Olympia Snowe (R-ME). She said the purpose of the bill is to provide the full $125,000 due to each center that receives a sustainability grant. The Senate approved the bill unanimously on April 29; it now goes to the House. SBA has proposed eliminating the sustainability grants and ending federal funding for centers that are more than five years old. The agency wants to use that money to open new centers. The Senate last fall passed the SBA reauthorization bill, including a provision that would continue sustainability grants. The House version of the bill is pending. In a legislative proposal submitted to Congress last month, SBA urged that women’s centers share space and administrative personnel with small business development centers. There are currently 88 centers with more than 1,000 locations; 53 of them are receiving sustainability grants. They must match their SBA funding with private contributions.