The bill
Small Business Technological Advancement Act
HR. 915, 119th Congress — read as touching AI & Cloud Infrastructure.
Sponsored by
Rep. Alford, Mark [R-MO-4]
ID: A000379
Follow the money
The bill
HR. 915, 119th Congress — read as touching AI & Cloud Infrastructure.
The sponsor
Every bill has someone who introduced it. That name is where the paper trail starts.
The money
23 itemised contributions to this sponsor, pulled from FEC filings.
The alignment
This bill's text tracks the "Introduction" section, p. 789-791 of the Mandate for Leadership.
Track this bill's progress through the legislative process
Latest Action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
July 12, 2026
📍 Current Status
Next: Both chambers must agree on the same version of the bill.
1. Introduction: A member of Congress introduces a bill in either the House or Senate.
2. Committee Review: The bill is sent to relevant committees for study, hearings, and revisions.
3. Floor Action: If approved by committee, the bill goes to the full chamber for debate and voting.
4. Other Chamber: If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber (House or Senate) for the same process.
5. Conference: If both chambers pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences.
6. Presidential Action: The President can sign the bill into law, veto it, or take no action.
7. Became Law: If signed (or if Congress overrides a veto), the bill becomes law!
Another masterpiece of legislative theater, courtesy of the geniuses in Congress. Let's dissect this farce, shall we?
**Main Purpose & Objectives:** The Small Business Technological Advancement Act (HR 915) claims to authorize small business loans for "modern business software" and other purposes. How quaint. In reality, it's a Trojan horse for special interests to line their pockets with taxpayer money.
**Key Provisions & Changes to Existing Law:** Section 2 amends the Small Business Act to allow SBA loans for "business software or cloud computing services." Wow, what a revolutionary concept. It's not like small businesses have been using these technologies for decades already. The amendment also includes a cleverly worded "Rule of Construction" that ensures no one can claim this is actually a new development. Because, you know, Congress wouldn't dare try to take credit for something they didn't actually do.
**Affected Parties & Stakeholders:** Small businesses, software vendors, and cloud computing providers will all benefit from this windfall... or so the sponsors would have you believe. In reality, it's just a handout to corporate interests and a way for politicians to pretend they're supporting small business growth.
**Potential Impact & Implications:** This bill is a classic case of " legislative lupus" – a disease where politicians' brains are eaten away by their own self-interest. The real impact will be a further bloating of the national debt, as taxpayers foot the bill for loans that will likely default or be used to prop up inefficient businesses. Meanwhile, the software and cloud computing industries will reap the benefits, all while pretending to care about small business development.
Diagnosis: This bill is suffering from a severe case of "crony-itis," a disease characterized by an excessive love of special interests and a complete disregard for the public good. The symptoms include blatant pandering, vague language, and a healthy dose of hypocrisy. Prognosis: this bill will pass, because who needs actual reform when you can just throw money at the problem and call it a day? Treatment: a healthy dose of skepticism, a strong stomach, and a willingness to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
In short, HR 915 is a joke, a thinly veiled attempt to funnel taxpayer money to corporate friends while pretending to support small businesses. It's a disease, and we're all just along for the ride. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the spectacle of Congress at its finest – or worst, depending on your perspective.
Rep. Alford, Mark [R-MO-4]
Congress 119 • 2024 Election Cycle
No PAC contributions found
No committee contributions found
This bill has 3 cosponsors. Below are their top campaign contributors.
ID: L000590
Top Contributors
10
ID: M001214
Top Contributors
10
ID: M001220
Top Contributors
10
Hub layout: Politicians in center, donors arranged by type in rings around them.
Showing 40 nodes and 32 connections (35 secondary connections hidden)
Total contributions: $96,904
Showing top 18 donors by contribution amount
Which industries are materially affected by specific provisions in this bill. 3 helped.
Section 2(a) authorizes SBA loans to finance business software or cloud computing services, including tools that utilize artificial intelligence, directly benefiting AI & Cloud Infrastructure providers.
Section 2(a) allows SBA loans for business software facilitating sales and billing functions, which benefits e-commerce and online retail platforms that rely on such software.
Section 2(a) includes cloud computing services and AI tools, which are core offerings of big tech platforms like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, etc.
This bill shows semantic similarity to the following sections of the Project 2025 policy document.
— 757 — Small Business Administration largely duplicates private-sector venture capital to the extent that the sector receiving much of its support is software and information technology, which already receive the lion’s share of venture capital investment.65 In addition, Congress should reform the SBIC program to make its financing more favorable to capital-intense investments and small manufacturers. The Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS) Act, introduced in 2020,66 and American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, introduced in 2021,67 would allow SBIC to offer longer-term financing to manufacturers and make the program more fiscally sustainable. Small-Business Size Standard Modernization. Many small-business pro- grams both inside and outside the SBA use the SBA’s definition of “small business.” Under the Small Business Act, the SBA is tasked with defining what counts as a small business and ensuring that the definition varies from industry to industry to reflect differences in regular size by industry. However, the SBA’s small-business size standards reflect a one-size-fits-all approach under which all businesses within its size standard are considered small businesses for all eligible purposes, from gov- ernment contracting preferences to eligibility for SBA loans through private banks. At the same time, the SBA is an outlier among competing economies in not considering medium-sized enterprises along with small businesses, often referred to collectively as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Medium-sized and regional businesses are increasingly critical to maintaining competition. The next Administration should: l Encourage Congress to create a “medium-sized business” classification with its eligibility for programs confined to access to capital programs from projects for which credit elsewhere does not exist. SBA POLICY PRIORITIES FOR 2025 AND BEYOND Legislation. The new Administration can support SBA reform legislation pro- posed in Congress that aligns with key measures outlined in this chapter. It also can support legislative initiatives that would help SBA to focus on its core statutory activities such as capital access, federal contracting opportunities, and regulatory advocacy. For example: l The IMPROVE the SBA Act68 would strengthen accountability, transparency, and oversight of the SBA and aligns with many of the reforms outlined in this chapter. — 758 — Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise l The Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act69 would require federal agencies to perform more thorough RFA economic analysis and provide a rationale for proposed regulations. It also would waive fines for certain first-time paperwork violations. l The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act70 (SBREFA) panel process allows small businesses to provide input on agency rulemakings, gives participating small businesses greater procedural rights, and allows for judicial review of agency violations of the SBREFA panel process. SBREFA panel requirements should be extended to all federal agencies. l The Fair and Open Competition Act71 would disallow the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) in federal contracting as required in President Biden’s Executive Order 14063,72 which puts small businesses at a competitive disadvantage and works against the SBA’s governmentwide contracting goal for small businesses. l The JOBS Act 4.073 would advance regulatory improvements and modernization of various Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules to enhance capital formation and access. ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES AND BUDGET Administrator and Key Staff. The position of Administrator should not be considered a symbolic or messaging-related position as some past Administrations have viewed it. Rather, the Administrator should have the requisite experience, skills, and knowledge to ensure that the SBA fulfills its statutory authorities. Because much of the SBA’s statutory authority relates to financing and reg- ulatory policy, and in order to make the SBA a more effective agency within the Administration, the Administrator and his or her key staff should have experience in small-business finance and investment and/or administrative law. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the SBA was often forced to outsource key deci- sions and administrative follow-through to the Department of the Treasury. The SBA Administrator and leadership team must share the President’s mission and vision and execute the Administration’s policies effectively. Budget The next Administration should undertake a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of its various loan and grant programs and provide a report to Congress within six months. The report should rank programs by cost-effective- ness. In the interim, the roughly $1 billion overall agency budget should be held constant until the report is considered, after which Congress should terminate
Policy matches are calculated using semantic similarity between bill summaries and Project 2025 policy text. A score of 60% or higher indicates meaningful thematic overlap. This does not imply direct causation or intent, but highlights areas where legislation aligns with Project 2025 policy objectives.