Small Business Loan Study Mandated: GAO to Compare Appalachian Region Funding Speed and Accessibility

The Main Street Lending Improvement Act of 2025 is straightforward: it orders a deep dive into how fast small businesses in the Appalachian region are actually getting their hands on federal loans compared to businesses just outside that area.

This isn't about creating a new loan program; it’s about fixing the plumbing of the existing ones. Specifically, Section 2 requires the Comptroller General of the United States (who runs the Government Accountability Office, or GAO) to study the disbursement process for standard small business loans—those made under the Small Business Investment Act, the 7(a) program, or the 7(m) microloan program. Crucially, it specifically excludes any loans created during the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping the focus on the standard, everyday lending systems.

The Data Dive: Tracking the Loan Clock

If you're a small business owner—whether you're running a machine shop in rural Kentucky or a tech startup in a city near the Appalachian boundary—what you care about is speed and certainty. This study zeroes in on that by demanding highly specific metrics for the years 2021 through 2024. For example, the GAO must determine the average time between loan application submission and fund disbursal and the average time to complete each step of the process.

To ensure a fair comparison, the study must calculate these numbers separately for the parts of SBA regions that fall inside the Appalachian region (as defined in 40 U.S.C. 14102(a)) and the parts that fall outside it. This side-by-side comparison is designed to flag specific bottlenecks or disparities in how quickly capital flows to businesses depending on their location.

Beyond Speed: Who Gets the Money?

The study isn't just about the clock; it's also about access. The GAO is required to look at the number of loans approved and disbursed per 1,000 small businesses in the area, along with the average and median dollar amount of those loans. This will help determine if businesses in the Appalachian region are not only waiting longer but also receiving fewer loans or smaller amounts relative to their peers.

If you’ve ever applied for an SBA loan, you know the process can feel like a black box. This bill directly addresses that frustration. When the GAO submits its final report to Congress within two years of enactment, it must include recommendations on how to improve information available to applicants about their application status, including estimated processing times and what additional information is needed. It also requires suggestions for identifying and eliminating government inefficiencies that slow down the process.

In plain terms, this bill is the first step toward making the federal small business lending system work better and faster, especially for businesses in areas that might be underserved. It’s a mandated audit designed to shine a light on where the process breaks down so that Congress can hopefully step in and streamline the path from loan application to cash in hand.