SBA Deregulation Strike Force: A 2026 Small Business Guide

In the closing month of 2025, the trajectory of the American administrative state underwent a profound and deliberate shift. On December 15, 2025, the United States Small Business Administration (SBA), operating under the leadership of Administrator Kelly Loeffler, formally announced the mobilization of the Deregulation Strike Force. This initiative, far from being a routine bureaucratic reorganization, represents the operational zenith of the Trump Administration’s "Affordability Agenda," a coordinated macroeconomic strategy designed to dismantle what the executive branch has classified as excessive previous regulations.

The creation of the Strike Force marks a distinct pivot in federal economic policy, moving toward a supply-side framework predicated on aggressive regulatory cost reduction. The administration contends that the inflationary pressures which plagued the US economy in the mid-2020s were driven by a "massive bureaucracy" that imposed approximately $6 trillion in cumulative regulatory costs on American families and small enterprises.

Spearheaded by the SBA’s Office of Advocacy and its Chief Counsel, Dr. Casey Mulligan, the Strike Force is tasked with a government-wide review of federal rules. Its mandate is to identify, analyze, and eliminate compliance burdens that have disproportionately impacted small businesses in key sectors such as agriculture, energy, healthcare, and housing.

The Macroeconomic Imperative: Defining the Affordability Agenda

The Inflationary Context of 2024–2025

To understand the urgency and scope of the SBA Deregulation Strike Force, one must first analyze the economic conditions that precipitated its creation. By 2024, the United States had experienced a prolonged period of inflation that eroded the purchasing power of working families and compressed the margins of small businesses. The "Affordability Agenda" emerged as the central domestic policy response to this crisis.

Administrator Loeffler explicitly framed the issue in her launch statement, noting that previous economic policies brought historic new highs in inflation driven in part by the bureaucracy that heaped trillions in new federal regulations onto the backs of hardworking Americans. This perspective treats regulation not as a social safeguard, but as a primary input cost in the production function of the economy.

The $6 Trillion "Hidden Tax"

Central to the administration's intellectual case for deregulation is the data provided by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, which estimates that the previous administration imposed $6 trillion in cumulative regulatory costs. This figure represents a significant percentage of US GDP.

According to research cited by the administration, recent regulatory accretion added an estimated $47,000 in lifetime costs per family. Furthermore, the procedural burden of compliance was quantified at an additional 356 million hours of paperwork for job creators. For small businesses, which lack the economies of scale to maintain dedicated compliance departments, these fixed costs are regressive.

Institutional Architecture: The Weaponization of the SBA

The Unique Statutory Authority of the SBA

The selection of the Small Business Administration as the tip of the spear for this deregulatory effort is a strategic utilization of existing statutory power. The Strike Force derives its formidable legal authority from two key statutes:

• The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) of 1980: This law mandates that federal agencies assess the impact of their regulations on small entities. If a rule is expected to have a "significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities," the agency must prepare a Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.
• The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996: SBREFA strengthened the RFA by permitting judicial review of agency compliance. It allows the SBA to file amicus briefs in court against other federal agencies if they fail to properly analyze small business impacts.

Reorganizing for War: The Loeffler Restructuring

The effectiveness of the Strike Force required a fundamental restructuring of the SBA itself. In early 2025, the SBA underwent a tumultuous period of downsizing. By March 21, 2025, the SBA formally announced a reorganization plan that would eliminate approximately 2,700 active positions out of a workforce of nearly 6,500—a reduction of over 40%. Loeffler justified this drastic cut by arguing that the agency had expanded in size, scope, and spending to serve a partisan agenda rather than small businesses.

The Office of Advocacy and Dr. Casey Mulligan

The operational core of the Strike Force is the Office of Advocacy, now led by Chief Counsel Dr. Casey Mulligan. Mulligan’s appointment brings a rigorous academic and quantitative framework to the Strike Force. On his first day in office, Chief Counsel Mulligan released a seminal report to the President and Congress analyzing over 12,000 rules issued during the previous administration. This report, often referred to as the "Mulligan Report," serves as the targeting matrix for the Strike Force.

Operationalizing the Strike Force: Mechanisms of Action

The "Red Tape Hotline"

To bridge the gap between Washington policymakers and "Main Street," the Strike Force established a direct feedback loop known as the "Red Tape Hotline." Small business owners were encouraged to call 1-800-827-5722 or email RedTape@sba.gov to report burdensome regulations directly to the Office of Advocacy. This crowdsourced approach provides the Strike Force with concrete, anecdotal evidence of regulatory harm.

The "10-for-1" Regulatory Budget

The Strike Force operates under a reinstated and expanded regulatory budget framework. The 2025 agenda pushes for a "10-to-1" ratio: for every new significant regulation issued, ten existing regulations must be eliminated. The administration claims that this strategy has already yielded results. By December 2025, the SBA reported that the Trump Administration had eliminated 48 old regulations for every new regulation enacted, resulting in an estimated regulatory savings of nearly $200 billion.

Sector-Specific Deep Dives: The Six Pillars of Deregulation

The Strike Force has delineated six key industries for immediate regulatory relief: Agriculture, Healthcare, Housing, Energy, Transportation, and "Other goods and services".

Agriculture and Food Production: The Battle Over DEF

One of the most significant and immediate victories claimed by the Strike Force involves the regulation of Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) systems in agricultural and heavy-duty equipment. Under EPA Tier 4 emission standards, engines were required to enter a "limp mode" if the DEF system detected a fault. In August 2025, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced new guidance allowing manufacturers to update software to eliminate this sudden loss of power. The SBA estimates that this single regulatory change will save family farms $727 million annually.

Financial Services: Dismantling the Corporate Transparency Act

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) required millions of small corporations and LLCs to file Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reports. For the Strike Force, this represented "bureaucratic overreach." In a coordinated move, the enforcement of the CTA was suspended, and FinCEN issued Interim Final Rules that effectively removed the beneficial ownership reporting requirements for U.S. companies. While this saves small businesses an estimated $6.7 billion in annualized costs, critics warn of increased money laundering risks.

Transportation and Logistics: CAFE Standards and EV Mandates

The Strike Force has aggressively moved to dismantle the regulatory infrastructure supporting the transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs). This includes revising Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards that were designed to force a fleet-wide shift to electrification. For the logistics sector—comprised largely of small independent trucking operators—this is positioned as a direct reduction in capital requirements.

Stakeholder Reactions and Political Landscape

The Support Base

The Strike Force enjoys robust support from traditional business lobbies. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has long identified "unreasonable government regulation" as a top concern for its members. For these constituents, the "limp mode" fix and the BOI repeal are tangible, bottom-line victories that validate their political support.

The Opposition

Opposition is coalescing around environmentalists, transparency advocates, and Congressional Democrats. Environmental groups view the DEF and energy rollbacks as an existential threat to climate progress and public health. Transparency advocates sound alarms about the money laundering implications of the CTA repeal. Furthermore, critics emphasize that aggressive tariffs on imported building materials may offset the savings from deregulation in the housing sector.

Conclusion

The launch of the SBA Deregulation Strike Force marks a decisive and structural shift in American economic policy. By leveraging the Office of Advocacy’s statutory powers under SBREFA and the RFA, the administration has institutionalized a mechanism to systematically dismantle specific regulatory architectures. The initiative is grounded in a coherent, albeit controversial, economic theory: that the path to affordability lies in removing government-imposed constraints on supply.

However, the ultimate success of the "Affordability Agenda" remains contingent on the broader macroeconomic interplay. As the administration moves into 2026, the SBA has positioned itself not merely as a lender, but as the primary combatant in a regulatory war, with the Office of Advocacy serving as the frontline command in the battle against the administrative state.