NEWS | Small Business in Focus for Congress in 2025, NSBA Drives for More in 2026
- NSBA
- Dec 22, 2025
- 3 min read
NSBA is privileged to speak as the voice for small business with Congress and in Washington - this holiday season, we are grateful for the chance to look back as a basis for planning ahead for our continued wins in 2026.
As Congress wraps up another busy legislative year, quickly headed into 2026, small business saw incremental, yet, meaningful, progress on several priorities central to growth, innovation, and long-term competitiveness, including two major wins for NSBA's Priority Issues for the nation's most important economic community, in 2025.
From defense contracting reforms, to renewed efforts to strengthen capital markets, lawmakers continued to rely on small businesses as a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, while still leaving critical work unfinished.
National Defense Authorization Act: Opening Doors for Small Firms
The annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) once again served as a key vehicle for small-business policy, particularly for companies operating in the defense industrial base.
Both the enacted FY 2025 NDAA and the most recent action on the FY 2026 bill included provisions aimed at improving access for small and nontraditional contractors. These measures focused on modernizing acquisition practices, expanding pilot programs designed to streamline awards, and improving transparency and communication between the Department of Defense and small-business vendors.
While the NDAA is not a comprehensive small-business bill, NSBA has long emphasized its importance as a platform for incremental reforms that help level the playing field, especially for innovative small firms supporting national security, advanced manufacturing, and emerging technologies.
Capital Formation and IPO Pathways: Renewed Momentum
Congress also made notable progress this year on one of NSBA’s top, long-standing Priority Issues: making it easier for small and growing businesses to access capital.
The House advanced a bipartisan capital formation package designed to modernize outdated securities laws, reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, and strengthen pathways for companies considering public offerings. Key provisions would lower compliance costs, clarify fundraising rules, and ease the transition from private to public markets, which are steps aimed at reversing the decades-long decline in small company initial public offerings (IPOs).
At the same time, policymakers and regulators signaled growing recognition that current public-market rules often impose disproportionate costs on smaller issuers. Together, these legislative and regulatory efforts reflect a broader understanding that vibrant public markets depend on participation from small and mid-sized businesses, and not just large corporations.
Innovation and Federal Programs
NSBA and SBTC advocacy compelled technology policy action from Congress this year, with several key leaders continuing to drive work to support innovation-driven small businesses through the Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
These programs play critical roles in helping entrepreneurs commercialize new technologies and compete globally, and NSBA's Small Business Technology Council keeps our members at the center of the intensifying conversation.
While reauthorization and long-term certainty remain priorities, the continued bipartisan attention underscores the importance of these programs to the small business ecosystem.
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In 2025, Congress took meaningful steps to address small-business concerns, including addressing NSBA Priority Issues to provide permanency for tax deductions crucial to small-business' bottom lines, and the administration received our message on the necessity of eliminating the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA).
Washington's work to support small-business opportunities for federal contracting and access to capital are also commendable and important to further growing the economy, but much work remains ahead for the second term of the 119th Congress set to begin this January.
First up and fresh of the heels of the nation's longest shutdown in history: another fiscal fight, with federal funds set to expire on Jan. 30, 2026.
Shutdowns always harm small business, and we will continue working with Congress to ensure small-business is prioritized as the basis for providing commitments to cooperation over partisanship that pushes parties to a stalemate, ultimately depriving small-business owners of critical access to federal resources supporting their operations.
Congress may be out of town for the remainder of 2025, but NSBA will continue to advocate for policies that reduce barriers to growth, expand opportunity, and ensure that small businesses have a strong voice in Washington.
