“Today, initiatives aimed at “inclusivity” are in fact creating exclusivity and stringent selectivity in deciding what types of small businesses and entities can use SBA programs. For example, even though the SBA under President Donald Trump proposed a rule to remove all of the unconstitutional religious exclusions from its regulations to conform with Supreme Court decisions that have made their unconstitutionality clear, the SBA has not acted on the proposed rule and still uses religious exclusions in determining eligibility for business loans.”
Citation: Project 2025, Section 4.5: Small Business Administration, Karen Kerrigan, page 781, paragraph 5
Context:
In context, Kerrigan is arguing that the rules that prevent certain religious organizations or businesses with religious affiliations from benefiting from SBA programs, are exclusionary and unconstitutional. I’d argue that since the SBA is a government program and we have separation of church and state, such restrictions are precisely Constitutional.
The Supreme Court ruling she’s likely referring to here is Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer (2017), where the SCOTUS ruled that denying public benefits to an organization solely because of its religious character was unconstitutional. More about the ruling and why it was wrong in the analysis below.
Full contextual analysis of Section 4.5: Small Business Administration here.