Washington shouldn’t punish small businesses for growing

What counts as a small business in America? Washington is reconsidering the answer. On Aug. 20, the Small Business Administration proposed raising size standards for what qualifies as a small business, allowing more than 110,000 additional businesses to qualify for billions of dollars in set-aside government contracts and SBA-backed lending.

These programs exist to power economic opportunity for businesses that employ nearly half of the private-sector workforce and account for over 43% of U.S. gross domestic product — businesses that are vital to our economy but often can’t compete with the country’s largest companies for the same government contracts.