In a January 5 press release, the American Small Business League (ASBL) announced its fear that, “the Obama stimulus plan may change the long-standing federal definition of a small business as being ‘independently owned,’ to include firms that are controlled by some of the nation's wealthiest investors.” Already, small businesses, which employ more than 55% of the nation’s workers, receive only 22 of federal contracts. Small business advocateshave no desire to share billions of dollars of stimulus money specifically allocated to small businesses with rival firms controlled by wealthy venture capitalists. The ASBL grounds its interpretation of a possible redefinition in the stimulus’s statement that it plans on “increasing access to capital for small businesses.” The ASBL alleges that the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) has used the same exact phrasing in the past when lobbying to gain access to federal funds earmarked for small businesses.