Republicans accused President Biden on Tuesday of using the Small Business Administration to gin up more supporters in Michigan, a state destined to be crucial in the outcome of the November election.

The accusations came during a hearing of the House Committee on Small Business, which was held to investigate an agreement between the federal agency and the Michigan Department of State to bolster voter registration efforts in the perennial swing state.

Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams, Texas Republican, said the SBA is supposed to aid small businesses throughout the country, like offering loans, but was instead diverting congressionally approved funding to aid the Biden administration’s so-called “electioneering” efforts.

“Instead of fulfilling these goals, the SBA has entangled itself in electioneering activities that not only lack a constitutional basis for, but also betray the trust and purpose for which the agency was established,” Mr. Williams said.

The agreement, which was finalized in March and slated to run through 2036, would allow the Michigan Department of State to create a website that the SBA can use to drive online traffic to register to vote in the state. It also allows Michigan election officials to register people to vote at SBA outreach events.

The agency told ​The Washington Times it is still working to implement the agreement​, and ​it has not yet directed anyone to a website link or invited Michigan election officials to agency events.  

The agency’s involvement in voter registration efforts stems from an executive order Mr. Biden issued early into his term in 2021.

Mr. Biden’s order tasked federal agencies, like the SBA, with figuring out ways to expand voter registration opportunities. Those methods include handing out voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot application forms, and “soliciting and facilitating approved, nonpartisan third-party organizations and state officials to provide voter registration services on agency premises.”

Stewart Whitson, legal affairs director for the conservative think tank Foundation for Government Accountability, testified that Mr. Biden’s order was a more sweeping version of the move by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to dish out hundreds of millions of dollars to local election offices during the 2020 election.

Conservative critics alleged that Mr. Zuckerberg’s massive donation was an attempt to swing the election in Mr. Biden’s favor. Mr. Whitson contended that the administration is using the same “Zuckerbucks” scheme to influence the outcome of this year’s election.

“This executive order is known as ’Biden bucks’ because this is Zuckerbucks on steroids,” he said. “Instead of Mark Zuckerberg, it’s President Biden. Instead of $400 million, it is the unlimited power, resources and reach of the federal government and its offices located in every state across the country.”

Democrats on the panel said the agreement and the Biden administration’s efforts in Michigan were legal under the National Voting Rights Act and were not partisan efforts designed to sway voters. They said Michigan officials would actually be the ones registering people to vote, not officials from the SBA.

Rep. Greg Landsman, Ohio Democrat, said that when he first heard there would be a hearing on the agreement between the state and federal agencies, he was hopeful that it would be a discussion on the importance of engaging more people to vote regardless of party affiliation.

“Turns out the hearing is different, it is an effort to suggest that voter registration and efforts to partner up between secretary of states and agencies … is somehow problematic,” Mr. Landsman said.

• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.