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Representative calls for venture capital; domain registrar Register.com announces alliance with SCORE.

Representative Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), a ranking member on the House Small Business Committee, lamented problems with the Small Business Investment Companies program in a letter to the Wall Street Journal.

"In the midst of the government's difficulties with the SBI participating securities program, members of the Bush administration managed to blame everyone but themselves.

"the program received $225 million in profit with no defaults from 1994 to 2000." Rep. Velazquez notes that now the program has had $1.1 billion in losses under the current administration.

The Representative called for greater investment in early stage companies.

One small step toward helping early stage companies may come from an alliance between Washington, DC-based SCORE Association, a Small Business Administration-funded organization of more than 10,500 volunteers who provide free, confidential small business counseling to entrepreneurs, and Internet registrar Register.com.

"At Register.com, our goal is to be much more than a vendor of technology solutions; we want to be partners and advisors to our customers, continuing to support them long after they have established an Internet presence. Our alliance with SCORE is a great example of how we're going the extra mile to take that commitment to the next level," said Monica Hodges, general manager of Retail for Register.com.

"Anything we as a company can do to help our small business owners be successful in their endeavors, like making it easier for them to access SCORE's valuable services, is a worthwhile investment."

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.