Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, the Brooklyn Democrat who serves as ranking member of the House Small Business Committee, accused Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler of “offensive, extremist” rhetoric against minority entrepreneurs in a statement her office released on January 22.

Velázquez said she was responding to new guidance and what she called inflammatory comments from Loeffler regarding the 8(a) Business Development Program, a federal program that helps socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses compete for government contracts. According to Velázquez’s statement, Loeffler said that morning that the government “hands out billions… to favored minorities at the direct expense of honest small businesses,” language Velázquez characterized as harming “legitimate job creators, especially white men.”