WASHINGTON — Describing a recent New York Times article as "inaccurate" and "unnecessarily alarmist," Small Business Administrator Steven Preston wrote a letter to the publication expressing his dismay on coverage of the agency's disaster assistance loan program.

At issue is a Jan. 18 article that reported the SBA's disaster relief loan program is on the verge of running out of money and could shut down if Congress does not intervene to cover the administrative costs to keep it operating.

In a Jan. 19 letter to the publication, which was also sent to Credit Union Times by the agency, Preston wrote, "The funding issue in question has nothing to do with 'budgeting problems' at the SBA. To report otherwise shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the matter." Of 160,000 applicants with approved loans in the Gulf states, 98% have now either received all their loan money or some of their money, or have chosen not to proceed with their loans, generally because they secured funds elsewhere, Preston wrote. More than $8 billion in disaster assistance loans have been approved.