In 2008, three of the best-known business trade groups in Washington blitzed Congress to approve a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street. Two years later, those groupsâ??the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, and the National Association of Manufacturersâ??are missing in action as the smaller companies that account for the majority of their membership seek a $30 billion rescue of their own.

The silence is leaving car-parts makers, franchise owners, and community bankers to fend for themselves in pushing for a small business lending fund, which has languished in Congress since President Barack Obama proposed it late last year. The Senate could vote on the fund as early as July 29. The hands-off approach reflects the public backlash against government spending, particularly the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, which rescued the country's biggest banks but sparked populist ire. Federal spending has become a flash point in many of this fall's congressional races.