I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2499
To provide economic relief to general aviation small business concerns that 
have suffered substantial economic injury as a result of the terrorist 
attacks perpetrated against the United States on September 11, 2001. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 17, 2003
Mr. SHUSTER (for himself, Mr. HAYES, Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. 
EHLERS, Mr. OTTER, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Mr. GRAVES, 
and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Small Business 
A BILL 
To provide economic relief to general aviation small business 
concerns that have suffered substantial economic injury 
as a result of the terrorist attacks perpetrated against 
the United States on September 11, 2001.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘General Aviation Small 
Business Relief Act of 2003’’.
SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Small Busi-
ness Act (15 U.S.C. 636(b)) is amended by adding after 
paragraph (3) the following: 
‘‘(4) GENERAL AVIATION SMALL BUSINESS RE-
LIEF.—
‘‘(A) GRANT AND LOAN AUTHORITY.—Not-
withstanding any other provision of law, the 
Administration—
‘‘(i) shall, upon application, make 
grants to general aviation small business 
concerns in an amount equal to the 
amount of direct losses incurred by each 
such small business concern beginning on 
September 11, 2001, as a result of any 
Federal ground stop order issued by the 
Secretary of Transportation or any subse-
quent order which continues or renews 
such a stoppage related to the terrorist at-
tacks occurring on September 11, 2001, 
with respect to general aviation small busi-
ness concerns; 
‘‘(ii) may make such loans (either di-
rectly or in cooperation with banks or 
other lending institutions through agree-
ments to participate on an immediate or
deferred basis) to assist a small business 
concern that—
‘‘(I) is a general aviation small 
business concern; and 
‘‘(II) has suffered or that is like-
ly to suffer as a result of the terrorist 
attacks 
perpetrated 
against 
the 
United States on September 11, 2001, 
substantial economic injury that is not 
incidental to the revenue of that small 
business concern and is not com-
pensated for by insurance or other-
wise. 
‘‘(B) TERMS.—With respect to a loan 
under this paragraph—
‘‘(i) no interest rate shall apply to the 
loan, and no interest shall accrue on the 
loan, during the 1-year period beginning 
on the date on which the loan is issued; 
and 
‘‘(ii) after the 1-year period described 
in clause (i), the applicable interest rate 
and other terms and conditions shall be 
the same as the interest rate and other 
terms and conditions as are applicable to
economic injury loans under paragraph 
(2). 
‘‘(D) NO
EFFECT
ON
LOAN
LIMITS.—A 
grant or loan under this paragraph shall be in 
addition to any other grant or loan made under 
this Act, notwithstanding any limitation on the 
amounts of such grants or loans under this Act. 
‘‘(E) NO
DISASTER
DECLARATION
RE-
QUIRED.—For purposes of assistance under this 
paragraph, no declaration of a disaster area 
shall be required. 
‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph—
‘‘(i) the term ‘general aviation small 
business concern’ means a small business 
concern that is a regular provider of gen-
eral aviation services, including aircraft 
rentals and flight training instruction; and 
‘‘(ii) the term ‘substantial economic 
injury’ means an economic harm to a small 
business concern that results in the inabil-
ity of the small business concern—
‘‘(I) to meet its obligations as 
they mature; 
‘‘(II) to pay its ordinary and nec-
essary operating expenses; or