Date: 2011-09-21
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Madam Speaker. I rise today to debate H.R. 2608. "The Small Business Program Extension and Reform Act of 2011." which provides for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 at the expense of job creating efforts. Now . . . Now is not the time to trample on the needs of small business owners. Now is not the time to delay assistance to those who need support from FEMA. Now is not the time for a partisan position that will only cause more Americans to suffer while they have to wait on Congress to find balance. Now is the time for balance and reason. Small businesses have long been the bedrock of our nations economy. Even with the advent of modernday multinational corporations most of our daytoday purchases take place at "mom and pop" small businesses. This piece of legislation holds small businesses hostage in order to make a demand that has never been made by Republicans before. This demand changes their practice during previous administrations. In the past my colleagues declared disaster funding as emergency spending and did not require offsetting emergency spending. This bill would offset the $1 billion in FY11 disaster relief funding using a program that is a proven jobcreator. a program for small businesses. The very small businesses that are currently in need of access to loans and other lines of credit in order to build their businesses and create jobs. The very small businesses that are the life blood of our economy. These businesses. the "mom and pop" shops across our nation are being held hostage by my colleagues across the aisle at the expense of jobs. The future success of their businesses are being held hostage in order to demand offsets of funds that have not requires such an offset in the past. These funds would aid victims of natural disasters. To propose such a measure at a time when our economy is so fragile and when so many are struggling to survive is unfathomable. I support the bipartisan Senate language. At a time when our nation needs every single job we can create. Before us is a job killing measure. We need job creation to help families survive on smaller and smaller pay checks. Before us is legislation that places a halt on this growth. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle for the first time in our nations history has added to this piece of legislation a requirement that disaster aid be offset. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) needs the $6.9 billion in funding which has been approved in the Senate last week without requiring offset. These cuts cost Americans tens of thousands of jobs. Under the previous administration Republicans supported disaster relief without requiring an offset. on eight separate occasions but today they want to require cuts that will result in job loss. As the Representative for Houston. which suffered severe damage in 2008 as a result of Hurricane Ike. I understand the importance of clean up and rebuilding in the wake of natural disaster. Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) addresses the challenges our communities face when we are confronted with a catastrophic event or a domestic terrorist attack. It is important for people to understand that our capacity to deal with hurricanes directly reflects our ability to respond to a terrorist attack in Texas or New York. an earthquake in California. or a nationwide pandemic flu outbreak. The devastating hurricanes that struck Texas in past years because the response to those events demonstrated the need for significant improvement. During Hurricane Katrina. there were insufficient quantities of generators forced hospitals to evacuate patients. Local governments waited days for commodities like ice. water. MREs. and blue tarps. Evacuees from Texas arrived in Shreveport and Bastrop shelters that were grossly unfit for occupancy. and 2.500 people were forced to use the same shower facility. We must prepare our first responders with the best information and training to quickly analyze and share information to understand alerts and warning systems. evacuation planning. mission assignments to other agencies. contingency contracting. prestaged resources. Regional Hurricane Plans and exercises. communications support. citizen preparedness. disaster housing. and longterm recovery planning. In order to accomplish this we must fund FEMA. not at the expense of small business but because Americans come together at times of crisis. This should be what it has always beenemergency funding. Emergency preparedness is not the exclusive responsibility of the federal government or individual agencies within it. State and local officials. nonprofit organizations. private sector businesses. and individual citizens must all contribute to the mission in order for our nation to succeed at protecting life and property from disasters. Recovery and mitigation are critical to protecting communities from future threats. and our ability to respond will suffer if we do not focus attention and resources on those missions. On any given day the City of Houston faces a widespread and everchanging array of threats. such as: terrorism. organized crime. natural disasters and industrial accidents. Cities and towns across the nation face these and other threats. Indeed. every day. ensuring the security of the homeland requires the interaction of multiple Federal departments and agencies. as well as operational collaboration across Federal. State. local. tribal. and territorial governments. nongovernmental organizations. and the private sector. This collaboration and cooperation undergirds our security posture at our borders and ports. our preparedness in our communities. and our ability to effectively react to crises. Consider the devastation that was brought by the tornadoes in Alabama and the Southern United States. the flooding that has impacted the entire Mississippi river region. from Montana to Tennessee. and tornado that claimed more than 100 lives in Joplin. Missouri. have shown us that there are disasters we cannot predict. and forces of nature for which we cannot plan. This legislation is a job killer. it is an affront to growing small businesses and will destroy thousands of jobs. I have been firmly committed to supporting small businesses and this legislation as written will fail to help create the jobs we need at this time. We should not prevent the growth of small business in order to address the unrealistic demands related to disaster relief funding. Moreover. 99 percent of all independent companies and businesses in the United States are considered small businesses. They are the engine of our economy. creating twothirds of the new jobs over the last 15 years. Americas 27 million small businesses continue to face a lack of credit and tight lending standards. with the number of small businesses loans down nearly 5 million since the financial crisis in 2008. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration. these small businesses account for 52 percent of all U.S. workers. These small businesses also provide a continuing source of vitality for the American economy. Small businesses in the U.S. produced threefourths of the economys new jobs between 1990 and 1995. and represent an entry point into the economy for new groups. Women. for instance. participate heavily in small businesses. The number of femaleowned businesses climbed by 89 percent. to an estimated 8.1 million. between 1987 and 1997. and womenowned sole proprietorships were expected to reach 35 percent of all such ventures by the year 2000. Small firms also tend to hire a greater number of older workers and people who prefer to work parttime. One strength that small businesses are known for is their ability to respond quickly to changing economic conditions. They often know their customers personally and are especially suited to meet local needs. There are tons of stories of startup companies catching national attention and growing into large corporations. Just a few examples of these types of startup businesses making big include the computer software company Microsoft. the package delivery service Federal Express. sports clothing manufacturer Nike. the computer networking firm America OnLine. and ice cream maker Ben & Jerrys. We must always ensure that we place a high level of priority on small businesses. It is also important that we work towards ensuring that small businesses receive all the tools and resources necessary for their continued growth and development. American small businesses are the heart beat of our nation. I believe that small businesses represent more than the American dreamthey represent the American economy. Small businesses account for 95 percent of all employers. create half of our gross domestic product. and provide three out of four new jobs in this country. Small business growth means economic growth for the nation. But to keep this segment of our economy thriving. entrepreneurs need access to loans. Through loans small business owners can expand their businesses. hire more workers and provide more goods and services. The Small Business Administration (SBA). a federal organization that aids small businesses with loan and development programs. is a key provider of support to small businesses. The SBAs main loan program accounts for 30 percent of all longterm small business borrowing in America. I have worked hard to help small business owners to fully realize their potential. That is why I support entrepreneurial development programs. including the Small Business Development Center and Womens Business Center programs. These initiatives provide counseling in a variety of critical areas. including business plan development. finance. and marketing. We must consider what impact changes in this appropriations bill will have on small businesses. There are 5.8 million minority owned businesses in the United States. representing a significant aspect of our economy. In 2007. minority owned businesses employed nearly 6 million Americans and generated $1 trillion dollars in economic output. Women owned businesses have increased 20% since 2002. and currently total close to 8 million. These organizations make up more than half of all businesses in health care and social assistance. My home city of Houston. Texas is home to more than 60.000 women owned businesses. and more than 60.000 African American owned businesses. According to a 2009 report published by the Economic Policy Institute. "Starting in 2004. the Small Business Administration (SBA) set goals for small business participation in federal contracts. It encouraged agencies to award contracts to companies owned by women. veterans. and minorities or those located in economically challenged areas and gave them benchmarks to work toward. The targets are specific: 23% of contracts to small business. 5% to womenowned small businesses. and 3% to disabled veteranowned and HUBZone small businesses." Women and minority owned businesses generate billions of dollars and employ millions of people. They are certainly qualified to receive these contracts. A mandatory DOD outreach program would make women and minority owned businesses aware of all of the contract opportunities available to them. Facts: Small business are important because they: (1) Represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms. (2) Employ just over half of all private sector employees. (3) Pay 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll. (4) Generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the past 15 years. (5) Create more than half of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP). (6) Hire 40 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists. engineers. and computer programmers). (7) Are 52 percent homebased and 2 percent franchises. (8) Made up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters and produced 30.2 percent of the known export value in FY 2007. (9) Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms and twice as likely as large firm patents to be among the one percent most cited. Republicans appear to be on a mission to cut programs that help families and will buttress small businesses at a time when there are Americans faced with the perils which arise during cleaning up after a natural disaster. Now is not the time to force those Americans to wait on a partisan battle. to pick a fight that has not been fought in eight previous authorizations of funds for disaster relief. There needs to be a balance when determining which programs to cut and when. A balance to finding the funds that will address national disasters. A balanced approach to measures that will aid small business and to restore our economy. I support small business and job creation. I will not support small business growth being held hostage to the unrealistic demands made by my Republican Colleagues. American families need legislation that are job growers rather than measures that are jobs killers.