Date: 2011-05-31
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of S. 1082. "Small Business Additional Temporary Extension Act of 2011." which temporarily extends from May 31. 2011 through July 31. 2011 certain authorities of the Small Business Administration and its programs under the Small Business Act and Small Business Investment Act of 1958. S. 1082 further amends the Small Business Act to reauthorize through Fiscal Year 2011 the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR) programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA). as well as the SBAs commercialization pilot program. 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. Through a bipartisan effort. Congress created SBIR in 1982 and STTR in 1992. Comprehensive extensions for the programs were made in 2000 and 2001. respectively. The programs have received numerous temporary extensions since they expired in 2008. In particular. the SBIR and STTR programs technological innovation in small. high technology firms to meet federal research and development needs while increasing private sector commercialization and helping the government solve its problems. Today. 11 Federal agencies (DoD and NIH to USDA) allocate a portion of their research and development budgets to projects with small businesses. Studies show SBIRbacked firms have been responsible for roughly 25% of the nations most crucial innovations over the past decade and account for 38% of Americas patents. Among other things. SBIR/STTR technology is used in the militarys Bradley tank. the B2 Bomber. communication antennas for first responders in disaster zones. vehicles for fire fighters combating wildfires. sensors used to detect brain injuries sustained by high school athletes. and electric toothbrushes. The SBIR/STTR awards have produced returns on investments. For example. some of the firms have paid more in taxes than they received under the SBIR program. have employed thousands of employees. and saved state governments millions of dollars. Furthermore. small business in Texas would be at risk of losing millions in SBIR/STTR awards. ranking 7th in the nation to receive awards. In 2009 alone. small business in Texas received 278 awards totaling $89.5 million. 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 womanowned 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). are (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.