Date: 2012-06-26
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. again. as I rise to my feet. I do want to acknowledge both the staffs of the chairman of the subcommittee and the ranking member of the subcommittee for working with my office. And I again want to acknowledge the ranking member. Mr. OLVER. again for his service to the Nation. but also for the times that he has worked with Members over the years and for his commitment. again. to the most vulnerable. This is a bill that really addresses the needs of Americans in their most deepening and expanded need. as I said earlier. mobility. housing. so crucial. infrastructure. and the ability to create jobs and to do good in our municipalities and rural areas. But it is also an opportunity to build capacity. to grow jobs and to build small businesses. And I know that firsthand. working consistently throughout a number of appropriations bills and authorization bills and as a ranking member on the Subcommittee on Transportation Security. In addition to our main task is to look to the needs and help build capacity in Americas small businesses. My amendment will ensure the necessary funds that are appropriated specifically for the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization and the Minority Business Resource Center cannot be used by the Secretary for any other purpose. Small businesses. womenowned businesses. minorityowned businesses represent more than the American Dream. They represent the American economy. Small businesses account for 95 percent of all employers. create half of our gross domestic product. provide three out of four new jobs in this country. and allocation reduction directly undermines the importance of small businesses. including womenowned businesses and minorityowned businesses to the success of our economy. Mr. Chairman. many of our utilization. or the utilization of Federal funds. going to our local transit agency. for example. in the instance of Houston Metro. the structure of receiving the funds is something called "design build." Many around the country are using that format. which means that the corporation or the retained contractor has overriding control over the distribution of those funds in the construction of that light rail. I celebrate light rail. I celebrate the importance of light rail and have done so for the time that Ive had the privilege of serving Houston and the 18th Congressional District. But in this instance. its important to note that in the course of the design build for Houston Metro and HRT. they have dropped their commitment to small minorityand womenowned businesses. What did I say? Dropped the commitmentdropped it poorly. dropped it with a negative impact. dropped it impacting womenowned businesses and minorityowned businesses. Weve got to get back in order to be able to show that the utilization of those businesses creates jobs. Small businesses have lost an estimated $13.8 billion in business opportunity because they cannot fairly compete for Federal contracts because larger companies are allowed to bundle contracts. In essence. HRT has selfperformed instead of sharing those dollars. The Department of Transportation created the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. OSDBU. as part of the Small Business Act because it recognizes the threat big businesses pose to small business success. Since the OSDBUs creation. it has been a voice for small business and disadvantaged business. ensuring these businesses are provided with the maximum ability to participate in the agencys contracting selection process for contract and subcontract jobs. These office divisions are numerous. Each of the offices impacts Americas entrepreneurs and business ventures in several key ways. For instance. the Womens Procurement Assistance Committee provides womenowned businesses with best practices of business growth and increases awareness of opportunities. I met on the job. Mr. Chairman. a woman who had taken over the business of her husband. who had died of cancer. She had a household to lead. and she was trying to do this kind of construction work. At the time. she had been given by HRT safety work. just holding up a sign. Im glad because of the encouragement. the utilization of this particular office. our office pushing. that she now is more advanced in the contract that she is securing. But it has to be encouraged. This amendment is to ensure that we dont leave out small disadvantaged. womenowned and minorityowned businesses. The offices shortterm lending program is able to give qualifying small businesses loans with competitive interest rates for DOT contracts and subcontracts. In conjunction with the OSDBU. the Minority Business Resource Center is responsible for promoting the use of small businesses. My home State of Texas was chosen as the headquarters for the OSDBU gulf region. In my home city of Houston. Texas. there are more than 60.000 womenowned businesses and more than 60.000 African Americanowned businesses and thousands of other businessesAsian and Latino. I am asking my colleagues to support this amendment because it is an amendment that ensures that we put minority-. womenowned and disadvantaged small businesses to work under this legislation. Mr. Chair. I rise today to offer my amendments to "the Transportation. Housing and Urban Development. and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013." My amendments will assure the necessary funds that are appropriated specifically for the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization and the Minority Business Resource Center cannot be used by the Secretary for another purpose. thereby protecting the funds for their intended use. 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. An allocation reduction directly undermines the importance of small businesses including womenowned business and minorityowned business to the success of our economy. Small businesses have lost an estimated $13.8 billion in business opportunity because they could not fairly compete for federal contracts because larger companies are allowed to bundle contracts. The Department of Transportation created the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) as part of the Small Business Act because it recognizes the threat big businesses pose to small business success. Since the OSDBUs creation. it has been a voice for small and disadvantaged business. ensuring these businesses are provided with the maximum ability to participate in the agencys contracting selection process for contract and subcontract jobs. These office divisions are numerous. each of the offices impacts Americas entrepreneurs and business ventures in several key ways. For instance. its Womens Procurement Assistance Committee (WPAC) provides womenowned businesses with best practices for business growth and increases awareness of the opportunities these businesses have to participate in transportationrelated contracts and subcontracts. The offices short term lending program is able to give qualifying small business loans with competitive interest rates for DOT contracts and subcontracts. In conjunction with the OSDBU. the Minority Business Resource Center is responsible for promoting the use of small businesses in prime and subcontracting opportunities in accordance with Federal laws. regulations and policy. Through its funding. the Center is able to offer several professional development services. including: market research. business training. counseling. technical assistance. and access to capital for transportation related projects. My home state of Texas was chosen as the headquarters for the OSDBU gulf region program. In my home city of Houston. Texas there are more than 60.000 women owned businesses. and more than 60.000 African American owned businesses.