Hearing of House Committee on Small Business House of Representatives: What has EX IM Bank Done for Small Business Lately?

HEARING OF HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: WHAT HAS EX IM BANK DONE FOR SMALL BUSINESS LATELY?

April 6, 2005

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Ms. Velazquez. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I am going to use my time to set the record straight. I miss the time when this committee worked in a bipartisan way at a time when we really believed that our responsibility was to protect small businesses in this country and to enact legislation and craft legislation that really brought relief to small businesses, that provided economic tools for small businesses to succeed in this country. When Chairman Talent, today a Senator from Missouri, was the chairman of this committee, we passed 24 bills. Twenty of them became law. In the last Congress only two bills, two extensions for SBA were passed from this committee.

So let me just say that, Mr. Chairman, what happened here today is a travesty. What was done to Mr. Barrow, Ms. Moore and Ms. Sanchez was unconscionable, and I will not stand idly for that type of disrespect to the minority's right for an open
debate. And yes, indeed, Chairman Talent and I had deep and big differences, but we were able to discuss those differences and respectfully disagree. So if you think that you can run this committee in a partisan way, unilaterally so, fine with me. Go
ahead and do it. And then we don't have--it doesn't make any sense for me to stay here and for the members of the Democratic
side to stay here and participate in this hearing.

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