Successful Entrepreneurship for Reservists and Veterans Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3734) to require the Comptroller General of the United States to report on access to credit for small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals, to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to report on the veterans interagency task force, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3734
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Successful Entrepreneurship for Reservists and Veterans Act'' or the ``SERV Act''. SEC. 2. REPORTING REQUIREMENT FOR VETERANS INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.
Section 32(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657b(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(4) Report.--Along with the budget justification documents for the Small Business Administration submitted to Congress in connection with the budget for a fiscal year submitted under 1105 of title 31, United States Code, the Administrator shall submit a report--
``(A) discussing the appointments made to and activities of the task force; and
``(B) identifying and outlining a plan for outreach and promotion of the programs and services for veterans, including Veteran Business Outreach Centers, Boots to Business, Boots to Business Reboot, Service-Disabled Entrepreneurship Development Training Program, Veteran Institute for Procurement, Women Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program, and Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship.''. SEC. 3. GAO REPORT ON ACCESS TO CREDIT.
(a) Report on Access to Credit.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a report on the ability of small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals to access credit to--
(A) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives.
(2) Contents.--The report submitted under paragraph (1) shall include, to the extent practicable, an analysis of--
(A) the sources of credit used by small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals and the average percentage of the credit obtained from each source by such concerns;
(B) the default rate for small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals, disaggregated by each source of credit described in subparagraph (A), as compared to the default rate for the source of credit for small business concerns generally;
(C) the Federal lending programs available to provide credit to small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals;
(D) gaps, if any, in the availability of credit for small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals that are not being filled by the Federal Government or private sources;
(E) obstacles faced by covered individuals in trying to access credit;
(F) the extent to which deployment and other military responsibilities affect the credit history of veterans and Reservists; and
(G) the extent to which covered individuals are aware of Federal programs targeted towards helping covered individuals access credit.
(b) Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) Covered individual.--The term ``covered individual'' means--
(A) a veteran;
(B) a service-disabled veteran;
(C) a Reservist;
(D) the spouse of an individual described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C); or
(E) the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces.
(2) Reservist.--The term ``Reservist'' means a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces, as described in section 10101 of title 10, United States Code.
(3) Small business act definitions.--The terms ``service- disabled veteran'', ``small business concern'', and ``veteran'' have the meanings given those terms, respectively, under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3734, the Successful Entrepreneurship for Reservists, or SERV Act.
The SBA offers several programs to help aspiring and existing veteran entrepreneurs launch and grow their small businesses. But as valuable as they are, more must be done to promote these programs to guarantee that our veterans are aware of them and utilizing them.
The Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development was established to do just that. The task force is chaired by the SBA and is comprised of representatives appointed by the SBA's administrator from a variety of agencies, including: the SBA's Office of Veterans Business Development, Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Department of the Treasury, Veterans' Affairs, General Services Administration, Office of Management and Budget, and four representatives from veterans service and military organizations.
The task force is charged with coordinating efforts to improve capital access, business development, and contracting goals for veterans. Unfortunately, it hasn't filed an annual report since fiscal year 2015. This delay is wholly unacceptable on its face. Considering we heard from veterans about the needs for more outreach and coordination of business services, it only makes the delay more painful.
Today's legislation requires the SBA administrator to report annually on the appointments made, highlighting the activities of and plan for outreach and engagement by the Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development.
Annual reporting will give Congress the visibility over the task force responsible for serving our veterans at SBA and the ability to provide proper oversight. Gathering a regular snapshot of the program will enable Congress to make modifications where they are needed in a timely fashion.
I want to thank Ms. Davids and Ranking Member Chabot for their collaboration on this bill.
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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Davids), my good friend and cosponsor of this bill.
Assisting entrepreneurs requires integrated, comprehensive solutions that leverage a combination of government and private efforts. Despite progress we have made, hundreds of thousands of veterans and their families continue to struggle, demonstrating how much more must be done.
The interagency veterans task force is a critical part of this effort, and we must hold agencies accountable for ensuring they are meeting the duties placed upon them to maximize outreach to our servicemembers. H.R. 3734 does just this by requiring regular reporting by the task force to gather snapshots of programmatic outreach and education to veterans.
It also asks the Government Accountability Office to study the many issues raised by veteran entrepreneurs facing difficulty accessing credit so that this body can better understand the financing needs of veterans. Doing so enables us to take additional steps to ease the burdens of not just transitioning back to civilian life, but also risking more to start a business.
It is incumbent upon all of us to ensure that resources reach the veterans and servicemembers held in such high regard.
I sincerely thank Ms. Davids for spearheading this bill and working with Ranking Member Chabot to make certain we hold agencies, through the task force, accountable.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
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