Successful Entrepreneurship for Reservists and Veterans Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague from Illinois for yielding.

The first thing I would like to do is thank Chairwoman Velazquez and Ranking Member Chabot for continuing the Small Business Committee's bipartisan efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3734, the Successful Entrepreneurship for Reservists and Veterans Act, or the SERV Act, which I introduced with Ranking Member Chabot.

This bipartisan piece of legislation helps veteran business owners succeed by studying the barriers they face, including lack of access to capital and credit. It also helps ensure that veterans are aware of all of the resources available to them through the Small Business Administration.

I was fortunate enough to spend this past weekend on Veterans Day at home in the district I represent in Kansas. I was meeting the brave men and women who have served our country and was hearing about the issues and opportunities that they have.

After everything our veterans have done for us, we must have their backs. They deserve nothing less than access to jobs, healthcare, and the services that they deserve.

That includes the ability to start and grow a small business. Veterans possess many of the leadership and entrepreneurial skills to start and grow small businesses, but they face unique challenges, including difficulty accessing capital and credit.

Since it is tough to accumulate the type of credit needed to start a business during your time in service, those issues are exactly what the SERV Act is intending to address. The SERV Act requires a report from the Comptroller General of the United States on the ability of veteran and reservist small business owners to access credit.

The report will include new information and analysis on the sources of credit that veterans and other reservists use to start and maintain their businesses, as well as how deployment and other military responsibilities affect a veteran's and reservist's credit.

Studying the problem of access to credit for veterans and reservists is a crucial first step in finding the right solutions. This legislation also helps connect veterans to existing programs in the Small Business Administration that are aimed at helping veterans transition their military skills from service to business, like Veteran Business Outreach Centers, Boots to Business, or the Service-Disabled Entrepreneurship Development Training.

These programs provide vital resources for veterans, but they are only useful if veterans know about them. Without understanding the programs, veterans are not going to be able to access them.

That is why the SERV Act requires the Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development to develop a plan for outreach and promotion of these incredible programs.

The task force is responsible for coordinating Federal efforts to improve capital access, business development, and contracting opportunities for veteran and service-disabled small businesses. But the task force has not submitted a report to Congress since 2015. That is why the SERV Act would require an annual report to Congress on its appointments and to outline its plan for outreach on the many programs available to veterans, service-disabled veterans, reservists, and their spouses.

I urge all of my colleagues to support the SERV Act and help set our veteran entrepreneurs up for success.

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