Prison to Proprietorship for Formerly Incarcerated Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. JEFFRIES. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend, the distinguished gentlewoman from the Seventh Congressional District of the great State of New York and the chairwoman of the Small Business Committee, for yielding and for her tremendous leadership.

I rise in support of H.R. 5065, the Prison to Proprietorship for Formerly Incarcerated Act.

Here in America, we have a mass incarceration epidemic. Last Congress, we worked in a bipartisan fashion to pass the First Step Act to help propel formerly incarcerated individuals toward success when they return home, to reduce recidivism, and to save taxpayer dollars. But the First Step Act was just that, a first step.

That is why, together, we introduced the Prison to Proprietorship for Formerly Incarcerated Act, to address one of the many challenges faced by returning citizens. This bill is designed to make sure that formerly incarcerated individuals can use their God-given skills, talent, and ability to bring business and entrepreneurial activities to life in their communities.

Throughout our Federal Bureau of Prisons system, there are incarcerated individuals who have the same intellect, the same ability, and the same resiliency as some of the most successful people on Wall Street back home in New York. The difference between them can often be as simple as a lack of opportunity, not a lack of entrepreneurial spirit.

That is what this legislation is designed to change. This bill will make sure that we provide opportunities to those who have been left behind. It is designed to make sure that the American Dream is accessible for formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, and their communities.

This effort, of course, is consistent with our core values here in America, where we believe that hard work and dedication should be rewarded and that opportunities should be available to everyone.

H.R. 5065 directs the Service Corps of Retired Executives, otherwise known as SCORE, to provide mentoring, workshops, and training videos for formerly incarcerated individuals on how to launch and grow a small business. It would provide individualized business mentoring to support the development of business plans and entrepreneurial growth for recipients of prison-to-proprietorship services up to a year after their release, connect these individuals with small business networks and resources, and identify opportunities to access capital.

Madam Speaker, I thank, again, Chairwoman Velazquez and Ranking Member Chabot of the Small Business Committee for their tremendous leadership in this effort. I also thank the lead Republican, Representative Burchett from Tennessee, for his great leadership.

A philosopher once said: Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, but teach him to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. That is what this effort ultimately is all about.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 5065 and lift up formerly incarcerated returning citizens by providing them with entrepreneurial resources.

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