Northern Mariana Islands Small Business Development Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6021) to amend the Small Business Act to ensure that the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is eligible for certain Small Business Administration programs, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 6021

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 ``Northern Mariana Islands Small Business Development Act''. SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS FOR CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PROGRAMS.

The Small Business Act is amended--

(1) in section 21(a) (15 U.S.C. 648(a))--

(A) in paragraph (1), by inserting before ``The Administration shall require'' the following new sentence: ``The previous sentence shall not apply to an applicant that has its principal office located in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.''; and

(B) in paragraph (4)(C)(ix), by striking ``and American Samoa'' and inserting ``American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands''; and

(2) in section 34(a)(9) (15 U.S.C. 657d(a)(9)), by striking ``and American Samoa'' and inserting ``American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands''.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6021, the Northern Mariana Islands Small Business Development Act.

There are 1,700 small businesses with 18,000 employees in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, yet these businesses are the only ones in the United States that are ineligible for the SBA's Small Business Development Center, or SBDC, and Federal and State Technology, or FAST, partnership programs.

The SBDC program provides free or low-cost counseling and training services to thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners each year, and the FAST partnership program provides funding to increase the number of Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technical Transfer applications and better prepare applicants for success.

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which rely heavily on tourism, has not been immune from the economic devastation resulting from COVID-19. Moreover, it has been trying to rebuild from two catastrophic typhoons that wreaked havoc on the country in October 2018.

By extending SBA's SBDC and FAST programs to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Congress will extend valuable opportunities for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to receive support from qualified counselors on how to launch and grow their small businesses as well as recover from the economic catastrophes.

In March, H.R. 6021 was unanimously approved by the House Small Business Committee, and I commend the sponsors of the legislation, Mr. Sablan and Mrs. Radewagen, for raising this inequity to the committee.

The dedication they have shown to creating greater parity to the entrepreneurs in all territories shows exactly how small business issues are neither Democratic nor Republican issues; they are American issues.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting the small business owners and entrepreneurs of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by voting in favor of H.R. 6021.

Mr. Speaker, I just urge support of this bill. It corrects an inequity, and I am so proud that, under my leadership and the ranking member, we are providing access to all the programs under the Small Business Administration for the small businesses in the Northern Mariana Islands.

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