Women's Business Centers Improvement Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. TENNEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6441, the Women's Business Centers Improvement Act, legislation that I am honored to lead with my colleague, Representative Sharice Davids.

Female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses play a critical role in our Nation's economy. As a longtime small business owner myself, and the owner of a woman-owned business, I understand the challenges women- owned small businesses face, especially in rural communities.

The Women's Business Center program at the Small Business Administration has been helping women overcome obstacles and build thriving businesses for over 30 years. With more than 150 locations across the Nation, the Women's Business Center program provides over 150,000 female small business owners annually with resources and guidance, helping them to identify opportunities for growth.

The bipartisan Women's Business Centers Improvement Act will strengthen the Women's Business Center program, increase authorized funding, and enact commonsense taxpayer protections and oversight provisions to safeguard public dollars and ensure that the program efficiently serves the American people.

Additionally, the bill will expand the cap on grants made available under this program, which will better support our women entrepreneurs. These improvements will help the Women's Business Centers program run efficiently and expand into more communities, like those underserved communities particularly in my district and Ms. Davids' district and all across New York and our Nation.

I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan women-owned small businesses bill and vote ``yes'' on H.R. 6441.

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