Confirmation of Dilawar Syed

Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, last week, the Senate confirmed Dilawar Syed to be the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration with a bipartisan vote. Mr. Syed was the longest pending nomination in the Biden administration, waiting 827 days to be confirmed.

The Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration should not have been a controversial nomination. Mr. Syed has served our Nation admirably as Special Representative for Commercial Diplomacy at the State Department, where he has helped American companies compete in international markets throughout the world. He has extensive background as an entrepreneur and business leader with an inspiring immigrant success story that is only possible in America. Now that he has been confirmed, he is the highest ranking Muslim American in the Biden administration.

Mr. Syed should have been confirmed unanimously years ago. But regrettably, Senate Republicans chose to play politics with changing excuses designed to obstruct the nomination. Obstruction and delay resulted in the position being vacant for over 5 years. With record numbers of entrepreneurs starting new small businesses, we need a fully staffed SBA.

Senate Republicans criticized pandemic loans that were taken out by Mr. Syed's company, Lumiata, and accused Mr. Syed of being slow to disclose the loans. Mr. Syed testified before the committee that the board of his company had taken out Paycheck Protection Program--PPP-- loans from SBA, funds that they were legally eligible to receive. And to his credit, Mr. Syed and his company repaid those PPP loans when they secured an additional round of venture funding. All of this funding was disclosed to the White House during the vetting process, and Mr. Syed was transparent about his financials, even beyond the information asked by the Senate committee questionnaire. Critics tried to claim that he had misled Congress or outright lied. That is simply not true.

Despite his unfair treatment, justice ultimately prevailed, and his nomination passed with bipartisan support from five Republican Senators who were able to judge Mr. Syed on his character and business acumen rather than false attacks.

Many nominees would have given up and decided the attacks were not worth it. With his background, Mr. Syed could have taken a lucrative positions in the private sector. But our Nation is fortunate that Mr. Syed did not let this long process deter him from serving the public interest. I join Mr. Syed's family, friends, and colleagues in congratulating him on his perseverance throughout this process and look forward to working with him, Administrator Guzman, and the leadership team at the Small Business Administration.

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