Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3511) to amend the Small Business Act to require training on increasing contract awards to small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans, and for other purposes.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 3511

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 ``Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act''. SEC. 2. TRAINING ON INCREASING CONTRACT AWARDS TO SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.

Section 36 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657f) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

``(j) Training on Increasing Contract Awards to Small Business Concerns Owned and Controlled by Service-Disabled Veterans.--

``(1) In general.--The Administrator, in consultation with the Office of Veterans Business Development, shall provide to covered employees at each Federal agency that has not met the goal established under section 15(g)(1)(A)(ii) training on how to increase the number of contracts awarded to small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans.

``(2) Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation with the Office of Veterans Business Development, shall issue guidance and best practices on increasing the number of contracts awarded to small businesses owned and controlled by service disabled veterans for Federal agencies to which the goal established under section 15(g)(1)(A)(ii) applies.

``(3) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Administration shall submit to Congress a report detailing, for the fiscal year covered by the report--

``(A) a list of each Federal agency that failed to meet the goal established under section 15(g)(1)(A)(ii);

``(B) the number of trainings provided to each Federal agency described in paragraph (1); and

``(C) an overview of the content included in such training sessions.''.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that this is the first of eight bills from the Committee on Small Business that we will be considering today. That goes to show that the Committee on Small Business is a committee that gets things done, and I hope our Senate counterparts follow our lead to get these bills to the President's desk.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3511, the Service- Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act, which is sponsored by my good friend, Representative LaLota, from the great State of New York.

H.R. 3511 builds on this Congress' dedication to America's veterans. Our country asks a lot from our brave servicemen and -women. Therefore, we must support them when they return to civilian life and ensure that they have a fair shot to succeed back home.

That is why this bill is critical to ensuring that our veterans are supported as entrepreneurs. The Federal Government is the largest consumer in the world, and each year, these agencies have a goal to spend a portion of their contracts with small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.

In last year's NDAA, Congress raised the spending goal to 5 percent of all contracting dollars. Unfortunately, not every Federal agency has met its commitment to the men and women who bravely served our country. H.R. 3511 would remedy this by requiring the Small Business Administration to help failing agencies improve their inclusion of service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Our veterans deserve to have every chance to succeed in the Federal contracting space.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support H.R. 3511, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation that Mr. McGarvey and Mr. LaLota did a great job on, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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