Assisting Small Businesses Not Fraudsters Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Velazquez for this opportunity to speak. I thank Chairman Williams for working with me to introduce this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this effort to prioritize small businesses in the future through funding opportunities by preventing pandemic fraudsters from accessing Federal small business funds.

Like other communities around the United States, in California's 12th District, small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. Over 29,000 small businesses in our district bolster our region. These businesses struggled throughout the pandemic.

In Oakland's downtown, for instance, many of these institutions are fighting day in and day out just to stay afloat. I thank the Small Business Administration employees who work hard to support them.

These wonderful Federal employees have been connecting with small businesses in our district with emergency assistance, access to capital, advice on how to keep the doors open in the darkest times, how to pay their workers, and how to be strong servicemembers in our community. I have heard from many of these Federal workers who say they have been under assault by this current administration.

Just last month, I visited the Small Business Administration field office. Less than 2 hours after I left, two of those employees had received layoff notices.

Mr. Speaker, firing Federal employees in this moment does not decrease the need or importance of the agency; it just makes it harder for entrepreneurs, for restaurateurs, for childcare operators, and others to keep their employees paid, to keep their doors open, and to keep our downtowns thriving.

Every dollar that Congress gives to the Small Business Administration in this moment means the difference of a small business opening and employing folks or filing for bankruptcy.

The Small Business Administration has provided $1.2 trillion, let me say that again, $1.2 trillion in Paycheck Protection Program loans and other emergency assistance during the pandemic. As the ranking member has told us, unfortunately, there have been serious bad actors who took advantage of these funds, and those folks defrauded not only the government, but they defrauded the mom-and-pop shops on Main Street and, in my case, on Broadway.

Those dollars could have been used to create jobs, revitalize communities, and to help those businesses stay open and thrive. Instead, these fraudsters took advantage of the lax application screenings, which we believe may have resulted in them receiving at least 17 percent of the total Small Business Administration assistance.

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Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration has created new safeguards to reduce the potential for this fraud, but this legislation that is supported by our committee would build on this effort, making convicted fraudsters ineligible for Federal small business assistance.

Mr. Speaker, as someone who has driven a payroll for over 30 years, I cannot express how important this legislation is at this moment. We love and support our small businesses with all that we have.

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