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Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act

Floor Speech

Date: June 23, 2025
Location: Washington, DC

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Mr. DOWNING. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the backbone of Montana's Second District. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ roughly 67 percent of all Montanans. That is well above the national average.

These businesses historically have difficulty accessing the funding they need to grow and create jobs. Their location presents an added challenge.

According to the Center on Rural Innovation, 12 percent of U.S. businesses are located within rural areas, yet they receive less than 1 percent of venture capital funding.

Many of the communities that I represent have populations of under 500 people. It places them among this underserved group. These overlooked people and places have inspired my legislation, H.R. 1190, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act.

As any small business owner can attest, the number one barrier to growth is access to capital. Through my own experiences, I know how difficult it can be for businesses to secure the funding that they need to grow. I have built businesses in technology, manufacturing, distilling, and real estate, and a primary driver in the success of all of these businesses was access to capital.

The SEC's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation was created for just this reason: to identify capital access problems that small businesses face. However, rural small businesses are currently excluded from the required categories of businesses that the office monitors for these problems.

My legislation simply requires this office to identify and report to Congress the challenges faced by rural small businesses when trying to access our capital markets. H.R. 1190 will make it easier for Members of Congress to do our jobs to make sure rural businesses, like in Montana, are not left behind.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Bynum for partnering with me on this legislation. I was happy to see it pass out of the Committee on Financial Services with unanimous support. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation.

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