Small Business Administration Extension

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the chairwoman's request to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 3614.

The bill is very simple. It extends the authorization of all programs authorized by the Small Business Act, the Small Business Investment Act, and any program operated by the Small Business Administration for which Congress has already appropriated the funds. The bill also makes a minor change to America's Recovery Capital, or ARC, loan program. This extension will last until October 31, 2009.

This extension is necessary because authorization for various programs operated by the SBA ceases on September 30, 2009. The committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion over the past two Congresses and reported out a number of bills to address programs operated by the SBA. Despite the efforts of the House, the extension passed earlier this year by both bodies of Congress is going to expire before the legislative process can run its course.

The work needed to help America's entrepreneurs revitalize the economy simply cannot be accomplished within the timeframe outlined in the current legislation. Without enactment of this extension, a number of vital programs that the SBA operates will cease to function. Given the importance that small businesses play and will continue to play in the revitalization of the American economy, we cannot allow the SBA authorization to run out.

This legislation also makes a minor change to the ARC loan program. When the ARC loan program was instituted, the Congressional Budget Office indicated that it would create a PAYGO issue should the ARC loans be available to businesses to pay down debt on a 7(a) loan. Accordingly, we stipulated that ARC loans could not be used in this manner. Recently, the CBO stated that allowing such an instance would not create these budgetary concerns and that it would be allowable for businesses to pay down debt on a 7(a) loan with ARC funds. This is a minor change that will enable small businesses with both an ARC loan and a 7(a) loan to use the funding they qualify for in a manner that suits them best, and I applaud this change and urge its adoption.

Enactment of this legislation will enable the House and Senate to continue to work in a diligent manner to address necessary changes to SBA programs. I urge all my colleagues to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 3614.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite).

Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill, although I think it's critically important that we are honest about what this Congress is doing for small businesses, or perhaps it would be better to say not doing.

We can't survive when the economy is good without small businesses, and we sure as heck cannot recover without small businesses when the economy is bad. Yet despite programs Congress has authorized and extended, I hear every day from small businesses in and around my district that banks, even banks they've dealt with for many years, are now refusing to lend and continuing to refuse to lend.

I was extremely frustrated when the $700 billion bank bailout did not free up bank funds for small businesses, and Americans were angrier still to find out that only 1 percent of the $800 billion stimulus bill that the President signed was directed towards small businesses. But that actually pales in comparison to the frustration felt when we hear that the little bit of stimulus money that did go to SBA isn't flowing through to small businesses.

To put this into perspective, 4 months ago the SBA began a program to assist auto dealers in obtaining floor-plan financing for their inventories. An SBA official estimated that 4,000 loans would be guaranteed by the government by October 1. As of the second week in September, only three, t-h-r-e-e, three, had been guaranteed and not a single one of those had closed.

Worse yet, Mr. Speaker, if we proceed with the proposed health care legislation in the House, 42 percent of small business income will face higher tax rates. This Congress and the Obama administration must address the fact that, as we have seen with the President's housing programs, even very strong incentives have not led to increased lending. Patting ourselves on the back for extending programs that don't work may feel good for a while, but it's not going to help the small business owners in any Member of Congress's district meet payroll.

Whether it's regulatory capital requirements or dealing with red tape to get the guarantees, the banks are not lending. That needs fixing immediately.

Instead of spending time recognizing the importance of wild horse adoption or congratulating sports teams, Congress needs to dig in and do the serious, urgent work that the people of America expect. That, Mr. Speaker, is our job.

Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, again, this is a very simple reauthorization.

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, if our economy is going to recover, then America's entrepreneurs will need to lead the way. Many of the SBA's programs, which will help small businesses with specialized training or access to capital, need to be updated. That is why the House has passed bills to update the SBA's various programs and why they were approved with bipartisan support.

However, while we continue working with our Senate colleagues to finish these bills, we also need to give the SBA the authority to continue functioning.

The legislation before us will extend the SBA programs until the end of October. This provides the appropriate amount of time to continue our legislative work while keeping key services at the SBA up and running. Equally important, this bill makes two small, yet significant, changes to the ARC loan program and the New Markets Venture Capital program. These changes will further help small businesses access capital when they need it most.

This is a good bill for small businesses. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

* [Begin Insert]

Mr. WU. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3614.

Small businesses grow our economy through innovation, and the SBIR and STTR programs help companies develop cutting edge technologies for the government and for the private sector. However, the SBIR and STTR programs expire at the end of this month. H.R. 3614 temporarily extends the authorization of these programs while we work to finalize reauthorization efforts.

The House and Senate both passed legislation earlier this year to reauthorize these programs. We have been working to find common ground on areas we disagree on, and while we still have yet to reach a final agreement--we all have the same goal: to reauthorize important programs that drive small business.

As we work to get our economy back on track, small, high tech companies will play an important role creating good paying jobs. It is important that SBIR and STTR continue to provide critical funds for research at small businesses. It is also important that these programs reflect the innovation economy of 2009. I look forward to continue working with the House Small Business Committee and the Senate to reauthorize this program.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

* [End Insert]

Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velázquez) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3614.

The question was taken.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.

Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

END

Source