The Needs Of American Women And the 111th Congress' Response To Those Needs

Floor Speech

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Ms. CLARKE. Madam Speaker, I would like to start this evening off in my address by thanking my esteemed colleague, the congresswoman from Ohio, MARCIA FUDGE, for giving me a moment to comment on women in small business. As the co-Chair of the Women's Caucus Task Force on Women and Education, Congresswoman Fudge has constantly demonstrated her leadership on these crucial issues, and you are to be commended.

Ms. FUDGE. Thank you.

Ms. CLARKE. I am especially pleased to be speaking on these issues with you here this evening because of the timeliness of this conversation. Women entrepreneurs have come a long way in recent decades, but more must be done to support them, especially in this dire economic environment.

As the sole member of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Small Business Committee in the House--or the Senate, for that matter--I am constantly monitoring developments that affect women-owned small businesses, especially those in underserved areas. The impact of small businesses cannot be stated enough. We know the statistics, but it is worth going over it again.

Small businesses are the key to the health of the U.S. economy. They represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms; they employ about half of all private sector employees; pay nearly 45 percent of the U.S. private payroll; and are responsible for more than half of the non-farming private GDP.

Women-owned businesses are an important factor in this economic story. Recent studies show that there are close to 8 million individual women-owned small firms with a $3 trillion impact on our close to $14 trillion economy employing close to 23 million people. These are great numbers, but I for one believe that more must be done. Not only do I believe it, but the facts bear it out.

A recent study was released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York entitled ``Gender and the Availability of Credit to Privately Held Firms.'' This report relied on data on privately held businesses drawn from the Federal Reserve's Surveys of Small Businesses Finances covering the period of 1987 through 2003. Authors of the report concluded that when compared to male-owned firms, women-owned firms are significantly smaller as measured by sales, assets, and employment; younger, as measured by age of the firm; more likely to be in retail, trade, or business services, and less likely to be in construction, secondary manufacturing, and wholesale trade industries; and are more inclined to have fewer and shorter banking relationships. Women owners are significantly younger and less experienced and tend to have less formal education than their male counterparts.

The report further found that women firms are significantly more likely to be credit-constrained because they are more likely to be discouraged from applying for credit, though not more likely to be denied credit when they do apply.

This report reflects the fact that women-owned businesses have made great strides in recent years but that challenges to growth, business model diversification, technical capabilities, and ability to access capital remain.

The bottom line is that women entrepreneurs need more support. I have long been an advocate for women-owned businesses, and it is vital that we improve existing programs and explore the need for new ones to narrow this achievement gap.

Most recently, I have been hard at work exploring possible solutions for women entrepreneurs. Last month, I introduced H.R. 3771, the Veteran, Minority, and Women-Owned Construction Business Mentorship and Grant Assistance Act of 2009. This legislation would establish grant programs for women-owned small business construction companies to help create the internal business systems that are essential for success. Funds would also be made available to local groups and schools to bolster technical assistance to these firms. This bill would create opportunities in the highly competitive construction sector at a time when there has been a stark decline in construction activity due to the housing downturn. This legislation is really about capacity building for small firms so they can better compete for the many stimulus opportunities that are still being developed and deployed.

Most of the total $787 billion in stimulus funds have yet to go out. Further, most of the remaining funds are targeted to shovel-ready construction projects--projects that our women-owned businesses should and must participate in.

I'd like to take this opportunity to applaud the women builders in this country. So often, the image of the construction industry is a burly man in a hard hat. Well, I've got news for you, gentlemen. Women builders face great obstacles and challenges, and in my experience, meet and exceed them consistently in a highly competitive environment. Our Nation's extraordinary women builders will benefit from this legislation, and I'd like to thank my colleagues, including Congresswoman Fudge, for supporting this bill. We have, as of today, 23 cosponsors for the legislation. The growing support for this legislation is proof that Washington is waking up to the prominent role that small businesses, including our women-owned businesses, must play in our recovery.

Finally, I have been tirelessly working to find ways to improve access to capital for women-owned businesses. It is no secret that our largest depository institutions are not lending as much as they could but are instead using the excess capital they have to provide capital buffers for their own balance sheet health, retarding any rebounds that could be fueled by small business lending.

I applaud President Obama for announcing that his administration will be seeking low-cost loans to smaller banks and community development financial institutions, known as CDFIs, as a means to address the small business lending gap. I am especially supportive of CDFIs as a means of getting credit to our smaller women-owned firms in underserved and economically distressed areas. For every dollar of CDFI investment, $15 of non-Federal dollars are leveraged to provide lending to deserving borrowers.

I will be studying how to improve programs like CDFIs to leverage government investment to help people help themselves.

Let us make no mistake, the last great frontier for women entrepreneurs--especially in our communities--will be consistent ability for them to access credit. I will fight tirelessly alongside my colleagues to make this a reality.

As I said earlier, these are but a few of the challenges faced by women-owned businesses. I am always paying attention to the issues affecting our women entrepreneurs and I will for as long as I am a Member of Congress. Much work is left to be done, but with the

great leadership of people like Congresswoman Fudge; the Chair of our CBC, Congresswoman BARBARA LEE; and our Speaker, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I know we will get to where we need to be and beyond.

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