CBC Hour: Small Business Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. HORSFORD. Good evening.

Let me first thank my good friend, the gentleman from the Empire State, my coanchor, Mr. Jeffries. It has been a pleasure now, for the first six months of our term in this 113th Congress, to work with you to bring these issues to the floor each week on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus. I really have appreciated your friendship, your perspective, and your intelligence on so many issues, and I look forward to continuing to work with you.

And to my other colleagues, the dynamic freshman class, it is so great to have colleagues who work together, who have like mindedness to represent our communities and to do it in a way that addresses the needs of all people. The gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Beatty) has so many experiences from the private sector, to her role working as an administrator in the university, Ohio State University. It has been great to get to know her, as well as my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne). These are individuals who have great perspective and experience and whose voice on these issues are incredibly important. I'm just pleased to be among such a dynamic group that is trying to make a difference here in this 113th Congress.

So today, we are here to bring attention and focus to celebrating the 50th anniversary of National Small Business Week. It is fitting that tonight's Special Order hour will focus on how small businesses are critical to the growth of our economy. As we do during these normal hours, people can follow us on #CBCTalks. If you have a question or you have an idea, if you have a perspective that you want heard, this is your opportunity because it's not just about us coming here, but it is about us listening to what it is our constituents want us to bring to the floor.

As my colleagues have already said, small businesses are the backbone of our economy. The CBC has fought and continues to fight to strengthen programs that create economic opportunity and foster entrepreneurship. Over the last year, small businesses in our country have created 700,000 jobs, accounting for 40 percent of employment gains, across companies of all sizes. More than half of all Americans either own or work for a small business.

So when we talk about increasing access to capital, enhancing business partnerships, and providing important technical assistance, the CBC is talking about the small businesses who are the engines of our economy. And we have solutions, and they are solutions that we hope our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will work with us to pass because they are the right solutions for America--solutions like Representative Rush's expanding opportunities for Main Street. So much focus is always on Wall Street, but we want to bring the issues of Main Street and small businesses to this body. Whether it is Representative Richmond's Microenterprise and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Act, making sure we are helping new businesses and young entrepreneurs have the resources they need to start and grow their business, or whether it is Representative Clarke's Expanding Opportunities for Small Businesses Act, the CBC is working on solutions. And these are the types of real policies that are before this body, and we would urge our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to work with us to make these bills law. These bills, if enacted, would greatly enhance the small business landscape for minority entrepreneurs.

You know, I had an opportunity recently to visit the American History Museum. When you're there and you reflect on our history as a Nation and you see the important contributions that African Americans have made to the establishment and growth of our great Nation, whether it be in politics or government, civil rights or social justice, and, yes, entrepreneurship, it's African Americans who have helped build our country, and it is African American businesses that need to be part of our plan for economic growth.

Three issues that I hear most from my constituents, small business owners that I believe have to be at the center of our discussion as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Small Business Week, is, number one, access to capital, whether it be on the need for lines of credit to help with the day-to-day operations of a business or capital loans to help a business buy new equipment so that they can expand or grow.

The second issue is equal opportunity to bid on and win contracts both in the private sphere but, most importantly in our role, the Federal contracting opportunities. When I look at the amount of money that is being spent by these Federal agencies and to know that there are not the types of efforts to really provide outreach or support to our minority- and women-owned and veteran-owned businesses is something that the Congressional Black Caucus believes has to be a priority.

And third is the need to ensure compliance with minority participation in Federal contracting. This is an area, to my good friend from New York, I hope that we will be able to work on. I know the ranking member over Small Business, this is a priority of hers as well, and I want to see what we can do to hold accountable every agency to do their part to ensure that there's ample participation from all communities.

You know, in April I held my first small business forum with my constituents that focused on creating good-paying jobs through Federal contracting opportunities. We held another one recently on access to capital. It was the Small Business Administration which was there that talked about the fact that they deliver millions of dollars of loans, contracts, counseling sessions, and other forms of assistance to small businesses. Well, we sought to replicate that type of support in our district with our small business owners. We had representatives from various agencies attend, and they mapped out strategies for local businesses who are looking to grow and add more workers. We had representatives from agencies, including the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, the Department of Energy, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Small Business Administration, as well as our Governor's Office of Economic Development.

The forum provided a great opportunity to discuss our plan to create jobs in our local community. Over 60 local small business owners attended the event, along with representatives from Federal agencies. Other business owners helped local residents and aspiring entrepreneurs figure out how to position themselves to compete for Federal contracts and grants. Those grants create jobs in our local community, and job creation and economic growth is what we should be about as we talk about celebrating National Small Business Owners Week.

What was most rewarding, to my friend from New York, was a panel of young entrepreneurs. We had young people who are still in high school who have a business plan for how they can create everything from backpacks to marketing to social marketing opportunities. These are young people with ideas, with passion, with vision; but we want to make sure that they have the right support as well. So listening to these young people makes me appreciate just how important these resources are and why we need to continue to work to make them a reality.

Let me finish my remarks at this point by talking about the need for business-to-business partnerships and making sure that we have these face-to-face meetings with those who know the ins and outs of securing grants, those who know how to go about contracting, and also the need for access to capital and how to secure the loans that small businesses need to grow their business.

We want to encourage those who are listening, or following us on #CBCtalks, to attend one of the Small Business Administration's matchmaking events during Small Business Week--there are several. There's one in Seattle, there's one in Dallas, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and even here in the Nation's Capital in Washington, D.C.--and to reach out to resources like Black Enterprise.

They have a very successful Young Entrepreneurs Conference that they hold annually that helps young people learn about the opportunities of starting their small business and what it means to develop a plan to do marketing, to have all of their plans in place so that their business, once launched, is successful.

And, finally, I want to encourage people to reach out and join the U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce and their local urban and Black chambers of commerce because these are opportunities where they can connect to resources, get the support that they need, and help to grow their businesses.

So I yield back to the gentleman from New York at this time and thank him and the other Members for this spotlight on Small Business Week.

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