[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 104 (Tuesday, August 2, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
      SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION PROMOTION OF EMPLOYER MANDATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mann). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California [Mr. Kim] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, when I came here 2 years ago as a former small 
business owner, I thought that I would have an opportunity to work to 
help small businesses. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case.
  This morning, I was going to offer an amendment to a bill--H.R. 
4801--which was scheduled to be debated and voted on today, but 
suddenly the entire bill was removed.
  My amendment was simple: It would prohibit the Small Business 
Administration from spending taxpayer dollars to promote employer 
mandates.
  This amendment is necessary because the SBA spent over $100,000 in 
fiscal year 1994 funds to promote employer mandates--telling small 
business owners that employer mandates would be good for them. The SBA 
has also spent appropriated funds to send Erskine Bowles, the SBA 
Administrator, to town hall meetings to spread the word about the 
benefits of employer mandates.
  What is disturbing about this is that the SBA is promoting employer 
mandates in spite of the fact that employer mandates will hurt the very 
small businesses that the SBA is supposed to represent.
  In case you have any doubt about this fact, just look at the 
evidence: Almost every credible study predicts substantial wage and job 
loss as a result of employer mandates. A study by the CONSAD Research 
Corp., for example, predicts that over 1 million workers could lose 
their jobs as a result of employer mandates. Another study, done by the 
State of California, predicts that over 3 million employees will lose 
their jobs.
  The evidence also shows that the owners and employees of small 
businesses are overwhelmingly opposed to employer mandates. For 
example, in six out of seven White House conferences on small business, 
held in seven different States, small business owners voted 
overwhelmingly to reject employer mandates.
  In other words, the SBA has spent taxpayer dollars to promote a 
policy which the evidence shows will be bad for small businesses and 
which the owners and employees of small businesses overwhelmingly 
oppose.
  My amendment would address this shameful situation by prohibiting the 
Small Business Administration from spending funds authorized by H.R. 
4801 to promote employer mandates.
  Then, the Rules Committee, which decides what amendments are allowed 
to be offered on the floor, voted to prohibit me from offering my 
amendment--even though the amendment was ruled perfectly germane by the 
House Parliamentarian.
  In response to this ridiculous situation, I was going to offer a 
motion to recommit before the vote on final passage. This motion would 
have forced the House to vote on my amendment.
  Not surprisingly, just as I was preparing to offer my motion, the 
Democratic leadership--without any warning--suddenly decided to pull 
H.R. 4801 from the floor--despite the fact that we had already started 
to debate the bill last Friday.
  Why did they do this? The answer is simple: They are terrified. They 
are terrified that if the issue of employer mandates comes up for a 
vote in the House, this body might vote to reject this job-killing 
proposal. In fact, they are so terrified that they won't even let my 
amendment--which is a simple amendment dealing with the activities of 
the SBA--come to the floor for a vote.
  This is an example of why the American people are so frustrated with 
Congress. This body is supposed to debate issues, but we give the 
American people the impression we avoid tough questions by delaying and 
hiding behind parliamentary rules.
  For this reason, I urge the leadership of this body will come to its 
senses and allow us to vote on my amendment. I think we owe that to the 
owners and employees of small businesses.

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