[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 105 (Wednesday, August 3, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 3, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              SBA SENDS TAXPAYER MONEY TO PROMOTE MANDATES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Kim] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KIM. Mr. Speaker, I am going to change the subject a little bit 
from an international issue to a domestic issue which is troubling me 
and troubling a lot of us from the State of California.
  Two years ago I came here as a former small business owner thinking 
that I could have a real opportunity to help this Nation's small 
businesses. However, I found out over the last 2 weeks that that is not 
necessarily true.
  Let me tell what happened the last 2 weeks. Several weeks ago I found 
out that SBA, a Federal agency that is supposed to act as an advocate 
of small businesses, spent over $100,000 of taxpayers' money to promote 
employee mandates.
  I was shocked that the SBA would do such a thing, especially since 
small business owners and employees overwhelmingly oppose employer 
mandates. They are frightened for good reason: Every credible study 
predicts substantial job losses as a result of the employer mandates.

                              {time}  1610

  So, I decided to offer an amendment which would change this 
ridiculous situation. My amendment was simple: It would prohibit the 
SBA from spending taxpayer dollars to promote employer mandates.
  The first thing I found out is that my amendment will not be allowed 
to be offered on the floor unless the Rules Committee approves. The 
Rules Committee decides which amendments can and cannot be offered on 
the House floor for debate.
  So I went to the Rules Committee to offer my amendment. * * * I 
thought that this was a simple amendment and that it should not have 
any problem being accepted.
  When I walked into the Rules Committee, I was surprised. I found out 
something interesting. * * * There are nine Democrats and only four 
Republicans serving on that Committee. Suddenly, I had a bad feeling 
about my amendment's chances.
  Sure enough, the Democrat-controlled Rules Committee rejected my 
amendment. Remember, my amendment is simply asking SBA not to spend 
taxpayers' money to promote employer mandates. It was simply rejected. 
They said that the SBA bill was not the appropriate place to debate 
health care issues. * * * Despite the fact that my amendment dealt 
specifically with the SBA and despite the fact that our own House 
Parliamentarian ruled that my amendment was perfectly germane.
  This ruling was obviously very unfair, so I went to the House floor 
to try and overturn the Rules Committee's decision.
  And you can guess it. I was defeated again. * * * Even though 10 
brave Democrats stood up and joined all of the Republicans in voting to 
overturn this unfair decision, my amendment again was blocked.
  Despite this defeat, I was not willing to give up the fight for small 
businesses. In fact, I found out that I had one last chance to get a 
vote on my amendment. * * * I decided to offer a so-called motion to 
recommit, which would have forced the House to debate and vote on my 
amendment.
  Just as I was preparing to offer my motion, the Democratic leadership 
removed the entire SBA bill--the bill I was trying to amend--off the 
floor!
  Why did they do this? Let me tell you why. Because they did not want 
to have a vote on my amendment.
  They are scared to have a vote on my amendment.
  They are terrified that this body might actually pass my amendment 
and reveal the truth: That the American people don't want employer 
mandates and being taken over by government. Small business people do 
not want employer mandates, California people do not want employer 
mandates because they know that with employer mandates, it is not a 
question of whether jobs will be lost . . . it is just a question of 
how many jobs will be lost.
  This is exactly why the American people are so frustrated with 
Congress. They are frustrated because instead of debating issues openly 
and honestly, the Democrat leadership of this body delays and hides 
behind parliamentary rules. The American people are frustrated because 
instead of telling the truth about employer mandates, the Democratic 
leadership uses its dominance of the House to force Members to toe the 
big-government line on health care reform.
  The American people should know the Democrat leadership is holding a 
bill hostage which would provide funding for an entire agency because 
they do not want to deal with employer mandates, which is my amendment.
  Sadly, this is just business as usual in the House of 
Representatives. I am telling you that this is day two of the truth 
held hostage.

                          ____________________