[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 104 (Wednesday, July 29, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S9274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO LOUIS TAYLOR

 Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Louis 
Taylor who has provided great service to the Committee on Small 
Business, the U.S. Senate and to me personally. Louis Taylor is 
stepping down this week as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the 
Senate Committee on Small Business. When I became chairman of the 
Committee on Small Business in January 1995, one of my first actions 
was to hire Louis. For the past 3\1/2\ years, Louis has provided 
outstanding leadership to the staff on the Committee on Small Business 
and he has been instrumental in support of my efforts to transform the 
committee so that it is the eyes, ears, and voice in the U.S. Senate 
for small businesses.
  In his tenure on the Committee on Small Business, Louis Taylor played 
a significant role in crafting important pieces of legislation to help 
small businesses. Two such legislative accomplishments stand out among 
the numerous bills that originated from the Committee on Small Business 
and were enacted into law--the HUBZone Act of 1997 and the Small 
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, also known as the 
Red-Tape Reduction Act. The HUBZone program expands the opportunity for 
small businesses in economically distressed areas to compete for 
Federal contracts, bringing jobs and new investments to inner cities 
and poor rural areas. The Red-Tape Reduction Act established safeguards 
to improve the Government's regulatory fairness to small businesses and 
established an independent ombudsman and regional citizen review boards 
to give small businesses a voice in evaluating Federal agency actions. 
Without Louis Taylor's contributions, the ultimate enactment of these 
important statutes would surely have been much more difficult.
  In addition to these impressive legislative achievements, Louis 
Taylor played an integral role in ensuring that the Committee on Small 
Business capitalized on its expansive oversight jurisdiction to be a 
strong advocate for small business in the U.S. Senate. On those issues 
where the committee did not have legislative jurisdiction, Louis Taylor 
helped me guide the committee in its efforts to call attention to the 
impact such issues have on small business. For example, using its 
oversight jurisdiction, the committee was successful in including a 
number of small business provisions in the IRS Restructuring and Reform 
Act of 1998, which was signed into law last week. These changes to the 
structure of the IRS and improved taxpayer rights will help small 
business owners to resolve tax problems more efficiently while 
providing them with the service and respect that they deserve from the 
agency. The committee has also been extremely active in ensuring 
regulatory fairness for small businesses and women-owned businesses, in 
particular. Perhaps the provision that will have the broadest impact, 
however, is the provision of 100 percent deductibility for health 
insurance for the self-employed and their families. This measure 
ultimately will make health insurance more affordable for 5 million 
Americans who do not carry it now.
  In conclusion, the entire committee and I certainly will miss Louis 
Taylor as he moves on to other endeavors, but the contributions that he 
has made and the leadership he has given to the Committee on Small 
Business are greatly appreciated and will not be soon 
forgotten.

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