[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 116 (Tuesday, September 26, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H8084-H8086]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          EXPORT WORKING CAPITAL LOAN IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2000

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4944) to amend the Small Business Act to permit the sale of 
guaranteed loans made for export purposes before the loans have been 
fully disbursed to borrowers.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4944

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Export Working Capital Loan 
     Improvement Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. SALE OF GUARANTEED LOANS MADE FOR EXPORT PURPOSES.

       Section 5(f)(1)(C) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
     634(f)(1)(C)) is amended to read as follows:
       ``(C) each loan, except each loan made under section 
     7(a)(14), shall have been disbursed to the borrower prior to 
     any sale.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Velazquez) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo).
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4944 makes a technical correction to the Export 
Working Capital Guarantee Program of the Small Business Administration. 
The export working capital program provides a 90 percent guarantee for 
revolving capital needs covering up to $750,000 for small business 
exporters.
  However, this is a very underused program. Only 429 international 
trade loans were facilitated by this program in 1999. The problem is 
that the SBA would like to be able to sell these loans on the secondary 
market. However, secondary market sales of guaranteed loans are 
conducted infrequently. Current law requires that all 7(a) loans, 
including export working capital loans, must be fully disbursed to the 
borrower prior to becoming included in the secondary market sale.
  Export working capital loans are often approved, disbursed, and 
repaid so quickly that they miss the window of opportunity for 
inclusion in a secondary market sale.
  The purpose of the Export Working Capital Loan Improvement Act of 
2000 is to exempt export working capital loans from the disbursement 
requirement under the SBA's 7(a) loan program. This change will allow 
export working capital loans to be sold to the secondary market. 
Passage of H.R. 4944 hopefully will free up more trade financing for 
small business exporters.

                              {time}  1215

  The lack or the complexity of trade finance is a major barrier to 
small businesses.
  Last month, I participated in a forum in Rockford, Illinois, in the 
district I represent, a forum which was sponsored by the Office of 
International Trade at the SBA to encourage more local banks to become 
interested in trade finance. This is a difficult process, because even 
in this era of globalization, many bankers are still not quite sure how 
they can be repaid for international loans.
  H.R. 4944 will remove the uncertainty for small or international 
trade loans administered by the SBA. The bill will make trade finance a 
more attractive option for banks. Increasing the availability of export 
finance thus will encourage more small businesses to enter into the 
trade arena.
  Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues have seen the recent headlines about 
U.S. trade deficits hitting another record, we must be concerned, as I 
am, about our national export strategy. For the month of July, U.S. 
exports dropped 1.5 percent.
  While this bill is surely not a cure-all to this program, it is one 
small step we can take to encourage more lenders to offer trade finance 
to small business exporters.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support me and join me in voting 
for the Export Working Capital Loan Improvement Act of 2000.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.

[[Page H8085]]

  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4944, the Export 
Working Capital Loan Improvement Act of 2000. The change proposed in 
this bill will make an exception to the requirement that export working 
capital loans will fully be disbursed before they can be sold on the 
secondary market.
  This exception would only be carved out for export working capital 
loans and will not apply to any other SBA loan programs. This change is 
necessary so that SBA can sell export working capital loans on the 
secondary market. Selling loans on the secondary market is an important 
part of the SBA's financial planning, as it keeps the subsidy rate for 
the loan programs down, therefore requiring less direct appropriation 
from Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, the Export Working Capital Program, a combined effort of 
the SBA and the Ex-Im Bank, is an important program that provides 
short-term working capital to small business exporters. The two 
agencies have joined their working capital programs to offer an 
efficient, unified approach to the Federal Government's support of 
export financing.
  The technical change in this bill is important to the long-term 
stability of the Export Working Capital Loan Program, and, more 
importantly, to the small businesses that use the program.
  According to a joint SBA and Commerce Department study, nearly 97 
percent of the U.S. firms engage in exporting our small businesses. 
This same study shows that small business accounts for nearly one-third 
of total U.S. export sales.
  And according to U.S. Census Bureau data, about 88 percent of the 
U.S. companies engage in exporting are small business with fewer than 
100 employees. Small businesses are the engine driving our economy; as 
such, small business exporters play an important role in our economic 
success.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the sponsor of the bill, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), for bringing this matter to our 
attention. This problem is an example of the unintended consequences 
that statutes can have, and it says a lot about the nature of the 
Committee on Small Business that we caught the problem and are working 
to correct it in a bipartisan manner.
  Again, I support the legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis).
  (Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I, first of all, want to commend 
my colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), for 
introducing this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4944, the Export 
Working Capital Loan Improvement Act. The Export Working Capital Loan 
Improvement Act of 2000 makes a technical correction to the Small 
Business Act that will enable the Small Business Administration to sell 
export working capital loans on the secondary market.
  This program provides transaction-specific financing of loans of 
$833,333 or less. Small business exporters may use this program for 
preexport financing of labor and materials, financing receivables 
generated from these sales and/or standby letters of credit used as 
performance bonds or payment guarantees to foreign buyers.
  Enabling the sale of these loans on the secondary market will 
increase the attractiveness of export working capital loans to lenders 
to be used as performance bonds or payment guarantees to foreign 
buyers.
  It would relieve them of the cost of servicing and paperwork on small 
short-term loans. While the authority exists to sell export working 
capital loans, secondary market sales of SBA guaranteed loans are 
conducted infrequently, which create a technical problem affecting 
these short-term loans.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4944 streamlines the entire process. The committee 
changes are simply the latest in a series of Small Business 
Administration program enhancements designed to meet small businesses' 
needs for a simple process with flexible requirements and fast delivery 
of financing.
  Again, I want to commend the Committee on Small Business for its 
bipartisan work. I want to commend and congratulate the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) for an important piece of legislation, because 
what he has done has simply been to take a good program and make it 
better.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Millender-McDonald).
  Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New 
York (Ms. Velazquez) for yielding the time to me. Let me also join the 
refrain and thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), chairman 
of the Subcommittee on Tax, Finance and Exports, as well as the 
gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Talent), chairman of the Committee on 
Small Business, and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), the 
ranking member, for their leadership in bringing forth this outstanding 
piece of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, as the ranking member of the Subcommittee on 
Empowerment, I rise in strong support of the National Small Business 
Regulatory Assistance Act. This bill will offer small businesses a 
voluntary, confidential and nonpunitive way to obtain assistance in 
complying with regulations through the small business development 
centers.
  It creates partnerships with the Federal agencies to encourage them 
to increase outreach efforts to small businesses which will improve 
compliance with regulations and establish a mechanism for unbiased 
feedback from SBDCs to Federal agencies on regulatory environment.
  Specifically, H.R. 4946 will establish a pilot program that sets 20 
SBDCs as points of contact and advice for small businesses with 
concerns about regulatory compliance.
  The selected SBDCs will coordinate and develop partnerships with 
Federal agencies for the provision of much-needed advice to small 
businesses. The SBDCs will be charged with sending information obtained 
from Federal agencies concerning contradictory or confusing advice on 
regulations to the National Association of Small Business Development 
Centers. The ASBDCs will then prepare a report for the President, the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Ombudsman, and the House 
and Senate Small Business Committees.
  Mr. Speaker, with so many small businesses overwhelmed by growing and 
constantly changing State, Federal, and local regulatory requirements 
and in fear of penalties for noncompliance, the time has come, Mr. 
Speaker, for Congress to help these businesses understand and comply 
with the various regulations.
  In the past 20 years, the Federal Register, which lists all of the 
regulations and changes, grew from 42,000 to a record rate of 73,879 
pages in 1999. Small businesses want to comply with the numerous 
regulations, but they often just do not know what to do.
  The National Small Business Regulatory Assistance Act will offer 
these small businesses critical assistance by turning confusion into 
clarity through these pilot programs.
  I urge my colleagues to support me and all of those who work on small 
businesses to pass this very good and common sense legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the Export Working Capital Loan Improvement 
Act because it will implement crucial technical changes which will 
streamline the entire small business loan process and help America's 
dedicated small business owners continue to grow and stimulate our 
strong economy.
  Small firms represent 97 percent of all companies working within the 
United States import/export marketplace. Small businesses account for 
nearly one-third of total U.S. export sales and approximately 88 
percent of the U.S. companies engaged in exporting are small business 
with fewer than 100 employees. The Export Working Capital Program 
[ECWP] loan program is designed to provide short-term ``working 
capital'' loans for small businesses in the import/export business. The 
current ECWP loan process allows the Small Business Administration to 
only sell loans on the secondary market if the loan has been fully 
disbursed to the borrower. This creates a quandary for the SBA and the 
EWCP because the SBA only makes loan disbursements once

[[Page H8086]]

a month for all of its loan programs. Also the EWCP loans tend to be 
very short-term loans--often less than a year in length. As a result, 
many small businesses owners are left to squander for critical dollars 
in order to maintain their businesses. By providing an exception that 
would allow SBA to sell these loans into the secondary market, the SBA 
will be able to improve its long-term financial planning and streamline 
loan operations for import/export businesses. While this may appear to 
be a small change, this legislation will expand SBA's ability to reach 
into every sector of the economy and to help more small business 
owners.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for America's hard working 
small business owners by voting ``yes'' on Export Working Capital Loan 
Improvement Act.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4944.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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