[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 86 (Thursday, June 12, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7860-S7861]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS PRESERVATION ACT OF 2003
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1247.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will state the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1247) to increase the amount to be reserved
during FY2003 for sustainability grants under section 29(l)
of the Small Business Act.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise in support of the ``Women's Business
Centers Preservation Act of 2003'' in recognition of the critical need
to preserve the operations of existing Women's Business Centers
currently serving women entrepreneurs in almost every state and
territory. I am pleased to be joined in offering this bill by Senator
Kerry, Ranking Member, Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship, and Senators Bond, Cantwell, Burns, Levin, Enzi,
Grassley, Baucus, Domenici, and Bingaman.
While I am totally supportive of the Administration's efforts to add
new centers to serve a broader constituency, I am very concerned that
we may lose valuable resources established in rural and urban areas.
The value of the Women's Business Center Program is stated best by the
text taken from the Small Business Administration's (SBA) promotional
materials on the Women's Business Center Program:
Each women's business center is uniquely designed to serve
the needs of its individual community and to place special
emphasis on helping those who are economically disadvantaged.
The Women's Business Center Program has become a strong and
effective part of the SBA's entrepreneurial-development
efforts.
And--
In tough economic times, when both employment and funding
resources are harder to come by, support for the WBC Program
is more important than ever.
As Chair of the Small Business Committee, I totally agree with the
SBA's assessment. In fact, Congress has agreed six times since the
program was introduced through the Small Business Ownership Act of
1988, and made permanent in 1997, that this program is critical for
women-business owners. The program's appropriations has grown from $2
million in 1989 to $12 million in 2003, and the results have been
impressive. In Fiscal Year 2002, for every dollar invested in the
program, centers reported a return of $161 in gross receipts of
clients.
Even more remarkable is the fact that since 1997, the Women's
Business Centers have served more than 240,000 women entrepreneurs. In
Fiscal Year 2002, almost 86,000 customers were served through the
centers. As reported in the SBA Performance and Accountability Report
of 2002, ``the WBC Program has more than doubled its goal of a 3
percent annual increase in the number of clients served in the past two
years. This is due in large part to the success of the sustainability
grants, which enable established centers to continue SBA funding. SBA
expects this trend to continue as more centers become firmly
established and as their reputations for excellence spread.''
If we look at the centers that are achieving the greatest impact, it
is the established centers. The results of their outreach and one-on-
one assistance has made it possible for the Small Business
Administration to achieve its goals as it measures the success of the
products and programs offered by these centers.
It is true that this month only five Women's Business Centers face
the possibility of closing their doors without the dollar-to-dollar
matching funds that are provided through sustainability funding. The
sustainability grant provisions reserve 30.2 percent of the $12 million
program funding for sustainability grants for existing centers with the
balance of available funds designated for the creation and operation of
new centers. Based on information provided by the SBA, there are not
sufficient sustainability reserve funds to offer continuation contracts
to five centers in Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas and
Washington. Therefore, SBA has proposed a reduction in grants for all
centers currently funded by sustainability grants. By increasing the
reserve amount to 36 percent, only during Fiscal Year 2003, adequate
funds will be available for eligible existing centers operating with
sustainability grants.
Next year, there will be more than 20 States and the U.S. Virgin
Islands affected by the lack of funding to continue operations. Last
month, I introduced the ``Women's Small Business Programs Improvement
Act of 2003'', S. 1154, to correct deficiencies in the program and
provide a fair, competitive process to operate and grow the Women's
Business Center Program. I expect that bill will be taken up as part of
the SBA reauthorization legislation my Committee will consider in July.
While we can fix the funding problem in the long-run, we still face a
crisis today. That is the reason for the bill I am introducing. By
increasing the formula for sustainability grants from 30.2 percent to
36 percent, existing centers would be able to operate without
disruption in funding and the programs and services currently offered
in our communities. This provision will not require an additional
appropriation, just a reallocation of current funds.
I believe this approach offers the best path available to sustain the
centers approaching the end of their grant cycles without creating
undue hardship for all existing centers. At the same time, it should
not hinder the Administration's efforts to create new centers.
These centers have been extraordinarily successful in providing
assistance to women in all walks of life--from those who once received
public assistance but now operate businesses and create jobs, to women
transitioning from employee to small business employer, to established
women-business owners who create and manufacture products for sale at
home and abroad. The Centers nurture women entrepreneurs through
business and financial planning and help with critical issues like
securing funding for startup and expansion. Yet--despite these
successes--funding questions have long plagued the program.
I am committed to resolving the temporary funding crisis through the
bill I introduce today and will work with my colleagues to ensure the
long-term viability of the Women's Business Center program for today's
women entrepreneurs and those of tomorrow.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise today as Ranking Member of the
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship with my esteemed
colleague and Chair of the Committee, Senator Snowe, to offer
legislation to fix a funding gap that exists for meritorious Women's
Business Centers that are graduating from the first stage of the
program and entering the sustainability portion.
I would first like to thank Senator Snowe for working very closely
with me on this issue. Her leadership and support has been invaluable.
I would also like to thank our House counterparts on the Small Business
Committee, Chairman Manzullo and Ranking Member Velazquez, who have
also been working diligently on the issue of sustainability grants as
we take on the process of reauthorizing the majority of the SBA's
programs. In addition, I want to thank all of the cosponsors of this
legislation, all of which have shown resounding support for women
entrepreneurs and recognize the positive impact all small businesses
have on our national economy.
As I have said on more than one occasion, women business owners do
not get the recognition they deserve for their contribution to our
economy: Eighteen million Americans would be without jobs today if it
weren't for
[[Page S7861]]
these entrepreneurs who had the courage and the vision to strike out on
their own. For 18 years, as a member of the Senate Committee on Small
Business and Entrepreneurship, I have worked to increase the
opportunities for these enterprising women in a variety of ways,
leading to greater earning power, financial independence and asset
accumulation. These are more than words. For these women, it means
having a bank account, buying a home, sending their children to
college, calling the shots.
And helping them at every step are the Women's Business Centers. In
2002 alone, these centers helped 85,000 women with the business
counseling and assistance they likely could not find anywhere else.
Cutting funding for any centers would be harmful to the centers, to the
women they serve, to the States, and to the national economy.
The funding gap for Women's Business Centers in the sustainability
portion of the program exists because the Small Business Administration
has chosen to adopt a funding policy that short-changes existing,
proven centers in order to open new, unproven ones. By incorrectly
interpreting the funding formula set up in statute for the Women's
Business Center program, the SBA intends to make way for new centers at
the expense of those that are already established, operational and
successful. This is both bad policy and contrary to congressional
intent.
As the author of the Women's Business Centers Sustainability Act of
1999, I can tell that when the Women's Business Centers Sustainability
Act of 1999 was signed into law, it was Congress's intent to protect
the established and successful infrastructure of worthy, performing
centers. The law was designed to allow all graduating Women's Business
Centers that meet certain SBA standards to receive continued funding
under sustainability grants, while still allowing for new centers--but
not by penalizing those that have already demonstrated their
effectiveness.
Currently there are 81 Women's Business Centers in 48 states. Forty-
six of these are in the initial program, 29 are already in
sustainability, and six more are graduating or have graduated from the
initial program and are now applying for sustainability grants. Because
the SBA is incorrectly interpreting the funding formula for
sustainability grants in order to open new centers, and in order to
accommodate funding for potentially six new sustainability centers,
those from Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas, and
Washington State, the amount of funds reserved for Women's Business
Centers in sustainability must be increased from 30.2 percent to 36
percent.
This legislation does just that. It directs the SBA to reserve 36
percent of the appropriated funds for the sustainability portion of
Women's Business Centers program--even though the SBA already has the
authority on its own to increase the reserve--thereby protecting the
established Women's Business Centers from almost certain grant funding
cuts and still providing enough funds to open six or more new centers
across the country.
I want to again express my sincere and steadfast support for the
growing community of women entrepreneurs across the Nation and for the
invaluable programs through which the SBA provides women business
owners with the tools they need to succeed. As a long-time advocate for
women entrepreneurs and SBA's programs, my record in support of the
SBA's women's programs and for women business owners speaks for itself.
I have continually fought for increased funding for the women's
programs at the SBA, for sustaining and expanding the women's business
centers, and for giving women entrepreneurs their deserved
representation within the Federal procurement process, to name a few.
With respect to laws assisting women-owned businesses, I have been
proud to either introduce the underlying legislation or strongly
advocate to ensure their passage and adequate funding.
This bill is necessary to continue the good work of SBA's Women's
Business Center network, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill
be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid
upon the table, and that any statements regarding this matter be
printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The bill (S. 1247) was read the third time and passed, as follows:
S. 1247
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 ``Women's Business Centers
Preservation Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. SUSTAINABILITY GRANTS FOR WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS.
Section 29(k)(4)(A)(iv) of the Small Business Act (15
U.S.C. 656(k)(4)(A)(iv)) is amended by striking ``30.2
percent'' and inserting ``36 percent''.
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