[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 57 (Thursday, April 29, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4719-S4721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
WOMEN'S SUSTAINABILITY RECOVERY ACT OF 2004
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Small
Business Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 2267
and that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 2267) to amend section 29(k) of the Small
Business Act to establish funding priorities for women's
business centers.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise to support S. 2267, the ``Women's
Sustainability Recovery Act of 2004'' which I recently introduced.
There is today a critical need to preserve the operations of existing
the Women's Business Centers currently serving women entrepreneurs in
almost every State and territory. I am pleased to be joined in this
effort by Senators Domenici, Chafee, Bond and others. Buy adopting this
bill today, the Senate is signaling its intention to preserve much-
needed funding for the business centers currently in operation.
Todaay, more than 10.6 million women-owned small businesses are
helping to fuel our economic recovery: they employ over 19 million
Americans and contribute $2.46 trillion in revenues. In my home State
of Maine, there are more than 63,000 women-owned firms, generating more
than $9 billion in sales. Numbers like these speak for themselves,
clear evidence of the success of the Women's Business Centers Program,
which helps women achieve their dreams of owning a small business, and
other programs like it. As chair of the Small Business Committee, I am
committed to a wide range of efforts designed to assist women business
owners, so that they, in turn, can continue to make a significant
contribution to our economy.
The Women's Business Center program was introduced through the
Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988,and it was made permanent in
1997. Congress has demonstrated its support for this program time and
time again; its appropriations have grown from $2 million in 1989 to
$12.5 million in 2004, and the results of this investment have been
impressive. In fiscal year 2002, centers reported clients realized a
return of $161 in gross receipts for every dollar invested in the
program.
Even more remarkable is the fact that the SBA's Women's Business
Center have helped to create or retain almost 7,000 jobs in the United
States, a success attributable to the centers unique training and
counseling programs. In fiscal year 2003, the Women's Business Center
program increased its expected level of delivered services by 17
percent, providing counseling and assistance to more than 106,600
clients and thereby exceeding its initial goal of 88,540 clients. To a
large degree, this increased productivity has been triggered by the
success of sustainability grants, which extend funding to eligible
women's business centers.
This year, insufficient funding for the sustainability grant program
may force 53 Women's Business Centers to close their doors. While
current legislation reserves 30.2 percent of the Women's Business
Center appropriation for the sustainability grant program, this amount
is not enough to support the 53 centers in jeopardy. By supporting this
bill, S. 2267, which increases the reserve forth sustainability grant
program by 48 percent, Congress will ensure that each of the 53 Women's
Business Centers eligible for sustainability has the opportunity to
compete for a sufficient pool of funding for fiscal year 2004, and that
centers will be able to effectively provide valuable technical
assistance to women entrepreneurs.
Without this legislation, many of the center may be in jeopardy of
closing their doors. This would be a significant loss given that some
of these centers have been part of the program for as long as 9 years
and, during that time, have proven themselves powerful engines of
economic development in communities and States across the Nation.
These centers have been extraordinarily successful in providing
assistance to women in all walks of life. Women who once received
public assistance are now operating businesses and creating jobs. Other
women are transitioning from employee to small business employer, and
established business owners are creating and manufacturing products for
sale at home and abroad. The centers nurture women entrepreneurs
through business and financial planning and assist women business
owners who need help securing funding for startup and expansion.
Furthermore, this legislation requires no additional appropriation,
just a reallocation of current funds.
I am committed to resolving the women's sustainability funding crisis
through this bill, and I will continue to work with my colleagues to
ensure the continued success of women-owned businesses.
(At the request of Mr. Daschle, the following statement was ordered
to be printed in the Record.)
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today I join my colleague, Senator
Snowe, chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship, in passing legislation to safeguard Women's Business
Centers funded through the Small Business Administration. This
legislation is identical to the Women's Business Center provision I
introduced as part of S. 2186, the SBA Emergency Authorization
Extension Act of 2004, on March 9, 2004, and it fixes 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 Chair Snowe for working very closely with
me on this issue, as we have for the past year and a half. Senator
Snowe has long been an advocate of the Women's Business Centers and was
a cosponsor of the original legislation that created the sustainability
pilot program in 1999. Now, her support for continuing the nationwide
network of Women's Business Centers has been the catalyst for success
in the Senate. I commend Chair Snowe for her strong leadership for
women in business across this country. I would also like to thank all
of the cosponsors of this legislation and of S. 2266, all of whom have
shown resounding support for women entrepreneurs and recognize the
positive impact the Women's Business Centers have on promoting and
supporting women in business and on strengthening our national economy.
Second, I want to comment on the Bush administration's proposals to
eliminate experienced, efficient, and effective Women's Business
Centers in favor of new and untested centers. Unless this legislation
can be enacted quickly, the administration will move forward with its
proposal, which places in jeopardy experienced Women's Business Centers
in 39 States and eliminates assistance for thousands of women in
business. While, as this bill demonstrates, I support opening new
centers to help women entrepreneurs who do not currently have access to
this important assistance, this should
[[Page S4720]]
only occur when the existing centers, whether in their initial or a
later funding period, are fully funded. Women entrepreneurs and their
businesses are critically important to our economy and to U.S. job
creation, and Women's Business Centers help them succeed. Passing S.
2267 today will send a strong message to the House of Representatives
that time is of the essence with respect to this important program, and
I hope the House leadership will allow immediate passage of this
measure when they are next in session.
I would also like to express my dismay that, despite bipartisan
support from members of this committee, the Republican majority has
opposed helping women entrepreneurs and blocked the provisions of this
bill from being included in the two extensions of all SBA programs that
have already passed the Senate. Those who favor blocking enactment of
these provisions in hopes of closing the most experienced existing
Women's Business Centers are potentially depriving thousands of women
in business access to much needed assistance. This bill is a bipartisan
compromise intended to maintain an effective Women's Business Center
network throughout this fiscal year--a compromise that was agreed to by
Chair Snowe, myself, and the bipartisan leadership of the House Small
Business Committee. It is supported by women's groups across the
country.
This legislation contains a small adjustment to the Women's Business
Center program that updates an outdated funding formula, without added
cost to the Treasury. The adjustment changes the portion of funding
allowed for Women's Business Centers in the sustainability part of the
program to keep up with the increasing number of centers that will need
funding this fiscal year. Currently there are 88 Women's Business
Centers. Of these, 35 are in the initial grant program and 53 will have
graduated to the sustainability part of the program in this funding
cycle. These sustainability centers make up more than half of the total
Women's Business Centers, but under the current funding formula are
only allotted 30 percent of the funds. Without the change to 48
percent, all grants to sustainability centers could be cut in half--or
worse, 23 experienced centers could lose funding completely. In short,
this change directs the SBA to reserve 48 percent of the appropriated
funds for the sustainability centers, instead of 30 percent, which will
allow enough funding to keep open the most experienced centers, while
still permitting the establishment of new centers and protecting
existing ones. In the interest of compromise and prompt enactment of a
workable solution, I fully support the formula change to 48 percent,
although a change to 54 percent--as introduced as part of my Women's
Business Center Safeguard Act, S. 2266--would be needed to fully fund
all sustainability centers.
I have serious concerns regarding an amendment to our original
legislation by the Republican leadership. The amendment would allow the
Small Business Administration to award grants at arbitrary and
disproportionate levels, instead of following precedent and awarding
Women's Business Center grants equally to all qualified and
successfully performing centers. I am deeply concerned that the
administration may use this authority to shortchange some existing
centers in order to use part of the 48 percent reserve funding to open
new centers. While this is within the language of the amendment, it is
clearly the opposite of the legislation's intent, which is to increase
available funds for the most experienced Women's Business Centers so
that they remain in operation. To that end, it is my recommendation
that the administration use the full 48 percent for sustainability
centers and that the Agency award grants at equal, or close to equal,
amounts. The committee has been told that providing any sustainability
Women's Business Center with a grant less than the minimum grant
awarded to sustainability centers in fiscal year 2003 would impede its
ability to operate effectively and successfully under the current
requirements established by the administration. I am willing to make
this compromise because it will give all Women's Business Centers the
opportunity to receive funding; however, it is not intended to undercut
the funding to any center that has met the SBA's performance standards.
As the author of the Women's Business Centers Sustainability Act of
1999, I can tell you that when the bill 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
performance standards to receive continued funding under sustainability
grants. This approach allows for new centers to be established--but not
by penalizing those that have already demonstrated their worth. It was
our intention to continue helping the most productive and well-equipped
Women's Business Centers, knowing that demand for such services was
rapidly growing.
Today, with women-owned businesses opening at one-and-a-half times
the rate of all privately held firms, the demand and need for Women's
Business Centers is even greater. Until Congress makes permanent the
Women's Business Center Sustainability Pilot Program, as intended in
the Senate-passed legislation, an extension of authority and increase
in the portion of appropriated funds available to sustainability
centers is vital--not only to the centers themselves, but to the
women's business community and to the millions of workers employed by
women-owned businesses round the country.
This bill is urgently needed now to continue the good work of the
SBA's Women's Business Center network, and I urge all of my colleagues
in the Senate and the House of Representatives to show their support
for the growing number of women in business by supporting immediate
passage of this bill.
women's business center program
Mr. President, as we pass our legislation, S. 2267, the Women's
Sustainability Recovery Act, I ask my colleague from Maine, the
chairwoman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee,
how the SBA is to implement these changes to the Women's Business
Center program? I know she has been a leader on this issue, and it is
my understanding that she encourages the SBA to fully support
sustainability centers at a level that will enable them to operate
successfully, before opening new centers.
Ms. SNOWE. I thank the Senator from Massachusetts for his question.
As is evident in S. 1375, the bill to reauthorize the Small Business
Administration, which passed the Senate last September, it is the
intention of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and of
the full Senate to continue funding eligible Women's Business Centers
before opening new centers. This legislation supports that important
objective. To that end, I expect the SBA to award Women's Business
Center grants for the coming fiscal year to each Women's Business
Center that is properly meeting performance standards. Congress has
appropriated $12.5 million in fiscal year 2004 for the Women's Business
Center program. If the amount reserved for sustainability centers under
this legislation is insufficient to award the full amount of $125,000
to each sustainability center that meets those standards, I expect the
SBA to adequately fund eligible centers.
Mr. KERRY. The committee has been told that many of the Women's
Business Centers would be unable to meet minimum performance standards
with a significant reduction in grant funding. Does the chairwoman
agree that the funding for the sustainability centers last fiscal year
would be an appropriate funding level for sustainability centers this
year?
Ms. SNOWE. To ensure that each center that meets the SBA performance
thresholds continues to serve women entrepreneurs in every state and
territory, I expect the SBA to fully expend all the funds reserved
under this bill for women's sustainability grants. This amount should
be sufficient to provide funding to eligible women's business centers
in the sustainability program at or above the minimum grants awarded in
fiscal year 2003 to women's business centers.
Mr. KERRY. I commend Chairwoman Snowe for her persistent efforts on
behalf of this legislation and the more comprehensive SBA
Reauthorization legislation. Without her strong support and hard work
on this issue, the future success of this important assistance for
women entrepreneurs would be in jeopardy.
[[Page S4721]]
Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Snowe
technical amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be
read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid
upon the table en bloc.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 3106) was agreed to, as follows:
(Purpose: To make a technical correction)
On page 2, strike lines 9 through 14, and insert the
following:
``(ii) from the funds reserved under paragraph (4)(A), not
more than $125,000 to each eligible women's business center
established under subsection (l); and''
The bill (S. 2267), as amended, was read the third time and passed,
as follows:
S. 2267
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 Sustainability
Recovery Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS.
(a) In General.--Section 29(k) of the Small Business Act
(15 U.S.C. 656(k)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following:
``(C) Funding priority.--Subject to available funds, and
reservation of funds, the Administration shall, for fiscal
year 2004, allocate--
``(i) $150,000 for each eligible women's business center
established under subsection (b), except for centers that
request a lesser amount;
``(ii) from the funds reserved under paragraph (4)(A), not
more than $125,000 to each eligible women's business center
established under subsection (l); and
``(iii) any funds remaining after allocations are made
under clauses (i) and (ii) to new eligible women's business
centers and eligible women's business centers that did not
receive funding in the prior fiscal year under subsection
(b).''; and
(2) in paragraph (4)(A), by adding at the end the
following:
``(v) For fiscal year 2004, 48 percent.''.
(b) Sunset Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) are
repealed on October 1, 2004.
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