[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 26, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H7488-H7489]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TO EXTEND TEMPORARILY CERTAIN AUTHORITIES OF THE SMALL BUSINESS 
                             ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 6159) to extend temporarily certain authorities of the Small 
Business Administration.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 6159

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

     SECTION 1. TEMPORARY EXTENSION.

       Any program, authority, or provision, including any pilot 
     program, authorized under the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 
     631 et seq.) or the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 
     U.S.C. 661 et seq.) as of September 30, 2006, that is 
     scheduled to expire on or after September 30, 2006 and before 
     February 2, 2007, shall remain authorized through February 2, 
     2007, under the same terms and conditions in effect on 
     September 30, 2006.

  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.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on this legislation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill simply extends all of the programs, including 
pilot programs, the authorities or provisions of the Small Business 
Act, the Small Business Investment Act, until February 2 of 2007.

                              {time}  2315

  Currently, the programs and authorities of the SBA expire in 
September on Saturday, September 30. Passage of this bill will continue 
to give the committee the time necessary to work on a more 
comprehensive SBA reauthorization during the rest of this session.
  Many of the programs of the SBA do not operate under a direct 
appropriation. This includes the 7(a) general business loan guarantee 
program; the Certified Development Company program; and the Small 
Business Investment Company program. Passage of this bill will make it 
absolutely certain that there is no legal ambiguity as to whether or 
not the Federal Government can continue to guarantee these critical 
loans and debenture programs during the period of time covered by a 
continuing resolution.
  In addition, this bill would extend the authority of the SBA to 
operate several smaller programs including grants to Small Business 
Development Centers to participate in the Drug-Free Workplace program; 
sustainability funding for Women Business Centers; a pre-disaster 
mitigation pilot program; the New Markets Venture Capital program; and 
BusinessLinc. It would also extend SBA's cosponsorship and gift 
authority, which enables the SBA to accept private donations to help 
put on events or print publications, thus saving the taxpayers precious 
dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is quite simple. It contains the exact same 
language, with only the dates changed, that was signed into law four 
times in the 108th Congress when this House confronted the same problem 
2 years ago in attempting to pass a comprehensive SBA reauthorization 
bill into law. Unfortunately, we are at an impasse today for nearly the 
same reasons.
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6159 so that our Nation's small 
businesses will see no interruption of service from the SBA over the 
next 4 months while Congress completes its work for the year.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the legislation being offered today will extend the 
authorization of the Small Business Administration and most of its 
programs. While these initiatives would have been extended with any the 
continuing resolution that the House will pass this week, this bill 
will extend the authorization to February of 2007.
  It is unfortunate that after 2 years, and nearly 50 hearings in the 
committee, that the only legislation to address the issues at the SBA 
consists of eight lines of text. While this extension may not include 
any program changes, it in no way should reflect that the agency is 
without its problems.
  In fact, over the past 2 years, many of the issues at the SBA have 
been exacerbated by a combination of budget cuts, mismanagement and the 
inability to adequately respond to the needs of small businesses.
  In the last few years, SBA loan programs have grown more expensive to 
borrowers because of an increase in fees that are being paid by small 
businesses. We have also seen the problems in our Federal contracting 
system grow worse for small firms. This year alone, $12 billion in 
Federal contracts that should have gone to small businesses went to 
large corporations.
  The situation in the gulf coast also revealed that the SBA has 
serious structural and management problems related to its disaster loan 
program. Over a year after Hurricane Katrina, just over $2 billion of 
the $10 billion in approved disaster loans for Katrina victims had been 
disbursed.
  At a time when small businesses are faced with an economic 
environment that is less than certain, I believe that we should be 
doing more to help these entrepreneurs. The SBA has a role in improving 
the climate for small businesses, and Congress has a duty to give them 
the tools to do just that.
  While this legislation will ensure that many of the successful 
programs can continue to operate, it does fail to extend key provisions 
that serve veterans and low-income populations. We should be extending 
all of the initiatives, not picking and choosing.
  I am disappointed that Congress will not improve the operations at 
the SBA, and it is my hope that the committee in the next Congress will 
act quickly to rectify this

[[Page H7489]]

  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. MANZULLO. Mr. Speaker, I have no further people that are going to 
be speaking, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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. 6159.
  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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