[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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