[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 195 (Wednesday, December 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15950-S15952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATIONAL RESERVIST AND VETERAN SMALL BUSINESS REAUTHORIZATION AND
OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2007
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Small
Business and Entrepreneurship Committee be discharged from further
consideration of S. 1784 and the Senate then proceed to its immediate
consideration.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1784) to amend the Small Business Act to improve
programs for veterans, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, a few months ago, I introduced the Military
Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity
Act. As the chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and
Entrepreneurship, I was gratified that I was able to work with Ranking
Member Senator Snowe on behalf of this Nation's veterans. I was also
pleased that this bill was added by unanimous consent as an amendment
to the Department of Defense Authorization, although disappointed when
the final House-Senate negotiated compromise did not make it as part of
the final bill.
In November, Senator Snowe and I sought to pass this bill in the
Senate only to meet with objections from my respected colleague from
Oklahoma. I am pleased to say that Senator Coburn has worked with me in
good faith and that we have reached an agreement that addresses his
concerns. We have sought to protect the language that the House and
Senate agreed upon and done our utmost to improve the resources that
are available to our Nation's veterans. Although this bill is not
perfect or exactly as I may have envisioned, it is an important step
forward in supporting the American dream of business ownership for
veterans and reservists.
Passing these provisions into law has been one of my highest
priorities since becoming chairman of the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship in January. My first hearing as chairman was
devoted to veteran small business issues, and this bill arises directly
from the complaints that we heard there. America's veterans and
reservists have sacrificed enough in fighting for our country; they
shouldn't have to sacrifice their jobs and their livelihoods when they
come home.
There are 25 million veterans in this country. In the last 4 years,
alone, nearly 600,000 veterans have returned from serving in Iraq and
Afghanistan. Roughly 56 percent are reserve and National Guard members,
who continue to serve this Nation at unprecedented levels. This is
taking a toll not just on their families, but on their businesses as
well. We are in an era where employers do not want to hire reservists
because they know they will be called up for lengthy deployments. At a
Small Business Committee hearing on veterans' issues earlier this year,
one of the witnesses raised concerns about a lack of employer support
for reservists due to the new policy that allows reservists to be
called up for a second tour of 24 months.
I am also deeply concerned that recently discharged veterans have a
higher unemployment rate--double that of their civilian counterparts.
In addition, the number of service disabled veterans is increasing--
167,000 discharged between 2002 and 2005-- and their self-employment
rate is lower than the national average.
This bill is a first step in addressing these concerns and it builds
on important lessons we learned from Vietnam, not to leave another
generation of veterans behind.
The Military Reservists and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization
and Opportunity Act of 2007 takes a number of steps to improve the
Government's role in supporting our veterans. Specifically, it
reauthorizes the veteran programs in the Small Business Administration.
This legislation increases the funding authorization for the Office of
Veteran Business Development from
[[Page S15951]]
$2 million today to $2.3 million over 2 years. In light of the large
numbers of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and
increased responsibilities placed on this office by Executive Order
13360, it is high time that the Office of Veteran Business Development
receive the funding levels that it needs.
The bill also creates an Interagency Task Force to improve
coordination between agencies in administrating veteran small business
programs. One of the biggest complaints that our committee heard at the
``Assessing Federal Small Business Assistance Programs for Veterans and
Reservists'' hearing held on January 31 was that Federal agencies do
not work together in reaching out to veterans and informing them about
small business programs. This task force is an attempt to improve that.
The task force will focus on increasing veterans' small business
success, including procurement and franchising opportunities, access to
capital, and other types of business development assistance.
This bill also permanently extends the SBA Advisory Committee on
Veterans Business Affairs. The committee was created to serve as an
independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the SBA, the
Congress, and the President. The veteran small business owners who
serve on this committee provide a unique perspective which is sorely
needed at this challenging time. Unfortunately, continuing uncertainty
about the committee's future has, at times, distracted the committee
from focusing on its core function. Therefore, I have called for its
permanent extension. It is clear to me that more needs to be done to
address the issues facing veterans and reservists, and the role this
committee plays will continue to be important.
Additionally, I have taken a number of steps to better serve the
reservists who are serving their country abroad while their businesses
are suffering at home. Over the past decade, the Department of Defense
has increased its reliance on the National Guard and reserves. This has
intensified since September 11 and increased deployments are expected
to continue. The effect of this increase on reservists and small
businesses continues to remain of concern. A 2003 GAO report indicated
that 41 percent of reservists lost income when mobilized. This had a
higher effect on self-employed reservists, 55 percent of whom lost
income.
In 1999, I created the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster
Loan, MREIDL, program to provide loans to small businesses that incur
economic injury as a result of an essential employee being called to
active duty. However, since 2002, fewer than 300 of these loans have
been approved by the SBA, despite record numbers of reservists being
called to active duty. It is clear that changes need to be made, so
that reservists are informed about the availability of the MREIDL
program and that the program better meets their needs. At the hearing
on January 31, we heard suggestions for a number of changes which would
improve the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan program,
and I have included those changes in this bill. They include increasing
the application deadline for such a loan from 90 days to 1 year
following the date of discharge; creating a predeployment loan approval
process; and improved outreach and technical assistance.
This bill also increases to $50,000 the amount SBA can disburse
without requiring collateral under the MREIDL program. Reservist
families have already sacrificed enough when a family member goes away
to serve their country and when their business is harmed as a result.
This loan program would allow reservist dependent businesses to access
the capital they need to stay afloat without having to sacrifice beyond
the service of the key employees. In order to give reservists time to
repay the loans, the non-collaterized loan created in this bill would
not accumulate interest or require payments for one year or until after
the deployment ends, whichever is longer.
There are two more provisions which will help this Nation's service
members. One section of the bill will require the SBA to give priority
to MREIDL loans during loan processing. Another provision will give
activated servicemembers an extension of any SBA time limitations equal
to the time spent on active duty. This will make it easier for service
members to serve their country while continuing to meet their
obligations at home.
Lastly, this bill calls for two reports. One report will look at the
needs of service-disabled veterans who are interested in becoming
entrepreneurs. As a result of the war on terror and improved medicine,
we are seeing more service-disabled veterans than we have seen in
decades. For some service-disabled veterans, entrepreneurship is the
best or only way of achieving economic independence. Therefore, it is
essential that we understand and take steps to address the needs of the
service-disabled veteran entrepreneur or small business owner.
This bill also calls for a study to investigate how to improve
relations between reservists and their employers. In January, the
committee heard that recent changes by the Department of Defense to
policies regulating the length and frequency of reservist deployments
is harming the ability of reservists to find jobs and the ability of
small business owners to continue hiring them. Understanding more about
this issue is important and essential to making sure that policymakers
can continue to support citizen soldiers and the small businesses that
employ them.
The bill also includes a number of other important provisions that
were added by the House. For instance, this bill includes language
directing the Office of Veterans Business Develop to increase the
number of Veterans Business Outreach Centers and requires them to
improve their participation in the Transition Assistance Program. This
bill also creates a program reducing 7(a) loan fees for veterans,
improves Small Business Development Centers outreach to the veteran
community and instructs the Associate Administrator of the Office of
Veterans Business Development to create and disseminate information
aimed at informing women veterans about the resources available to
them. I am pleased that the House and Senate were able to come to an
agreement on these provisions.
Veterans possess great technical skills and valuable leadership
experience, but they require financial resources and small business
training to turn that potential into a viable enterprise. A recent
report by the Small Business Administration stated that 22 percent of
veterans plan to start or are starting a business when they leave the
military. For service-disabled veterans, this number rises to 28
percent.
We owe veterans and reservists more than a simple thank you for their
service. The least we can do is provide critical resources to help them
start and grow small business and to hold Federal agencies accountable.
That is what our bill does.
Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to once again urge my
colleagues to support passage of S. 1784, the Military Reservist and
Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 2007,
offered by Senator Kerry and me, chair and ranking member of the Senate
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. I have spoken about
this bill on multiple occasions because it is truly critical that our
fellow colleagues, in each Chamber and both sides of the aisle,
continue to collaborate on our veterans' behalf and support swift
passage of this legislation. This bipartisan legislation contains key
provisions from both S. 904, the Veterans Small Business Opportunity
Act of 2007, which I introduced in March, and Senator Kerry's S. 1005,
Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization Act of
2007.
This legislation would have an immediate impact on our men and women
fighting around the globe for the freedoms we enjoy every day. First,
our bill makes vast improvements to the Small Business
Administration's, SBA, Military Reservist Economic Disaster Loan,
MREIDL, program. The MREIDL program provides funds to businesses to
meet ordinary and necessary business expenses that they could have
made, if not for the deployment of a reservist who is one of their
essential employees.
Specifically, the bill establishes a pre-application process so
businesses can be prepared, in advance, to apply for an MREIDL and
includes a provision allowing businesses up to one year, as opposed to
90 days, to apply. The legislation increases, from $1.5 million to $2
million, the maximum
[[Page S15952]]
MREIDL loan a business can take and raises, from $5,000 to $50,000, the
level of uncollateralized MREIDL loans available to businesses.
Finally, our changes to the MREIDL program would allow the SBA
administrator to defer the payment of principal and interest while the
employee is deployed.
The bill would also create a new interagency task force to coordinate
the efforts of Federal agencies necessary to increase capital and
business development opportunities for, and increase the award of
Federal contracting opportunities to, small businesses owned and
controlled by veterans. This type of coordinated and targeted effort by
our Federal Government is long overdue.
Additionally, today's legislation would increase funding for the
SBA's Office of Veterans Business Development, and permanently extend
the duties and responsibilities of the SBA Advisory Committee on
Veterans Business Affairs. It would also allow small businesses owned
and operated by veterans to extend their SBA program participation time
limitations by the duration of their owner's deployment.
While I have not provided an exhaustive list of this bill's
provisions and all that it would do, a simple review of the legislation
will reveal that it goes far toward helping our Nation's veteran
entrepreneurs and our patriotic small businesses that employ
reservists, despite the risk that deployments entail. To that end, I
once again urge my colleagues to join us in support of this bill.
Mr. REID. I understand there is a substitute amendment at the desk. I
ask unanimous consent that the Coburn amendment at the desk be
considered agreed to; the substitute, as amended, be agreed to; the
bill, as amended, be read a third time, and the Senate then proceed to
H.R. 4253, which is at the desk; that all after the enacting clause be
stricken and the text of S. 1784, as amended, be inserted in lieu
thereof; that the bill be advanced to third reading, passed, and the
motion to reconsider be laid on the table; that any statements relating
to this matter be printed in the Record without further intervening
action or debate; and that S. 1784 then be placed on the calendar.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The amendment (No. 3886) was agreed to, as follows:
On page 4, line 25, strike ``increase'' and all that
follows through ``opportunities to'' on page 5, line 2, and
insert ``improve capital and business development
opportunities for, and ensure achievement of the pre-
established Federal contracting goals for''.
On page 5, line 10, after the semicolon, add ``and''.
On page 5, line 22, strike ``; and'' and insert a period.
On page 5, strike lines 23 through 25.
On page 6, strike line 1 and all that follows through page
7, line 16, and insert the following:
``(3) Duties.--The task force shall--
``(A) consult regularly with veterans service organizations
and military organizations in performing the duties of the
task force; and
``(B) coordinate administrative and regulatory activities
and develop proposals relating to--
``(i) improving capital access and capacity of small
business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled
veterans and small business concerns owned and controlled by
veterans through loans, surety bonding, and franchising;
``(ii) ensuring achievement of the pre-established Federal
contracting goals for small business concerns owned and
controlled by service-disabled veterans and small business
concerns owned and controlled by veterans through expanded
mentor-protege assistance and matching such small business
concerns with contracting opportunities;
``(iii) increasing the integrity of certifications of
status as a small business concern owned and controlled by
service-disabled veterans or a small business concern owned
and controlled by veterans;
``(iv) reducing paperwork and administrative burdens on
veterans in accessing business development and
entrepreneurship opportunities;
``(v) increasing and improving training and counseling
services provided to small business concerns owned and
controlled by veterans; and
``(vi) making other improvements relating to the support
for veterans business development by the Federal Government.
On page 9, strike line 13 and all that follows through page
10, line 8, and insert the following:
``(e) Women Veterans Business Training.--The Associate
Administrator shall--
``(1) compile information on existing resources available
to women veterans for business training, including resources
for--
``(A) vocational and technical education;
``(B) general business skills, such as marketing and
accounting; and
``(C) business assistance programs targeted to women
veterans; and
``(2) disseminate the information compiled under paragraph
(1) through Veteran Business Outreach Centers and women's
business centers.''.
On page 11, strike line 10 and all that follows through
page 20, line 23, and insert the following:
SEC. 201. VETERANS ASSISTANCE AND SERVICES PROGRAM.
On page 22, between lines 10 and 11, insert the following:
SEC. 202. DISASTER LOANS.
Section 7(b)(3) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
636(b)(3)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (E), by striking ``unless'' and all
that follows and inserting a period; and
(2) by inserting after subparagraph (I), the following:
``(J) There shall be reasonable assurance that a loan
recipient under this paragraph can repay the loan of personal
or business cash flow.''.
On page 22, line 21, strike ``waive'' and all that follows
through ``date'' on line 23 and insert ``extend the ending
date specified in the preceding sentence by not more than 1
year''.
On page 24, line 4, strike ``shall'' and insert ``may''.
On page 32, between lines 9 and 10, insert the following:
(d) Additional Study.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Office of Advocacy of the
Administration shall submit to Congress a report describing--
(1) the barriers in place arising from Federal regulations
for veterans who wish to become entrepreneurs;
(2) the barriers in place arising from the tax code for
veterans who wish to become entrepreneurs; and
(3) any recommendations for how best to eliminate those
barriers to better assist current or prospective veteran
small business owners.
The substitute amendment (No. 3885), as amended, was agreed to.
(The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of
Amendments.'')
The bill was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read
the third time.
The bill (H.R. 4253), as amended, was ordered to be read a third
time, was read the third time and passed.
____________________