[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           JOB CREATION THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 2009

  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, I voted yesterday in support of our Nation's 
small business and for the passage of the ``Job Creation through 
Entrepreneurship Act of 2009'', H.R. 2352.
  Small businesses play an integral role in the United States economy. 
Small businesses employ more than half of all workers in the private 
sector and generate 60 to 80 percent of new jobs in this country. The 
entrepreneurial development programs developed by this bill will help 
small businesses not only survive the current downturn, but allow them 
to expand and create new jobs.
  I am particularly pleased that this bill creates Veterans Business 
Centers for veteran entrepreneurs. Our nation was built by citizen-
soldiers, yet too often, our veterans have difficulty finding well-
paid, rewarding work in the nation they served and protected. According 
to the Department of Labor, we need to do more to help our youngest 
veterans find gainful employment. Veterans between the ages of 18 and 
24 had an unemployment rate of 14.1 percent; nearly double the rate of 
those between the ages of 25 to 34 (7.3 percent). It is unacceptable 
that hundreds of thousands of veterans who have risked their own lives 
to defend our country can't find jobs, and many endure homelessness and 
lives of poverty after they return home. Our brave men and women in 
uniform have given so much for this country; it is right that the 
Congress help ensure that our returning soldiers have jobs when they 
come home.
  I also am pleased that this bill increases the amount of 
entrepreneurial development training that will be offered through 
online training. I have long supported greater use of online job 
training, which is why I introduced H.R. 145, the Online Job Training 
Act of 2009, which amends the Workforce Investment Act to provide 
grants to states that establish or improve workforce training programs 
on the Internet. I have seen the value of online job training first-
hand at a successful pilot program in my state run by the New Jersey 
Department of Labor and Workforce Development and Rutgers University. 
Online training allows workers to access needed development services 
during the time most convenient for them and in a location most 
convenient for them--scheduling around jobs, child care, and elder care 
responsibilities. Offering entrepreneurial development training online 
will expand the reach of this training to reach more workers and 
increase the impact of these existing programs.
  The Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act will build on the 
investments that this Congress made through the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act. This bill will provide further aid to our small 
business and continues our efforts to put the economy back on the track 
to recovery.

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