[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 113 (Tuesday, July 26, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5539-H5541]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAM EXTENSION AND REFORM ACT OF 2011
Mr. HANNA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 2608) to provide for an additional temporary extension of
programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment
Act of 1958, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 2608
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 ``Small Business Program
Extension and Reform Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF
PROGRAMS UNDER THE SMALL BUSINESS ACT AND THE
SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT ACT OF 1958.
(a) In General.--Section 1 of the Act entitled ``An Act to
extend temporarily certain authorities of the Small Business
Administration'', approved October 10, 2006 (Public Law 109-
316; 120 Stat. 1742), as most recently amended by section 2
of the Small Business Additional Temporary Extension Act of
2011 (Public Law 112-17; 125 Stat. 221), is amended by
striking ``July 31, 2011'' each place it appears and
inserting ``December 31, 2011''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a)
shall take effect on July 30, 2011.
SEC. 3. REPEALS AND OTHER TERMINATIONS.
(a) General Provisions.--
(1) Effective date.--A repeal or other termination of a
provision of law made by this section shall take effect on
the date of enactment of this Act.
(2) Rule.--Nothing in this section shall affect any grant
or assistance provided, contract or cooperative agreement
entered into, or loan made or guaranteed before the date of
enactment of this Act under a provision of law repealed or
otherwise terminated by this section and any such grant,
assistance, contract, cooperative agreement, or loan shall be
subject to the applicable repealed or otherwise terminated
provision, as in effect on the day before the date of
enactment of this Act.
(3) Applicability of temporary extensions.--A repeal or
other termination of a provision of law made by this section
shall have effect notwithstanding any temporary extension of
programs, authority, or provisions under the Act entitled
``An Act to extend temporarily certain authorities of the
Small Business Administration'', approved October 10, 2006
(Public Law 109-316; 120 Stat. 1742).
(b) Pollution Control Loans.--Paragraph (12) of section
7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)) is
amended--
(1) by striking ``(A) The Administration'' and inserting
``The Administration''; and
(2) by striking ``research and development'' and all that
follows and inserting ``research and development.''.
(c) Small Business Institute.--Subparagraph (E) of section
8(b)(1) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(b)(1)) is
repealed.
(d) Drug-Free Workplace Grants.--Paragraph (3) of section
21(c) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648(c)) is
amended--
(1) in subparagraph (R) by adding ``and'' at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (S) by striking ``; and'' and inserting
a period; and
(3) by striking subparagraph (T).
(e) Central European Small Business Enterprise Development
Commission.--Section 25 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C.
652) is repealed.
(f) Paul D. Coverdell Drug-Free Workplace Program.--Section
27 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 654) is repealed.
(g) Pilot Technology Access Program.--Section 28 of the
Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 655) is repealed.
(h) National Veterans Business Development Corporation.--
(1) In general.--Section 33 of the Small Business Act (15
U.S.C. 657c) is repealed.
(2) Corporation.--Beginning on the date of enactment of
this Act, the National Veterans Business Development
Corporation and any successor thereto may not represent that
the corporation is federally chartered or in any other manner
authorized by the Federal Government.
(i) Lease Guarantees and Pollution Control.--Part A of
title IV of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15
U.S.C. 692 et seq.) is repealed.
(j) Alternative Loss Reserve.--Paragraph (7) of section
508(c) of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15
U.S.C. 697e(c)) is repealed.
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(k) Small Business Telecommuting Pilot Program.--Subsection
(d) of section 1203 of the Energy Independence and Security
Act of 2007 (15 U.S.C. 657h) is repealed.
(l) Technical and Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Small business investment act of 1958.--Section 411(i)
of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C.
694b(i)) is amended to read as follows:
``(i) Without limiting the authority conferred upon the
Administrator and the Administration by section 201 of this
Act, the Administrator and the Administration shall have, in
the performance of and with respect to the functions, powers,
and duties conferred by this part, all the authority and be
subject to the same conditions prescribed in section 5(b) of
the Small Business Act with respect to loans, including the
authority to execute subleases, assignments of lease and new
leases with any person, firm, organization, or other entity,
in order to aid in the liquidation of obligations of the
Administration hereunder.''.
(2) Title 10.--Section 1142(b)(13) of title 10, United
States Code, is amended by striking ``and the National
Veterans Business Development Corporation''.
(3) Title 38.--Subsection (h) of section 3452 of title 38,
United States Code, is amended by striking ``any of the'' and
all that follows and inserting ``any small business
development center described in section 21 of the Small
Business Act (15 U.S.C. 648), insofar as such center offers,
sponsors, or cosponsors an entrepreneurship course, as that
term is defined in section 3675(c)(2).''.
(4) Veterans entrepreneurship and small business
development act of 1999.--Section 203(c)(5) of the Veterans
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999
(15 U.S.C. 657b note) is amended by striking ``In cooperation
with the National Veterans Business Development Corporation,
develop'' and inserting ``Develop''.
SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF EMERGING LEADERS PROGRAM.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Administrator of the Small Business Administration may not
carry out or otherwise support the program referred to as
``Emerging Leaders'' in the document of the Small Business
Administration titled ``FY 2012 Congressional Budget
Justification and FY 2010 Annual Performance Report'' (or any
predecessor or successor document) and may not carry out or
otherwise support any successor to that program with similar
goals.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Hanna) and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
General Leave
Mr. HANNA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
shall have 5 consecutive days to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. HANNA. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, there are a few components to the legislation we have
before us.
First, the bill provides for a straightforward extension of certain
SBA programs through December 31, 2011. This is a necessary measure
since the current extension, which the House passed in May, expires at
the end of this month. As we continue to do work with our Democratic
colleagues and with our colleagues in the other body towards a full and
complete reauthorization of the SBA and its programs, this extension
will ensure that these programs are still available to provide
assistance to entrepreneurs who need to create jobs.
Secondly, the bill before us terminates several duplicative and
outdated programs that are either used very infrequently or not at all.
It has been said that, once a program is initiated, it is almost
impossible to eliminate. Today, we will prove that notion wrong. The
program eliminations contained in this bill represent a good first step
toward cleaning up the SBA's program portfolio, thereby refocusing the
agency's energy on their core mission of facilitating small business
lending, offering entrepreneurial advice to small business owners, and
ensuring that they receive their fair share of Federal contracts.
For example, one of the programs selected for termination is the
Central European Enterprise Development Program. This initiative has
not been funded since 1995, and one of the countries involved,
Czechoslovakia, no longer exists. For an even more striking example,
the Pollution Control Bond Guarantee program, initiated in 1976 to
provide SBA-backed bonds for the purchase of pollution and control
equipment to retrofit existing factories, has not offered a single bond
guarantee since the early eighties.
Simply having these programs on the books at the SBA detracts
manpower and resources away from the SBA's core programs, and it is
time to get them out of the way. Not only does this bill clean up the
SBA; it also saves money.
{time} 1850
The bill eliminates two drug-free workplace programs. These programs
were allocated $2 million for fiscal year 2011. While not a huge sum of
money when considering the overall fiscal budget, each and every penny
we save is a penny we don't have to borrow.
For additional cost savings, the legislation also prohibits the SBA
from using any of its discretionary funding on its Emerging Leaders
Program. While the program started in fiscal year 2009 without any
congressional approval or authorization of appropriations, the SBA has
requested $3 million for this program for 2012. The program is
duplicative of existing entrepreneurial development programs and does
not have a good matrix for evaluating the program's success.
The SBA ought to be focusing on well-evaluated, congressionally
authorized programs that have been fully vetted and supported by
Members of Congress.
I would like to thank the gentlelady from New York, our committee's
ranking member, Ms. Velazquez, for her efforts to craft this
legislation. It is a breath of fresh air to work in a truly bipartisan
manner on important issues facing our Nation, and I appreciate her
leadership on this issue.
With that, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2608 as amended.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. VELAZQUEZ. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Small businesses who employ more than half of all private sector
employees remain absolutely critical to the U.S. economy. With the
unemployment rate at 9.2 percent, we need them more than ever to create
new jobs. Central to these efforts are the tools and resources of the
Small Business Administration which enable entrepreneurs to secure low-
cost capital, fairer contracts, and technical assistance.
However, over time, I feel the agency's programs have become
redundant and unnecessary. Many have not been funded in decades, while
others are simply antiquated policy remnants from a bygone era.
It is a disservice to both small businesses and taxpayers to keep
these obsolete initiatives on the books. By cleaning up the statute, as
this legislation does, we can be assured that efforts to assist small
businesses both now and in the future will be both efficient and up to
date.
Importantly, many of these cuts were at the behest of our colleagues
in the Senate. Given this, it is my hope that the Senate takes up this
legislation and passes it expeditiously.
Chairman Graves is also to be commended for his comity and bipartisan
approach to vetting these charges. Doing so has produced a bill that
does not adversely affect small businesses.
Similarly, a new but equally concerning trend has been the growth of
unauthorized programs. The costs of this program have grown
dramatically to equal more than $50 million and constitutes nearly 10
percent of the SBA's noncredit programs budget. By passing the
legislation before us, Congress can take a small but meaningful step
that will begin to close this loophole.
The reforms in this bill come against a backdrop of extending certain
authorities for the SBA itself. However, whether or not this
legislation becomes law has no bearing on whether the agency can serve
small businesses. Given the passage of the full-year continuing
appropriations bill and a prior SBA extension passed 2 months ago, the
agency will remain fully operational irrespective of the passage of
this bill.
Ensuring that small firms have continued access to a strong and
stable SBA is more important than ever. The agency's resources enable
would-be entrepreneurs to start up while helping existing ventures
expand. By doing so, we will allow small business owners to do what
they do best and create the
[[Page H5541]]
jobs we need to move the economy forward.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. HANNA. Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me state that small
businesses can and will lead our economic recovery. It's time that
those of us in Congress provide them with the certainty they need to
create jobs and grow our economy. The legislation we have before us
today gives small firms the confidence to know that the SBA programs
they rely on will be there for them when they need them. It also shows
them that this House is serious about cutting spending, lowering debt,
and restoring confidence to our entrepreneurs.
I look forward to continuing to work with the chairman and the
ranking member and all our colleagues on the Small Business Committee
to enact policies that benefit American entrepreneurs.
I urge my colleagues to support this good bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Hanna) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 2608, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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