[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 195 (Saturday, December 17, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S8761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 1874

  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I rise to ask unanimous consent of all of 
my colleagues. Before I explain the unanimous consent request, I will 
give a little bit of background to S. 1874, which Senator Snowe and I 
have worked on for some time because of our mutual interest in making 
the HUBZone process for rural economic development work better.
  When this process occurs with each census, there is a 2-year 
nightmare of redtape before communities that should benefit from this 
economic development opportunity have the ability to do so. Across the 
country right now, we have rural communities that absolutely need to 
benefit from this most recent census. They have high unemployment 
rates. They are hit hard by the drop in exports. They are hit hard by 
the collapse of the housing communities. Sawmills have shut down. Paper 
mills have shut down.
  So many folks come to this floor to talk about cutting redtape and 
talk about helping the economy in the heart of rural America. They come 
to this floor and they talk about how important economic development 
and jobs are. And this is a little fix that takes 1 year out of the 
bureaucracy. That is why Senator Snowe and I have worked together on 
this process.
  Now, twice we have brought this forward, and twice it has been 
cleared by every Member of this body. Neither time did it make it into 
a bill that got to the President's desk. So we are coming back once 
more to say: Let common sense prevail to fix the entanglement in the 
bureaucracy that is taking away opportunities for rural America. Let's 
put an end to that today.
  I will defer to my colleague to speak, and then we will ask for 
unanimous consent.
  I yield to the Senator from Maine.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maine.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senator from Oregon 
regarding this critical issue we have been working on for a 
considerable period of time and that thought we had really cleared on 
both sides. This language is mightily important to improving the rural 
economies of this country, particularly because it would expedite the 
HUBZone designation to allow businesses in those HUBzones to provide 
jobs by virtue of the fact that they would get preferential treatment 
in the contracting process.
  As we know, the Federal Government buys more than $400 billion worth 
of contracts each year. We want to make sure small businesses and 
particularly those located in hard-hit areas of our country have access 
to those contracting dollars and are able to participate on an equal 
footing.
  This would create jobs. So I regret the fact that we are not able to 
get support to move this legislation forward because I know the Senator 
from Oregon has tested it on both sides. We have run it through the 
hotline. There are no objections to the language. I cannot understand 
why we cannot move this very important legislation that absolutely 
would be central to creating jobs in the areas that need them the most 
throughout the country, especially when we have such a high 
unemployment rate.
  This is not a difficult issue to understand. It is very 
straightforward. The legislation expedites the timeframe in which these 
designations occur for HUBzones, particularly because HUBzones are 
areas that are suffering most with respect to the downturn of this 
economy.
  When we have a paltry economic growth of 1.3 percent, of .4 percent, 
or 2 percent, when we have an unemployment rate that is 8.6 percent but 
we have had 9 percent or higher for a good 28 months, and over 8 
percent for the last 34 months, we need to do something about it. This 
could help small businesses, and it could help people in these areas 
who are currently unemployed. So I would hope there would be no 
objections with respect to this initiative.
  I thank the Senator from Oregon for his leadership on this matter.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague.
  The third sponsor on this bill is Senator Landrieu, the chair of the 
Small Business Committee. I yield to her.
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I ask the indulgence of my colleague. If my 
colleague could make the unanimous consent request to which I can 
respond, then I can leave.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Banking 
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1874, the 
HUBZone Qualified Census Tract Act of 2011; that the Senate proceed to 
its consideration; that the bill be read a third time and passed, the 
motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no interviewing 
action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in 
the Record as if read.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, there is objection on our side. I will 
object. But I do want to make a point that as a result of Senator Snowe 
and Senator Merkley's intercession here, our staff has talked to 
Senator Shelby, who says he will try to work to get it cleared and to 
hotline it again on our side today. So at this time, I cannot clear it, 
but there will be an effort to accomplish that result.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Arizona. We 
appreciate his help. We appreciate the ranking member of the Banking 
Committee assisting in this matter.
  I yield to my colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I would like to add my voice to the 
strong work that has been done by Senator Merkley and Senator Snowe. As 
the chair of the committee that has some jurisdiction over the HUBZone 
Program, I want to urge the Banking Committee and the staff and offer 
the staff of the Small Business Committee from the majority side to 
work very hard today to see if we can get this cleared. It is very 
important to the ranking member of our committee, who has worked so 
hard, and to the Senator from Oregon, who has made very strong 
arguments about expediting and streamlining some of these approvals, so 
I wish them the best.
  We are going to work today to see if we can get it cleared. It would 
be the second really substantial victory in the Small Business space, 
having gotten our SBIR bill through just recently after 6 years of very 
acrimonious debate. If we can get this fix to the HUBZone Program, it 
would be terrific.
  I thank the Senators for their hard work.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I thank all of my colleagues.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________