[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 73 (Monday, May 21, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3386-S3388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HONORING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT OF SMALL BUSINESS
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 469, submitted earlier
today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 469) honoring the entrepreneurial
spirit of small business concerns in the United States during
National Small Business Week, which begins on May 20, 2012.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Ms. LANDRIEU. We have submitted a resolution, because it is Small
Business Week, on behalf of myself and Senator Snowe, Senator Pryor,
Senator Lieberman, Senator Enzi, Senator Kerry, Senator Brown, Senator
Cantwell, Senator Ayotte, Senator Risch, Senator Cardin, and Senator
Hagan, a very good representation of our Small Business Committee and
others that submitted a resolution this week, again, as we have done
every year since 1953. We have done so every year since 1953 to
recognize this week, or 1 week in the year, as Small Business Week. So
that is what our resolution, which was submitted earlier today, does.
I hope Leaders McConnell and Reid will take up this resolution and
pass it so we can honor the 28 million small businesses that exist
today in America. We have been doing everything we can, and I am very
proud, as the chairman of the Small Business Committee, that we have
worked in a bipartisan fashion for the most part trying to give our
businesses, first of all, the recognition that 9 out of 10 new jobs
created were created by a small number, a very small number, of small
businesses that are fast growing. They are the new job creators. These
are the businesses that are going to be putting this recession behind
us. These are the businesses that are innovating and adapting and
changing and being more strategic and smarter, looking for those
opportunities in all areas and in all geographic parts of our Nation.
Over the past few months my committee has held three very special
roundtables to explore strategies, tools, and methods to strengthen
what I like to call the ecosystem of entrepreneurship. Much like a rain
forest or desert or much like the ocean itself, that is an environment
where many creatures or organisms have to live and interact. The same
is true of our financial ecosystem, the political ecosystem. Society
itself is an ecosystem where small businesses have to function.
In order for them to be healthy, there have to be the right
nutrients, if you will, present. So we have explored in our committee
what--we know the United States does this well. We do it better than
any country on Earth. That is one of the great strengths of America; we
foster that entrepreneurship, free but fair markets, well regulated,
not too lightly, not too heavily. Sometimes we go a little overboard
and we need to pull back. Sometimes we do not regulate enough and we
need to step up. But that is what we have been exploring.
In fact, we have broken our roundtables into domains: Do our small
businesses have enough access to capital? Do our small businesses truly
have access to grow global markets? What did we learn this year? We
learned that less than 12 percent of all small businesses in America
export. With the market growing overseas and only the small percentage
of the world market being now in the United States--we were at one time
the biggest market, when China was closed, when communism was reigning
in the Soviet Union, and the Arab world was in darkness. I mean the
market was in the United States.
But that is no longer the case, as these countries and areas have
emerged and created markets and opportunities of their own.
So one thing we learned is that the ecosystem needs to be stronger by
helping small businesses to export. They do not have the back office or
the expertise of 10 accountants and a Chinese specialist and a South
American specialist. But we can, by being smart, help. Through the
Commerce Department, the Small Business Administration, or maybe even
through some of our research and development arms of some of our
departments, we can be the back office for small businesses.
We are excited about what is happening there. So access to capital,
access to global markets, access to counseling, mentoring, technical
assistance and education. I have had so many small businesses come
before our committee and say: You know, Senator, getting the loan from
the bank was the first step. But if so-and-so had not shown up in my
office from the Score Chapter or if I could not have reached out to my
local university or my small business center there, I would never have
been able to make it because they told me what to do to save me from
making a fatal mistake and got me on my way or helped me to rethink my
market during the recession.
How one lady put it before our committee, they helped her remarket
her business so now it is growing faster than ever. I think also access
to strategic partnerships is important. No man is an island. We do not
accomplish anything by ourselves in the world. That is true of
individuals, that is true of small businesses. So we asked ourselves:
Who are the partners, strategic partners for small businesses? Cities
are doing some creative things.
Madam President, you were a county executive. You know the things you
did as a county executive. Your reputation is well known in that
regard.
States can be strategic partners to their small businesses. We
explored those opportunities. Access to government contracting--you
know, the Federal Government, state governments, and local governments
are some of the biggest spenders and biggest businesses--if they were
businesses, which they are not; there are clear differences--but if we
were a business, the Federal Government would be the largest business
in the world. It buys more goods and services than others. We do not
have to do all of that just with the big businesses such as IBM, GE,
ExxonMobil. We can contract with small businesses. It takes a little
more time, takes a little more energy, takes a little bit different
approach, but we most certainly can buy some of the things we need from
the small business right down the street.
So we are shaping policies to do that. Senator Cardin from Maryland
has been particularly aggressive when it comes to contracting with
minority and women-owned businesses, which make up a significant and
growing area. It is very exiting as more women enter not just the
workforce but decide they want their flexibility. They want to set
their own hours. They want to be their own bosses. They want to
establish businesses that allow them to also raise children at home, to
be there when their kids need them. So they find that small businesses
operating out of their homes are the answer to that dilemma. We want to
give them access to government contracting when, of course, they are
capable and provide the right price.
One of the big areas that we looked at is access to human capital. I
think you probably heard, Madam President, many of our businesses
saying: Why is it that we are bringing in some of the smartest people
in the world, educating them at our universities, to where they are
getting master's degrees and Ph.D.s in engineering, math, and science,
and then we send them back to the country they came from so they can
create businesses to compete against us? Why don't we extend visa
privileges to these master's and Ph.D. candidates?
That is a good question, and we have bills to answer that. We also
want to develop a skilled workforce in America. Access to human capital
is what small businesses need to grow and to expand.
Finally, we need access to flexible regulation and smart tax policy.
We are never going to live in a world where we do not pay taxes. It is
just the nature of what we have to do to keep our government running
and operating, with a government that serves the people--by the people,
for the people.
But our taxes should not be too heavy, too burdensome, and our
regulatory regime should not be either too light or too onerous. It
should be just right. But it is hard to get that just-right approach.
We are working at it every day. Senator Snowe has been working on
regulatory reform. Senator Warner has been working very hard on
regulatory reform--and other Members of this body.
[[Page S3387]]
The bottom line is that this is Small Business Week. We want to honor
the small businesses that are helping us put this recession in the
rearview mirror. I want to ask the leadership to pass this resolution--
a very straightforward, noncontroversial resolution by both Democrats
and Republicans, recognizing this is Small Business Week.
I also wanted to bring to the attention of the body the conclusion,
basically, of the three roundtables we have held and thank the Members
who attended. We had good attendance, and we gleaned some excellent
ideas about the brackets I have outlined today, and have been in the
process of filing over the last week, and throughout this week,
individual bills that reflect what we have learned in these
roundtables. We have taken those ideas and turned them into
legislation.
I am happy to say there is not going to be a big pricetag on this
legislation. It is not just throwing money at the problem, but we do
need additional resources. It is sharpening things, reforming some of
our strategies, laws, rules, and regulations on the books, and
encouraging, by granting some competitive grants, some of these
strategic partnerships with counties, cities, and States. I look
forward to seeing how this body responds to some of the new pieces of
legislation we put out. I look forward to working with my colleagues
through this week and the month of May, through the summer, and into
the election, to keep focused on the No. 1 issue on the minds of the
American people, which is jobs, economic hope, and economic opportunity
for themselves and their families. Tom Friedman has been saying all
over the world that when kids graduate from college, it is not a job
they are looking for. They may not be able to find the job they are
looking for. They need to create the job they want. They need to build
a business, build a better mousetrap, think about a different way of
delivering a product or a service or think about a business that is
selling to a domestic market and taking it global. With technology and
opportunities, many young people are doing just that.
In conclusion, I had the wonderful opportunity on Friday to be
involved and took the opportunity Saturday morning to stop in at the
Cambridge Innovation Center, the granddaddy of all small business
incubators. It is across the street from MIT, Microsoft, and Google.
There were some young and exciting college students in the building.
You could either rent a cubicle that looked like a kindergarten with
your name on it to get in the building or you could rent a space such
as a bullpen where you could work or rent your own cubicle or private
office; and thousands, literally, of young people were moving into that
building--actually people of all ages, even retired executives who
decided, I have always wanted to try out my idea, so let's see if I can
get my business started. Even on a Saturday--and it was very quiet--I
could feel the energy in that building, although it was virtually
empty.
I have walked through incubators in New Orleans, and I hope the
occupant of the chair did, and helped to create them in Delaware. That
is what it is going to take, a strategic partnership between government
and the private sector, letting the private sector do what they do
best, but letting government do what it does best. That was a perfect
example of what I saw in terms of taking research dollars that are
spent at MIT, moving them out to the universities, and then on to these
ideas, where they are literally being tested and commercialized to get
out into the market to create wealth and opportunity for the United
States and the world.
I am happy to be chair of the Small Business Committee. For small
business and economic growth, it is National Small Business Week. I
thank all the groups helping us to celebrate this week and, most
important, I thank the entrepreneurs who literally risk everything to
create their dreams and bring economic prosperity not just to
themselves and their family business but to a Nation that relies on
them every day. We want to make that burden lighter. I want to help
them in every way we can in our committee in Washington and throughout
our States, counties, and cities, and be the partner they can rely on
to get the job done.
Madam President, I don't see anyone else on the floor. I urge my
colleagues to adopt our resolution. I thank all of us who will be
speaking today and this week on Small Business Week.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, it is my understanding we are
ready to act on this resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate, the question is
on agreeing to the resolution.
The resolution (S. Res. 469) was agreed to.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I now ask that we act on the
preamble.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate, the question is
on agreeing to the preamble.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 469
Whereas the approximately 27,500,000 small business
concerns in the United States are the driving force behind
the Nation's economy, creating 2 out of every 3 new jobs and
generating more than 50 percent of the Nation's non-farm
gross domestic product;
Whereas small businesses are the driving force behind the
economic recovery of the United States;
Whereas small businesses represent 99.7 percent of employer
firms in the United States;
Whereas small business concerns are the Nation's
innovators, serving to advance technology and productivity;
Whereas small business concerns represent 97.5 percent of
all exporters and produce 31 percent of exported goods;
Whereas Congress established the Small Business
Administration in 1953 to aid, counsel, assist, and protect
the interests of small business concerns in order to preserve
free and competitive enterprise, to ensure that a fair
proportion of the total Federal Government purchases,
contracts, and subcontracts for property and services are
placed with small business concerns, to ensure that a fair
proportion of the total sales of government property are made
to such small business concerns, and to maintain and
strengthen the overall economy of the United States;
Whereas every year since 1963, the President has designated
a ``National Small Business Week'' to recognize the
contributions of small businesses to the economic well-being
of the United States;
Whereas in 2012, National Small Business Week will honor
the estimated 27,200,000 small businesses in the United
States;
Whereas the Small Business Administration has helped small
business concerns by providing access to critical lending
opportunities, protecting small business concerns from
excessive Federal regulatory enforcement, helping to ensure
full and open competition for government contracts, and
improving the economic environment in which small business
concerns compete;
Whereas for more than 50 years, the Small Business
Administration has helped millions of entrepreneurs achieve
the American dream of owning a small business, and has played
a key role in fostering economic growth; and
Whereas the President has designated the week beginning May
20, 2012, as ``National Small Business Week'': Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) honors the entrepreneurial spirit of small business
concerns in the United States during National Small Business
Week, which begins on May 20, 2012;
(2) applauds the efforts and achievements of the owners and
employees of small business concerns, whose hard work and
commitment to excellence have made such small business
concerns a key part of the economic vitality of the United
States;
(3) recognizes the work of the Small Business
Administration and its resource partners in providing
assistance to entrepreneurs and small business concerns; and
(4) recognizes the importance of ensuring that--
(A) guaranteed loans, including microloans and microloan
technical assistance, for start-up and growing small business
concerns, and venture capital, are made available to all
qualified small business concerns;
(B) the management assistance programs delivered by
resource partners on behalf of the Small Business
Administration, such as Small Business Development Centers,
Women's Business Centers, and the Service Corps of Retired
Executives, are provided with the Federal resources necessary
to provide invaluable counseling services to entrepreneurs in
the United States;
(C) the Small Business Administration continues to provide
timely and efficient disaster assistance so that small
businesses in areas struck by natural or manmade disasters
can quickly return to business to keep local economies alive
in the aftermath of such disasters;
(D) affordable broadband Internet access is available to
all people in the United States, particularly people in rural
and underserved communities, so that small businesses can use
the Internet to make their operations more globally
competitive while boosting local economies;
(E) regulatory relief is provided to small businesses
through the reduction of duplicative or unnecessary
regulatory requirements that increase costs for small
businesses; and
(F) leveling the playing field for contracting
opportunities remains a primary
[[Page S3388]]
focus, so that small businesses, particularly minority-owned
small businesses, can compete for and win more of the
$400,000,000,000 in contracts that the Federal Government
enters into each year for goods and services.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements
related to the resolution be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________