[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 169 (Tuesday, November 17, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H8250]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     FAIRNESS TO VETERANS FOR INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT ACT OF 2015

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong 
opposition to H.R. 1694, which was debated by this House under the 
suspension of the rules yesterday.
  H.R. 1694 purports to be about fairness to veterans. Well, Mr. 
Speaker, there is nothing fair about pitting veterans against women- 
and minority-owned businesses for an already meager goal of 10 percent 
of Federal highway and transit construction contracts.
  If the sponsor of H.R. 1694 really wanted to create a new veterans 
preference system at the Department of Transportation, he would have 
worked with Mr. Cummings and Ms. Norton when offered the opportunity to 
do so over a year ago. If my colleague really wanted to create a new 
veterans preference system, he would have cosponsored legislation to 
establish a specific and separate contracting goal for veteran-owned 
small businesses through the creation of a veteran-owned business 
enterprise program.
  The gentleman from Pennsylvania has done neither. Instead, he chose 
to put forth legislation that threatens to inflict irreparable harm on 
the entire Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program by opening it up 
to additional legal challenges and undermining its core purpose. The 
DBE program was created by Congress to combat discrimination against 
minority- and women-owned small businesses. It is and must remain 
narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest in order 
to withstand the Supreme Court's test of strict scrutiny.
  While I support the sponsor's stated goal of helping veterans and, 
more specifically, helping veteran-owned businesses compete for Federal 
highway and transit construction contracts, I reject the notion that 
the best way to do so is by undermining the Disadvantaged Business 
Enterprise program.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not a zero-sum game. We do not need to pit these 
two constituencies--both of whom continue to suffer through 
disproportionately high unemployment rates--against each other. We can 
and should help both veteran and disadvantaged businesses succeed.
  That is why I joined Representatives Cummings, Norton, Brown, and 
Bustos in sponsoring H.R. 3997, legislation that would create a new 
veteran-owned business enterprise program at the Department of 
Transportation that is wholly separate and apart from the existing DBE 
program. It is the better and more direct way of helping veteran-owned 
businesses compete for Department of Transportation contracts, and it 
does so without harming the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 1694.

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