[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 2, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S1224]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. HEITKAMP:
  S. 2619. A bill to require the Secretary of Commerce to carry out a 
pilot program on the award of financial assistance to local governments 
to support the development of startup businesses, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Ms. HEITKAMP. Mr. President, I am introducing the Startup 
Entrepreneur Empowerment Delivery, SEED, Act today to address the 
challenges faced by startup businesses in North Dakota, as well as 
other rural States and small cities, by helping them get the early 
stage funding they need to grow their business.
  Access to capital is one of the single largest barriers between 
startup businesses and success. This bill addresses the unique needs of 
startup companies in our country's more rural States by creating a 
pilot program through the U.S. Department of Commerce aimed at 
providing small amounts of capital to qualifying startups.
  Innovation does not just happen in Silicon Valley or at our country's 
biggest research institutions. Innovative ideas are blooming in our 
heartland and startups are forming on our main streets making the 
entrepreneurial ecosystem of our smaller cities stronger than ever 
before. But too often, we hear the same challenges from startups and 
small businesses that they are trying to fit a square peg into a round 
hole, meaning they run into the barrier of not being able to qualify 
for Federal support or Federal programs because they are asking for too 
little funding. We can't let these innovators slip through the cracks.
  The Startup Entrepreneur Empowerment Delivery, SEED, Act would grant 
financial assistance to ten small sized cities across the country which 
then would make awards directly to startups to use for marketing, 
infrastructure, recruitment and hiring resources. This bill directly 
addresses the concerns that I continue to hear from startups in North 
Dakota and will help drive them to success and reinvest and diversify 
the local economies of our Nation's more rural areas.
  With my SEED Act, we can invest in small cities, in rural States, 
like North Dakota, helping drive startups to success. Just like anyone 
from a small or rural town, we know how to make a little go a long way, 
and this bill will help make that possible. The SEED Act will allow the 
Federal Government to continue its priority of investing in innovation 
and will ensure those investments are felt in America's heartland.
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