[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 190 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S5537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM B. SHEAR

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I request unanimous consent to enter 
into a colloquy with the Senator from Iowa.
  As chair of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I 
rise to celebrate the venerable career of Director William Shear of the 
U.S. Government Accountability Office--GAO--and congratulate him on his 
retirement.
  Mr. Shear is a Director at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. 
As a leader on the Financial Markets and Community Investment team, his 
portfolio addresses small business issues, community and economic 
development, and Native American housing issues. In addition to these 
important issues, Mr. Shear's portfolio includes oversight of many 
Small Business Administration--SBA--programs that address contracting, 
disaster assistance, access to capital, and entrepreneurial counseling.
  Mr. Shear's career at the GAO spans over two decades. In this time, 
he has had profound impact on the government's small business programs 
and served thousands of citizens who use these important programs every 
day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Shear testified before the 
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship to provide his 
essential perspective on the SBA's COVID relief programs. His testimony 
emphasized the importance of conducting effective oversight and of 
ensuring that relief was delivered to the people who needed it most.
  At the height of the pandemic, my colleagues and I on the Committee 
on Small Business and Entrepreneurship worked tirelessly on behalf of 
America's small businesses and worked to ensure that the most 
vulnerable small businesses received the help they needed. Mr. Shear's 
commitment to upholding the integrity of the SBA's relief programs was 
foundational to our work. His testimony supported the committee's 
mission to serve America's most vulnerable businesses during an 
unprecedented time of uncertainty and chaos, and we are grateful to him 
for his invaluable contributions.
  Mr. Shear also contributed to the committee's efforts to improve the 
SBA's contracting programs. His testimony provided the committee with 
valuable insight into the SBA's efforts to provide better contracting 
opportunities for small businesses, especially women-owned and veteran-
owned firms, and his suggestions on how to improve these programs were 
indispensable to us.
  Advocating for small business growth, especially among women-owned 
and veteran-owned small businesses, is critically important. About 99 
percent of the businesses in my home State of New Hampshire are small, 
and these businesses employ about half of Granite Staters. With GAO, 
Mr. Shear has been a tireless advocate for these same small businesses. 
He has worked hard with the Committee on Small Business and 
Entrepreneurship and the SBA to ensure that the programs established to 
help America's small businesses continue to do so and continue to 
improve.
  As chair of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I 
am honored to thank Mr. Shear for his contributions to GAO, to the 
committee's work, and to small businesses across the country. We will 
miss his hard work and his advocacy. I offer him warm congratulations 
on his retirement and wish him well in his future endeavors.
  Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee 
on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I have had the firsthand 
opportunity to see the impact that small businesses have on local 
communities and the work of dedicated public servants to ensure that 
they remain the backbone of the economy. Today, I would like to 
recognize Mr. William Shear, a public servant who has dedicated over 20 
years to America's small businesses and wish him a happy retirement.
  Mr. Shear serves as the Director of Financial Markets and Community 
Investment at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO. In this 
role, he has distinguished himself as an expert on the Small Business 
Administration's disaster assistance lending, government contracting, 
and small business credit programs. In his time at GAO, he served as 
Acting Director for Physical Infrastructure and was Assistant Director 
of Financial Markets and Community Investment. Mr. Shear is a graduate 
of the University of Chicago with both a master's degree in public 
policy and a Ph.D. in economics. In addition to his time at GAO, he is 
a former lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, where he taught 
city and regional planning.
  Mr. Shear is no stranger to the Senate Committee on Small Business 
and Entrepreneurship. As the Director of Financial Markets and 
Community Investment, he has testified numerous times before the 
committee as a champion of saving the American taxpayer their hard-
earned dollars. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater 
Horizon disaster, and Hurricane Sandy, Mr. Shear was there to provide 
answers with his insight and knowledge on disaster assistance. His 
testimonies provided the committee with meaningful solutions that 
assisted the small businesses in our home States and communities.
  I want to congratulate Mr. Shear on his outstanding career at GAO. We 
appreciate his dedication to America's small businesses and the 
expertise he provided to the Senate Committee on Small Business and 
Entrepreneurship. I would like to associate myself with the comments of 
the chair.

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