[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 28, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H719-H721]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      SERVICE-DISABLED VETERAN OPPORTUNITIES IN SMALL BUSINESS ACT

  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 3511) to amend the Small Business Act to require 
training on increasing contract awards to small business concerns owned 
and controlled by service-disabled veterans, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3511

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Service-Disabled Veteran 
     Opportunities in Small Business Act''.

     SEC. 2. TRAINING ON INCREASING CONTRACT AWARDS TO SMALL 
                   BUSINESS CONCERNS OWNED AND CONTROLLED BY 
                   SERVICE-DISABLED VETERANS.

       Section 36 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 657f) is 
     amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(j) Training on Increasing Contract Awards to Small 
     Business Concerns Owned and Controlled by Service-Disabled 
     Veterans.--
       ``(1) In general.--The Administrator, in consultation with 
     the Office of Veterans Business Development, shall provide to 
     covered employees at each Federal agency that has not met the 
     goal established under section 15(g)(1)(A)(ii) training on 
     how to increase the number of contracts awarded to small 
     business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled 
     veterans.
       ``(2) Guidance.--Not later than 180 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Administrator, in consultation 
     with the Office of Veterans Business Development, shall issue 
     guidance and best practices on increasing the number of 
     contracts awarded to small businesses owned and controlled by 
     service disabled veterans for Federal agencies to which the 
     goal established under section 15(g)(1)(A)(ii) applies.
       ``(3) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the 
     Administration shall submit to Congress a report detailing, 
     for the fiscal year covered by the report--
       ``(A) a list of each Federal agency that failed to meet the 
     goal established under section 15(g)(1)(A)(ii);
       ``(B) the number of trainings provided to each Federal 
     agency described in paragraph (1); and
       ``(C) an overview of the content included in such training 
     sessions.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Williams) and the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that this is the first of eight bills from 
the Committee on Small Business that we will

[[Page H720]]

be considering today. That goes to show that the Committee on Small 
Business is a committee that gets things done, and I hope our Senate 
counterparts follow our lead to get these bills to the President's 
desk.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3511, the Service-
Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act, which is 
sponsored by my good friend, Representative LaLota, from the great 
State of New York.
  H.R. 3511 builds on this Congress' dedication to America's veterans. 
Our country asks a lot from our brave servicemen and -women. Therefore, 
we must support them when they return to civilian life and ensure that 
they have a fair shot to succeed back home.
  That is why this bill is critical to ensuring that our veterans are 
supported as entrepreneurs. The Federal Government is the largest 
consumer in the world, and each year, these agencies have a goal to 
spend a portion of their contracts with small businesses owned by 
service-disabled veterans.
  In last year's NDAA, Congress raised the spending goal to 5 percent 
of all contracting dollars. Unfortunately, not every Federal agency has 
met its commitment to the men and women who bravely served our country. 
H.R. 3511 would remedy this by requiring the Small Business 
Administration to help failing agencies improve their inclusion of 
service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. Our veterans deserve 
to have every chance to succeed in the Federal contracting space.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support H.R. 3511, and I urge all of my 
colleagues to vote for this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, today we are considering eight bills, six sponsored by 
Republicans and two by Democrats.
  I look forward to working with the chairman to bring the additional 
five Democratic bills to the floor that were unanimously approved by 
the committee in a timely manner.
  I thank my colleagues, Representatives LaLota and McGovern, for their 
work to bring this bill to the floor today.
  In fiscal year 2022, Federal agencies awarded 4.57 percent of 
contract dollars and a record of just over $28 billion to service-
disabled veteran-owned small businesses, but this number does not tell 
the whole story.
  Every year, a handful of agencies do not meet their individual agency 
goals, showing that there is more that can be done. This legislation 
will require SBA to issue guidance and to provide training for agencies 
when they come up short. It is also important to highlight that 
Congress has raised the service-disabled veteran-owned small 
businesses' goal to 5 percent of Federal contracting dollars moving 
forward, so additional guidance and training will be timely.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaLota).
  Mr. LaLOTA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Williams for yielding, for 
his leadership in the Committee on Small Business, and most importantly 
for recognizing the importance of this legislation and its importance 
to the veterans community.
  Mr. Speaker, America owes a great debt of gratitude to our service-
disabled veterans. Those who have served our Nation in uniform deserve 
our utmost thanks, support, and respect. They put our great country 
before themselves.
  As service-disabled veterans transition into civilian life and some 
look to enter the government contracting space, Congress must identify 
and implement ways to make that transition easier. My bipartisan bill 
does just that. The Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small 
Business Act will provide greater opportunities to our Nation's 
disabled veterans by increasing government contracting opportunities 
for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
  Currently, Federal agencies are required to contract with service-
disabled veteran-owned small businesses for at least 5 percent of 
contracts awarded, yet the prior lower standard, 3 percent for all, 
wasn't even being met by many agencies.
  My legislation will help solve that problem by requiring the Office 
of Veterans Business Development and the Small Business Administrator 
to provide training to Federal agency officials who fall below their 
procurement goals and issue guidance on best practices to increase the 
number of contracts to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to 
support the Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business 
Act.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), the ranking member of the 
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development Subcommittee.

                              {time}  1700

  Mr. McGARVEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3511, the 
Service-Disabled Veteran Opportunities in Small Business Act, which I 
am proud to lead with Representative LaLota.
  I am grateful for his partnership, and I am grateful that the bill is 
on the floor today. I will echo the remarks of my colleague, Mr. 
LaLota. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the men and women who have 
put on the uniform who were willing to fight for us and, of course, 
were injured in their service. It is up to us to support our veterans 
coming out of the military as much as we support them going in, 
especially those who return with the wounds from their service, both 
visible and invisible.
  So many veterans come home looking for ways to continue serving their 
communities, including by starting small businesses, and the Small 
Business Administration does a great job of connecting veteran and 
disabled veteran entrepreneurs to critical resources they need to start 
businesses, but the Federal Government must do more to ensure all 
veteran entrepreneurs have the tools and opportunities they need for 
their new businesses to thrive.
  For disabled veteran entrepreneurs, opportunity can come in the form 
of sole-source or set-aside contracts, but Federal agencies all too 
often fail to meet their service-disabled vet contracting goals.
  This bill requires the SBA to issue guidance to other Federal 
agencies to better meet the contracting goals for service-disabled 
veteran-owned small businesses and it would additionally require the 
SBA to provide training to agencies that fail to meet these goals.
  If the agencies fail to meet their contracting goals, then this bill 
requires a report to Congress detailing which agencies haven't met 
their goals so we can better understand what works, what doesn't, and 
what we can do to continue improving business opportunities for 
service-disabled veteran businessowners. We shouldn't stop until we are 
delivering on all of our promises.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this good bipartisan 
legislation and look forward to its passage today.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, I am 
prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for 
the purpose of closing.
  Mr. Speaker, the Federal procurement goals are one way that Congress 
helps to ensure that small business government contractors can enter, 
compete, and remain in the Federal marketplace and that they receive a 
fair share of contracting dollars when doing so.
  This bill will provide agencies with additional tools and training to 
maximize awards to firms owned by service-disabled veterans and meet 
their small business goals.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the work of my colleagues on this bill, and 
I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense 
legislation that Mr. McGarvey and Mr. LaLota did a great job on, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Meuser). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams) that the House

[[Page H721]]

suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3511.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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