[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16388]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            VETERANS' SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT LEGISLATION

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the 
``Veterans' Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act.''
  By establishing the National Veterans Business Development 
Corporation, this bill will provide significant assistance to 
entrepreneurial veterans. Additionally, this legislation works to aid 
veterans through networking, supervision, microloans and loans, 
disaster assistance, and data collection programs. This bill provides 
assistance to many veterans who have the skills, talent and motivation 
to successfully own and operate small businesses but may not have the 
right connections or the ability to hire consultants. This bill is a 
means by which the federal government can help veterans help 
themselves.
  Veterans have fought and sacrificed to protect the United States and 
the freedoms Americans cherish. Veterans' programs such as this provide 
us, in a small way, the capability to repay those veterans for their 
extraordinary contributions to our nation. These veterans have already 
given so much to our country and many of them want to contribute even 
more by starting small businesses. I believe we owe it to them to do 
everything we can to help them in these endeavors.
  Accordingly, I am proud to join The American Legion, the Disabled 
Veterans Association, the Reserve Officers Association, the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars, and the many other military and veteran service 
organizations in support of this bill.

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