[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14801-14803]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS PRESERVATION ACT OF 2003

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1247.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will state the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1247) to increase the amount to be reserved 
     during FY2003 for sustainability grants under section 29(l) 
     of the Small Business Act.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise in support of the ``Women's Business 
Centers Preservation Act of 2003'' in recognition of the critical need 
to preserve the operations of existing Women's Business Centers 
currently serving women entrepreneurs in almost every state and 
territory. I am pleased to be joined in offering this bill by Senator 
Kerry, Ranking Member, Committee on Small Business and 
Entrepreneurship, and Senators Bond, Cantwell, Burns, Levin, Enzi, 
Grassley, Baucus, Domenici, and Bingaman.
  While I am totally supportive of the Administration's efforts to add 
new centers to serve a broader constituency, I am very concerned that 
we may lose valuable resources established in rural and urban areas. 
The value of the Women's Business Center Program is stated best by the 
text taken from the Small Business Administration's (SBA) promotional 
materials on the Women's Business Center Program:

       Each women's business center is uniquely designed to serve 
     the needs of its individual community and to place special 
     emphasis on helping those who are economically disadvantaged.
       The Women's Business Center Program has become a strong and 
     effective part of the SBA's entrepreneurial-development 
     efforts.

  And--

       In tough economic times, when both employment and funding 
     resources are harder to come by, support for the WBC Program 
     is more important than ever.

  As Chair of the Small Business Committee, I totally agree with the 
SBA's assessment. In fact, Congress has agreed six times since the 
program was introduced through the Small Business Ownership Act of 
1988, and made permanent in 1997, that this program is critical for 
women-business owners. The program's appropriations has grown from $2 
million in 1989 to $12 million in 2003, and the results have been 
impressive. In Fiscal Year 2002, for every dollar invested in the 
program, centers reported a return of $161 in gross receipts of 
clients.
  Even more remarkable is the fact that since 1997, the Women's 
Business Centers have served more than 240,000 women entrepreneurs. In 
Fiscal Year 2002, almost 86,000 customers were served through the 
centers. As reported in the SBA Performance and Accountability Report 
of 2002, ``the WBC Program has more than doubled its goal of a 3 
percent annual increase in the number of clients served in the past two 
years. This is due in large part to the success of the sustainability 
grants, which enable established centers to continue SBA funding. SBA 
expects this trend to continue as more centers become firmly 
established and as their reputations for excellence spread.''
  If we look at the centers that are achieving the greatest impact, it 
is the established centers. The results of their outreach and one-on-
one assistance has made it possible for the Small

[[Page 14802]]

Business Administration to achieve its goals as it measures the success 
of the products and programs offered by these centers.
  It is true that this month only five Women's Business Centers face 
the possibility of closing their doors without the dollar-to-dollar 
matching funds that are provided through sustainability funding. The 
sustainability grant provisions reserve 30.2 percent of the $12 million 
program funding for sustainability grants for existing centers with the 
balance of available funds designated for the creation and operation of 
new centers. Based on information provided by the SBA, there are not 
sufficient sustainability reserve funds to offer continuation contracts 
to five centers in Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas and 
Washington. Therefore, SBA has proposed a reduction in grants for all 
centers currently funded by sustainability grants. By increasing the 
reserve amount to 36 percent, only during Fiscal Year 2003, adequate 
funds will be available for eligible existing centers operating with 
sustainability grants.
  Next year, there will be more than 20 States and the U.S. Virgin 
Islands affected by the lack of funding to continue operations. Last 
month, I introduced the ``Women's Small Business Programs Improvement 
Act of 2003'', S. 1154, to correct deficiencies in the program and 
provide a fair, competitive process to operate and grow the Women's 
Business Center Program. I expect that bill will be taken up as part of 
the SBA reauthorization legislation my Committee will consider in July.
  While we can fix the funding problem in the long-run, we still face a 
crisis today. That is the reason for the bill I am introducing. By 
increasing the formula for sustainability grants from 30.2 percent to 
36 percent, existing centers would be able to operate without 
disruption in funding and the programs and services currently offered 
in our communities. This provision will not require an additional 
appropriation, just a reallocation of current funds.
  I believe this approach offers the best path available to sustain the 
centers approaching the end of their grant cycles without creating 
undue hardship for all existing centers. At the same time, it should 
not hinder the Administration's efforts to create new centers.
  These centers have been extraordinarily successful in providing 
assistance to women in all walks of life--from those who once received 
public assistance but now operate businesses and create jobs, to women 
transitioning from employee to small business employer, to established 
women-business owners who create and manufacture products for sale at 
home and abroad. The Centers nurture women entrepreneurs through 
business and financial planning and help with critical issues like 
securing funding for startup and expansion. Yet--despite these 
successes--funding questions have long plagued the program.
  I am committed to resolving the temporary funding crisis through the 
bill I introduce today and will work with my colleagues to ensure the 
long-term viability of the Women's Business Center program for today's 
women entrepreneurs and those of tomorrow.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I rise today as Ranking Member of the 
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship with my esteemed 
colleague and Chair of the Committee, Senator Snowe, to offer 
legislation to fix a funding gap that exists for meritorious Women's 
Business Centers that are graduating from the first stage of the 
program and entering the sustainability portion.
  I would first like to thank Senator Snowe for working very closely 
with me on this issue. Her leadership and support has been invaluable. 
I would also like to thank our House counterparts on the Small Business 
Committee, Chairman Manzullo and Ranking Member Velazquez, who have 
also been working diligently on the issue of sustainability grants as 
we take on the process of reauthorizing the majority of the SBA's 
programs. In addition, I want to thank all of the cosponsors of this 
legislation, all of which have shown resounding support for women 
entrepreneurs and recognize the positive impact all small businesses 
have on our national economy.
  As I have said on more than one occasion, women business owners do 
not get the recognition they deserve for their contribution to our 
economy: Eighteen million Americans would be without jobs today if it 
weren't for these entrepreneurs who had the courage and the vision to 
strike out on their own. For 18 years, as a member of the Senate 
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I have worked to 
increase the opportunities for these enterprising women in a variety of 
ways, leading to greater earning power, financial independence and 
asset accumulation. These are more than words. For these women, it 
means having a bank account, buying a home, sending their children to 
college, calling the shots.
  And helping them at every step are the Women's Business Centers. In 
2002 alone, these centers helped 85,000 women with the business 
counseling and assistance they likely could not find anywhere else. 
Cutting funding for any centers would be harmful to the centers, to the 
women they serve, to the States, and to the national economy.
  The funding gap for Women's Business Centers in the sustainability 
portion of the program exists because the Small Business Administration 
has chosen to adopt a funding policy that shortchanges existing, proven 
centers in order to open new, unproven ones. By incorrectly 
interpreting the funding formula set up in statute for the Women's 
Business Center program, the SBA intends to make way for new centers at 
the expense of those that are already established, operational and 
successful. This is both bad policy and contrary to congressional 
intent.
  As the author of the Women's Business Centers Sustainability Act of 
1999, I can tell that when the Women's Business Centers Sustainability 
Act of 1999 was signed into law, it was Congress's intent to protect 
the established and successful infrastructure of worthy, performing 
centers. The law was designed to allow all graduating Women's Business 
Centers that meet certain SBA standards to receive continued funding 
under sustainability grants, while still allowing for new centers--but 
not by penalizing those that have already demonstrated their 
effectiveness.
  Currently there are 81 Women's Business Centers in 48 states. Forty-
six of these are in the initial program, 29 are already in 
sustainability, and six more are graduating or have graduated from the 
initial program and are now applying for sustainability grants. Because 
the SBA is incorrectly interpreting the funding formula for 
sustainability grants in order to open new centers, and in order to 
accommodate funding for potentially six new sustainability centers, 
those from Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, Texas, and 
Washington State, the amount of funds reserved for Women's Business 
Centers in sustainability must be increased from 30.2 percent to 36 
percent.
  This legislation does just that. It directs the SBA to reserve 36 
percent of the appropriated funds for the sustainability portion of 
Women's Business Centers program--even though the SBA already has the 
authority on its own to increase the reserve--thereby protecting the 
established Women's Business Centers from almost certain grant funding 
cuts and still providing enough funds to open six or more new centers 
across the country.
  I want to again express my sincere and steadfast support for the 
growing community of women entrepreneurs across the Nation and for the 
invaluable programs through which the SBA provides women business 
owners with the tools they need to succeed. As a long-time advocate for 
women entrepreneurs and SBA's programs, my record in support of the 
SBA's women's programs and for women business owners speaks for itself. 
I have continually fought for increased funding for the women's 
programs at the SBA, for sustaining and expanding the women's business 
centers, and for giving women entrepreneurs their deserved 
representation within the Federal procurement process, to name a few. 
With respect to

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laws assisting women-owned businesses, I have been proud to either 
introduce the underlying legislation or strongly advocate to ensure 
their passage and adequate funding.
  This bill is necessary to continue the good work of SBA's Women's 
Business Center network, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill 
be read the third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid 
upon the table, and that any statements regarding this matter be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (S. 1247) was read the third time and passed, as follows:

                                S. 1247

       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 ``Women's Business Centers 
     Preservation Act of 2003''.

     SEC. 2. SUSTAINABILITY GRANTS FOR WOMEN'S BUSINESS CENTERS.

       Section 29(k)(4)(A)(iv) of the Small Business Act (15 
     U.S.C. 656(k)(4)(A)(iv)) is amended by striking ``30.2 
     percent'' and inserting ``36 percent''.

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