[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26055-26056]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       ADDITIONAL TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF SMALL BUSINESS PROGRAMS

  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (S. 1929) to provide for an additional temporary extension of 
programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment 
Act of 1958, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the amendment is as follows:

       Amendment:
       Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert:

     SECTION 1. ADDITIONAL TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF 
                   PROGRAMS UNDER THE SMALL BUSINESS ACT AND THE 
                   SMALL BUSINESS INVESTMENT ACT OF 1958.

       (a) In General.--Section 1 of the Act entitled ``An Act to 
     extend temporarily certain authorities of the Small Business 
     Administration'', approved October 10, 2006 (Public Law 109-
     316; 120 Stat. 1742), as most recently amended by section 1 
     of Public Law 111-66, is amended by striking ``October 31, 
     2009'' each place it appears and inserting ``January 31, 
     2010''.
       (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) 
     shall take effect on October 30, 2009.

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


                             General Leave

  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may 
consume.
  The legislation before us will extend the Small Business 
Administration's broad array of critical programs until the end of 
January. This will allow small businesses to go on using the valuable 
services of the SBA while the House and the Senate continue our work to 
comprehensively reauthorize the Small Business Administration.
  Already this year we have made important progress toward 
reauthorizing the SBA. In May, the House passed legislation 
reauthorizing the agency's entrepreneurial development programs. In 
July, we approved a measure to update the Small Business Innovation 
Research Initiative. And later this week, the House will consider H.R. 
3854, a bill to comprehensively update the SBA's capital access 
initiatives. Passing the bill before us today will let us complete our 
work on these measures and conference them with our counterparts in the 
Senate.
  The SBA clearly needs to be modernized in order to meet today's 
challenges. I look forward to sending legislation to the President's 
desk that will bring all of these various initiatives up to date. In 
the meantime, this bill offers the appropriate amount of time to 
continue our work while ensuring the agency can continue serving small 
businesses.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the chairwoman's 
request to suspend the rules and pass S. 1929, as amended.
  The bill is very simple. It is a clean extension that prolongs the 
authorization of all programs authorized by the Small Business Act, the 
Small Business Investment Act, and any program operated by the Small 
Business Administration for which Congress has already appropriated the 
funds. This extension is going to last until January 31, 2010.
  This extension is essential because the authorization of various 
programs operated by the SBA ceases on October 31, 2009. Over the past 
two Congresses, our committee has worked in a bipartisan fashion and 
reported out a number of bills to reauthorize and extend the programs 
operated by the SBA. Despite our efforts to come to terms with various 
differing aspects of our and the other body's legislation, the 
extension passed earlier this year will expire before the legislative 
process can run its course.
  The work needed to help America's entrepreneurs revitalize the 
economy simply cannot be accomplished within the timeframe outlined in 
the current legislation. We not only need to reauthorize these critical 
programs, but also update them to respond to the reality that is the 
21st century. The extra time contained in this legislation allows us to 
fully explore and implement the ideas that will give our Nation's 
entrepreneurs the tools they need to be successful.
  Without enactment of this extension, a number of vital programs that 
the SBA operates would cease to function. Given the continued 
importance that small businesses play in the revitalization of the 
American economy, we cannot allow the SBA authorization to run out. 
Passage of this legislation will enable the House and Senate to 
continue to work in an industrious manner to address necessary changes 
to SBA programs.
  I urge all of my colleagues to suspend the rules and pass S. 1929, as 
amended.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. Wu).
  Mr. WU. I thank the gentlelady.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1929, as amended by the House. 
We have been working diligently on reauthorizing key programs of the 
SBA, including the Small Business Innovative Research and the Small 
Business Technology Transfer programs.
  While progress has been made, a temporary extension of SBA programs 
is necessary to provide more time for us to continue working and 
provide stability to the SBA. S. 1929, as passed by the Senate, would 
extend SBA programs through April 30, 2010.
  While I believe it is important to provide stability for SBA, 6 
months is simply too long of a time to extend the programs because we 
need to keep our focus on a comprehensive reauthorization of SBIR and 
STTR. By extending the program for 6 months, we would delay this 
process. We would be putting off important work that needs to be done, 
such as permitting technology and venture capital participation in SBIR 
to a larger extent, changing grant sizes and other important things to 
turn the program into an innovation program as well as a small business 
program.
  S. 1929, as amended by the House, will provide a 3-month extension 
that will provide stability to the SBA but also ensure that we continue 
to work expeditiously to pass reauthorization bills for SBIR and STTR.

[[Page 26056]]

  I commend the chairwoman for her leadership on the Small Business 
Committee and working to keep small businesses in their important role 
as we work toward an economic recovery. Small business is the heart of 
our innovation economy, and we have to have the tools to keep them 
active and thriving in a 21st century economy.
  Mr. GRAVES. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on this vote, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 1929, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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