News From Congresswoman
Nydia M. Velázquez
Representing New York's 12th Congressional District - Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens
Ranking Democratic Member, House Small Business Committee

For Immediate Release
February 3, 2005

CONTACT: Kate Davis, Allyson Ivins, (202) 225-4038

Velázquez: President's State of Union Continues to Make Empty Promises to Small Businesses
Despite words, small firms continue to lack health care, and face regulatory burdens

WASHINGTON - Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee, today responded to President Bush's remarks in the State of the Union address last night, which highlighted the importance of this nation's small businesses.

"This president has been touting the same messages for small business since he first took office," Congresswoman Velazquez said. "However, it is quite obvious that his rhetoric has not matched the reality of his administration's record. While he may acknowledge how important small businesses are to the U.S. economy, his policies have failed to truly recognize their needs."

In last night's State of the Union, the president addressed the need to make health care more affordable. Small businesses today are in the midst of a health care crisis - more than 60 percent of the 45 million uninsured Americans are small business owners, their employees or families. President Bush asked Congress to move forward on the Association Health Plans (AHP), which would allow small firms to band together to purchase health care. Despite the fact that the president repeatedly says he supports this bipartisan legislation, it is long overdue for him to spend his political capital and demand that Congress moves forward on AHPs.

Another barrier for small firms is the overwhelming amount of regulatory burdens that weigh them down. President Bush talked about relieving small businesses of these burdens; yet, the Bush administration holds the record for the largest increase in paperwork in a single year.

The president also spoke of advancing economic opportunities for women and minorities. However, Rep. Velazquez expressed her disappointment in the Bush administration's lack of support and mismanagement for key small business programs targeted at helping women and minority business owners - such as the Microloan program, the New Markets Venture Capital program and the women's procurement program. All of these programs have been under attack during the Bush administration.

Last night, President Bush stated that 150 programs in his FY 2006 proposal will be cut or eliminated that "are not getting results, or duplicate current efforts, or do not fulfill essential priorities." The administration's past budgets illustrate that they do not consider small business programs to be an "essential" priority - as shown in last year's budget report released by the Democrats on the House Small Business Committee, which found that the programs in the report saw a cut of more than 70 percent. Congresswoman Velazquez stated that, "Clearly, with an increasing budget deficit and our involvement in Iraq, this country is facing tough times, but small businesses do not need to pay the price for it. This administration expects entrepreneurs to do more with less - they have illustrated this in all of their budget proposals."

"Whether it be a lack of support for critical small business programs, failure to call for a reduction in red tape, or a failure to push for affordable health care for small businesses, the Bush administration continues to tout policies that say one thing but in reality, do little, if anything to help entrepreneurs," Congresswoman Velazquez said.

###