STATEMENT
of the
Honorable Nydia M. Velázquez,
Ranking Member, House Committee on Small Business
Hearing on National Small Business Week: Small Business
Success Stories
September 17, 2003
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As we celebrate National Small Business Week,
we are reminded how this nation's small firms and entrepreneurs
are truly the drivers of the American economy.
Today, our country's approximately 23 million
small businesses create three out of every four new jobs,
represent 99 percent of all employers, and provide almost
70 percent of workers with their first jobs and initial
on-the-job training. There is no question of the important
role small businesses play in keeping the U.S. economy strong.
Owning a business is an integral part of the American dream.
This ideal brings hundreds of thousands of
immigrants to our shores each year. Today, minorities -
along with women - are opening small businesses in record
numbers. In fact, Latinas are the new small business trailblazers
- between 1997 and 2002, the number of Latina-owned firms
increased by almost 40 percent and their sales grew by approximately
10 percent. Our country was built on small businesses -
and this legacy continues today.
In order for small business owners to continue
this legacy, they need to have the capability to expand
and create jobs, but it is important to understand the reality
they currently face. We cannot dismiss the fact that it
is difficult to be an entrepreneur with our nation in the
midst of an economic slump.
Today's environment does not make things easy for small
businesses. This morning the Small Business Committee Democrats
released a first-ever Small Business Index (SBI). This report
tracks the economic conditions facing small businesses.
Unfortunately, after reaching a five-year high in 2000,
the 2003 second quarter report represents a five-year low
- meaning that conditions for small business creation and
growth are more challenging than ever.
Since small businesses have the power to turn
our economy around, we need to start addressing their issues.
It would be unfair to say that the White House has done
nothing to help small business. They released a small business
agenda in March of 2002. But that's about the extent of
it. There has been no progress to date on getting any of
the agenda items accomplished.
Small business owners need action, not empty
promises. They need access to quality, affordable health
care, since they make up the majority of the uninsured.
They need targeted, permanent tax relief, and assistance
in navigating the federal regulatory process. They need
an easier way into the $235 billion federal marketplace,
and avenues to access capital, other than credit cards.
But this administration has done nothing to
help small businesses on these critical issues. It has failed
to give them the tax relief they need. In the 2003 tax cut,
just 3 percent of the $350 billion went to targeted small
business relief, and these provisions are set to expire
in 2004 and 2005. On the health care, regulatory, and federal
contracting fronts, small businesses have pushed to the
sidelines. After all they have done for this nation, don't
we owe them some fairness - and some action on their agenda?
As we observe National Small Business Week
and recognize some of our country's most successful entrepreneurs,
we will be reminded of what they mean to the strength and
vitality of the American economy. But the message this week
should be, if we are going to get this economy back on track,
that small businesses should be the number one priority.
Without our small firms and entrepreneurs, the U.S. wouldn't
be the superpower that it is today.
Thank you.
