STATEMENT
of the
Honorable Nydia M. Velázquez
Floor Statement in the House of Representatives on H.R.
3915
March 10, 2004
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3915.
This legislation is not about helping our nation's small
businesses - it's about hurting them.
Right now, we have 8.2 million unemployed
Americans searching for work. Do you know who could give
them jobs? That's right, small businesses. We have lost
more than 3 million jobs since the Bush administration took
office in 2001. Do you know who could help us create jobs?
Yes, small businesses. Manufacturing employment is at a
53-year low. Do you know who could turn this situation around?
Our nation's small businesses.
Given the power our nation's small businesses yield in job
creation, now is exactly when we should be solving the problems
facing them, not creating them. But that's exactly what
H.R. 3915 does. It solves nothing. And it complicates everything.
Contrary to what you may have been led to
believe, H.R. 3915 does not extend the Small Business Administration
(SBA). In fact, it picks and chooses who it will help, leaving
unsolved the most critical issue facing the agency - the
virtual shut down of the SBA's largest loan program.
Sadly, the 7(a) program has been on life support
since January. The SBA's flagship lending program was first
shutdown in early 2004 due to lack of funds. Small business
owners - some who had put down their life savings, some
who had plans to expand and hire new employees, some who
were going to purchase new equipment - found themselves
left in the lurch.
Even though they had played by the rules, submitted their
applications on time, and were approved for a loan, the
federal government failed to honor its commitment to them.
Both fairness and accountability flew out the window when
the program was shutdown and applications were returned
to small business borrowers. And it does again with this
bill before us today.
When it was reopened, the program saw new
restrictions that are still in place. In its current weakened
state, the 7(a) program fails to serve the very small businesses
Congress had in mind when it created it in the first place.
This bill fails to address any of these complications for
small businesses caught in the 7(a) crossfire. They are
casualties of this administration's lack of commitment to
small businesses. And that is JUST PLAIN WRONG. And H.R.
3915 does nothing to rectify the situation.
This problem is made worse by the fact that
Congress, and the House, has failed to get their work done
for America's entrepreneurs. Adding insult to injury, by
extending the SBA until mid-May, H.R. 3915 prevents Congress
from resolving the 7(a) crisis in time to help many small
business owners across this country save jobs - and save
their businesses. Don't you think we owe them more than
that? I certainly do, and I know my Democratic colleagues
would agree.
Our small businesses don't ask for much -
yet they give so much in return. They create jobs in our
local communities, they pave the way for individuals to
reach the American dream, they train our workers and generate
new ideas. We should be giving back to them what they give
to us. And what does this bill give them? It gives them
nothing.
That's why I oppose H.R. 3915. I urge my colleagues
to vote no on this legislation. If you support small businesses
in America and the jobs that go hand-in-hand with them,
then you must vote against this bill.
Thank you.
