Expanding Entrepreneurship Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1842) to amend the Small Business Act to improve the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurial development programs, and for other purposes, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 1842

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 ``Expanding Entrepreneurship Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. EXPANDING ENTREPRENEURSHIP.

Section 4 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 633) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``(g) Management and Direction.--

``(1) PLAN FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT AND JOB CREATION STRATEGY.--The Administrator shall develop and submit to Congress a plan, in consultation with a representative from each of the agency's entrepreneurial development programs, for using the Small Business Administration's entrepreneurial development programs to create jobs during fiscal years 2010 and 2011. The plan shall include the Administration's plan for drawing on existing programs, including Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, SCORE, Veterans Business Centers, Native American Outreach, and other appropriate programs. The Administrator shall identify a strategy for each Administration region to create or retain jobs through Administration programs. The Administrator shall identify, in consultation with appropriate personnel from entrepreneurial development programs, performance measures and criteria, including job creation, job retention, and job retraining goals, to evaluate the success of the Administration's actions regarding these efforts.

``(2) DATA COLLECTION PROCESS.--The Administrator shall, after notice and opportunity for comment, promulgate a rule to develop and implement a consistent data collection process to cover all entrepreneurial development programs. Such data collection process shall include data relating to job creation, performance, and any other data determined appropriate by the Administrator with respect to the Administration's entrepreneurial development programs.

``(3) COORDINATION AND ALIGNMENT OF SBA ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS.--The Administrator shall submit annually to Congress, in consultation with other Federal departments and agencies as appropriate, a report on opportunities to foster coordination, limit duplication, and improve program delivery for Federal entrepreneurial development programs.

``(4) DATABASE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS.--The Administrator shall, after a period of 60 days for public comment, establish a database of providers of entrepreneurial development services and, make such database available through the Administration's Web site. The database shall be searchable by industry, geography, and service required.

``(5) COMMUNITY SPECIALIST.--The Administrator shall designate not less than one staff member in each Administration district office as a community specialist who has as their full-time responsibility working with local entrepreneurial development service providers to increase coordination with Federal resources. The Administrator shall develop benchmarks for measuring the performance of community specialists under this subsection.

``(6) ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT PORTAL.--The Administrator shall publish a design for a Web-based portal to provide comprehensive information on the Administration's entrepreneurial development programs. After a period of 60 days for public comment, the Administrator shall establish such portal and--

``(A) integrate under one Web portal, Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Centers, SCORE, Veterans Business Centers, the Administration's distance learning program, and other programs as appropriate;

``(B) revise the Administration's primary Web site so that the Web portal described in subparagraph (A) is available as a link on the main Web page of the Web site;

``(C) increase consumer-oriented content on the Administration's Web site and focus on promoting access to business solutions, including marketing, financing, and human resources planning;

``(D) establish relevant Web content aggregated by industry segment, stage of business development, level of need, and include referral links to appropriate Administration services, including financing, training and counseling, and procurement assistance; and

``(E) provide style guidelines and links for visitors to the Administration's Web site to be able to comment on and evaluate the materials in terms of their usefulness.

``(7) PILOT PROGRAMS.--The Administrator may not conduct any pilot program for a period of greater than 3 years if the program conflicts with, or uses the resources of, any of the entrepreneurial development programs authorized under section 8(b)(1)(B), 21, 29, 32, or any other provision of this Act.''.

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

The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from New York.

GENERAL LEAVE

Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which 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. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, entrepreneurial development initiatives, or ED programs, provide critical services for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to launch a new enterprise. These programs also help established businesses that are trying to expand and create new jobs.

By helping small firms flourish, the SBA's ED services will be vital to sustaining our economic recovery. But for this to happen, the SBA must use its resources effectively. This is especially true during economic downturns. After all, when money is scarce, we want to make sure the taxpayer gets the most job-creating bang for their buck.

We already know that ED initiatives are a wise investment. Every dollar put into these programs returns $2.87 to the U.S. Treasury. The legislation that we are considering today will make these programs even more responsive, so that they better meet the needs of small business owners.

H.R. 1842 will bring enhanced coordination to the SBA's portfolio of ED services. In order for these initiatives to perform at their full potential, we have to know what is working and what could function better. This bill takes important steps in that direction. Requiring the SBA to collect data will provide important insights into the strengths of the ED program and highlight where there is room for improvement.

The bill also instructs the SBA to develop a plan outlining how to use ED initiatives to create new jobs over the next 2 years. Given the current state of the economy, it make sense that the agency focus on using ED to expand employment options. The bill will also reduce duplication between different ED initiatives. By verifying that the SBA's right hand knows what the left hand is doing, we will further leverage the agency's resources and channel more support to small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, this is a good bill. It puts in place some commonsense steps that are badly needed at SBA. Most importantly, this bill will ensure the SBA's programs do a better job of helping businesses. I think all of us can stand behind that goal. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to recognize Chairman Velázquez for her great leadership and bipartisan fashion on this committee which has a myriad of issues that we address on a daily basis, and I want to thank her for her excellent leadership and providing us a forum to debate these ideas in a fair fashion.

I am proud to support H.R. 1842, the Expanding Entrepreneurship Act of 2009, to assist many fellow small business owners and employees throughout my district in Missouri and throughout the country. Small businesses have generated up to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade and continue to contribute 38 percent to the gross domestic product. As we try to jumpstart the slumping economy and put people back to work, it only makes sense to provide relief and not more onerous tax hikes to our Nation's most productive job creators.

While this logic has underpinned alternative plans supported by myself and many of my colleagues to boost the economy and ensure growth in the future, it has been all but ignored by the administration and the majority in Congress. At a time when small businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, we must remain ever vigilant in improving the efficacy of entrepreneurial and technical assistance programs. We also need to ensure our small businesses are able to adequately utilize all available resources.

My bill beefs up support services in key entrepreneurial development programs, making these programs more effective and responsive to the needs of small businesses and ensuring that existing programs are being used effectively and duplicative government programs are done away with.

To make these widely used programs more responsive to the needs of small businesses and at no cost to the taxpayers, H.R. 1842 establishes planning standards within these programs, requires maintenance of an entrepreneurial development database, and ensures that someone is available to assist small businesses at all SBA district offices. The bill also requires the SBA to develop a job-creation strategy for 2009-2010.

The bill also expands specific programs, such as small business development centers, women's business centers, and the Service Corps of Retired Executive, or SCORE. These widely used programs are intended to assist entrepreneurs with practical and technical skills needed to help start and sustain a business.

In addition, the bill creates new support programs for veteran-owned and Native American-owned small businesses, improves cross-program coordination to maximize use of program resources, and creates 21st-century online learning initiatives for entrepreneurs.

An investment in entrepreneurial development programs yields strong returns. In 2008, the SBA entrepreneurial development programs helped to generate 73,000 new jobs and bring $7.2 billion into the economy. Some economists have estimated that every dollar invested in these initiatives returns $2.87 to our economy and helps these small businesses thrive.

Since the onset of the credit crisis over 2 years ago, available credit to small businesses and consumers has contracted by trillions of dollars. Without access to credit, small businesses can't grow, can't hire, and too often end up going out of business. That is why I am particularly pleased to support a bill that strengthens small business development centers, one-stop assistance centers for current and prospective small business owners designed to assist small firms in securing capital and credit.

As Louis Celli, CEO of the Northeast Veterans Business Resource Center in Boston, put it at a recent hearing on this same subject, we have the right focus by wanting ``to interweave these programs together and really force everybody to play in the same sandbox.'' And by making entrepreneurial development programs more effective, we can be not only more responsive to small businesses but also be better stewards of taxpayers' dollars.

I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, 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. Velázquez) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1842, 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.

Source