Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018

Floor Speech

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Mr. KNIGHT. Mr. Speaker, I thank my chairman for his support on this and many other issues that we see in our Small Business Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6330, the Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018.

This bill is simple. It is commonsense. It is a measure designed to promote the sustainability, growth, and development of small Federal contractors into the open marketplace.

Under existing law, the Small Business Administration calculates the size of a company by taking the average of the past 3 years of gross receipts. A company's average must be within established industry parameters set by the SBA in order to be considered a small business and be eligible to receive access to SBA's small business programs, resources, and assistance.

My bill is very simple. It extends that time period out to 5 years. This additional time allows all small businesses an opportunity to mature before graduating out of the SBA's small business programs.

Over the course of this Congress, we have conducted hearings, held roundtables, and heard stories of the overwhelming mid-market challenges forcing many successful small contractors to close their doors or stall their growth. Prospects for a newly graduated firm successfully integrating into the open marketplace are rapidly declining due to the widening gap between small and large contractors.

Small firms are opting out--either voluntarily or, in many cases, involuntarily--from joining the Federal marketplace because of this rift. This outcome depletes our industrial base, reduces competition, and inhibits economic growth.

Mr. Speaker, do we really want our small businesses to look at their ability to expand and their ability to be a larger and more prosperous business and say: I can't do this because I am going to move out of the SBA, so what I should do is maybe close my doors or just restrict our growth.

That is not what America is all about. That is not what we want out of our small businesses. We want them to expand. We want them to bring new and innovative things to the marketplace. And we want them to expand and have jobs for our kids and for the next generation.

Mr. Speaker, I think that this is a reasonable look at what we are trying to do, and I urge support of H.R. 6330.

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