SBA Women's Business Programs Act Of 2007

Floor Speech

SBA WOMEN'S BUSINESS PROGRAMS ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - June 18, 2007)

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

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the face of small business is changing in this country. Women entrepreneurs now account for 50 percent of all small business owners and are growing at a phenomenal rate. The SBA Women's Program Act of 2007, sponsored by Congresswoman Fallin, works to enhance opportunities for women by increasing access to in-depth outcome-oriented counseling and training. It strengthens SBA's Women's Business Centers to ensure that they continue to serve the important role of assisting small business owners.

While many have taken advantage of the services Women's Business Centers offer, not all budding entrepreneurs are getting the resources they need to successfully start and own a business. A significant gap exists between the number of women in our country and those involved in entrepreneurship, particularly in certain industry sectors.

Representative Fallin's legislation will increase the reach of Women's Business Centers to help develop entrepreneurship, particularly in underprivileged areas. By setting standards, it ensures that those who want to start their own firms have quality support and training resources available. The increased research that this bill requires will make sure that challenges currently impacting women are identified and addressed.

The SBA Women's Procurement Act of 2007 builds on the strong track record of Women's Business Centers. The expansion of these centers has the potential to spur economic growth in disadvantaged communities and to even move impoverished women from welfare to entrepreneurship.

I strongly support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, the small business face in America is changing. We have more and more women who would like to get involved in opening and starting their businesses, and the bill that we have before us as sponsored by Representative Fallin does just that.

It promotes opportunity for women by increasing access to business counseling and training through the development of the Women's Business Center. This will better enable women to have flourishing enterprises and help to spur job creation and economic development across this Nation. I urge adoption of this bill.

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