Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act

Floor Speech

SMALL BUSINESS CONTRACTING PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 30, 2007)

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Mr. SESTAK. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill for two goods that are within it. The first has to do with our servicemembers, those that have become disabled because of their service. This bill, for the first time, gives priority, even if it's just one company that is veteran-owned and has the service-disabled owning that company, even if there are other competitors. I think this is extremely important, particularly in this time of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I say that because in World War II, on average, our soldiers had 182 days of combat. In between horrific battles of Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima or the Battle of the Bulge, there was dwell time in which our servicemembers had time to rest before the next onslaught.

In the war in Iraq, our servicemembers go outside the wire every day into combat for 15 months. We are seeing a higher rate of post-traumatic stress disorder coming back than we have seen in any war. Some say over 30 percent. That will feed into our society.

So that this bill addresses the fact that our society owes something to those who wear the cloth of this Nation, particularly in such a challenging war, I speak up in support of it.

The second is women business owners. The fact that the goal has been for years that 5 percent of all Federal contracts will go to women business owners, we have only met the goal of 3.4 percent. I believe this bill goes a large step towards helping those, particularly the economically disenfranchised, to be able to have industries that are underrepresented, to now have the competition remain with women business owners. And if they are substantially underrepresented, it can then open up to those women business owners who are not economically disadvantaged. So I speak up in support of this bill both for veterans and for women.

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