On September 13, the House approved, by voice vote, a bill (H.R. 5008) to temporarily reauthorize the Small Business Administration (SBA) and its programs through September 30, 2004. The Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent on September 14. It will now go to the White House for President Bush’s signature.
Last September, the Senate approved a three-year reauthorization (S. 1375) of the SBA (see The Source, 9/26/03); however, the House has not yet acted on the bill. While SBA programs and activities that receive an appropriation through the annual Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies spending bill were extended upon enactment of the FY2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 108-199), there are several SBA programs, such as the 504 loan program and the Small Business Investment Company program, that do not receive an appropriation and were set to expire at the end of 2003.
On July 20, the Senate approved a temporary reauthorization of the SBA programs through September 17, but the House did not act on the bill (see The Source, 7/23/04). Authorization for the programs expired on July 23.
Expressing her disappointment that the House has not yet passed a three-year reauthorization of the SBA, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) stated, “At a time when we should be providing our Nation’s entrepreneurs a leg up, this administration and the Republican Congress has continuously failed to provide the assistance they need by blocking passage of the SBA reauthorization. The bipartisan reauthorization bill will provide the most comprehensive overhaul of the SBA in over a decade. It will broaden or modernize the SBA loan programs so firms can access the capital they need. At a time when the Federal Government failed to meet the small business contracting goals for the fourth consecutive year, the Republican leadership is blocking this bill that will expand procurement opportunities for small companies.”
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) highlighted congressional efforts to assist small businesses: “Twenty-five million small business owners will receive tax relief, totaling $75 billion. That is real savings. The rate reduction in the tax benefit plan is more than 90 percent small business. We also have raised the small business expensing limit from $25,000 to $100,000, and I can tell my colleagues in my home State of West Virginia, small businesses are beginning to do and beginning to feel the growth effects of being able to hire another person, being able to buy that extra piece of equipment as a result of the tax incentives.” Of particular interest to women, Rep. Capito explained that the temporary extension “would help many existing Women’s Business Centers keep their doors open. Passage of H.R. 5008 would free up the remaining $4 million already appropriated for the program this year to provide at a minimum approximately $70,000 to each Women’s Business Center and sustainability status.”
Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said that “in the absence of a full authorization of the [SBA], which I am still working to bring about, it is vital that we extend those programs that can provide current assistance to small businesses. The bill before us, H.R. 5008, would renew the authorization for several SBA programs, including the Preferred Surety Bond Program. This program provides an essential service to small businesses by guaranteeing surety bonds for small business contracts, thereby permitting small businesses to undertake thousands of projects which would otherwise be out of reach.” She went on to add, “This legislation will preserve the operation of existing Women’s Business Centers that currently serve women entrepreneurs in almost every State and territory. Today, more than 10.6 million women-owned small businesses are helping to fuel our economic recovery: they employ over 19 million Americans and contribute $2.46 trillion in revenues. In my home State of Maine, there are more than 63,000 women-owned firms, generating more than $9 billion in sales. Numbers like these speak for themselves, and are clear evidence of the success of the Women’s Business Centers Program.”
