On July 27, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, a bill (S. 1517) that would allow women’s business centers to re-compete for sustainability grants in FY2005.
Bill sponsor Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said that women-owned businesses “breathe new life into our economy, grow at twice the rate of all firms, and create jobs with pace-setting results. With 10.6 million women-owned businesses across the Nation, employing more than 19 million Americans, and generating $2.5 trillion in revenue indeed, they are nothing short of an economic powerhouse!” Stating that the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) women’s business center program “has been a tremendous resource to women-owned businesses,” she explained that without additional funding, 11 women’s business centers would be forced to close their doors: “The SBA plans to award 92 competitive grants to regular and sustainable women’s business centers in September with fiscal year 2005 appropriations. However, our 11 longest standing centers will not be eligible to compete for these grants. This was not the intent of the Senate. Last Congress, the Senate agreed to transform the women’s business center program into a 3-year competitive grant program, which [was] reflected in my bill, S. 1375, the Small Business Administration’s 50th Anniversary Reauthorization Act of 2003. While the House failed to pass their version of the bill, limited provisions of the bill were included in the fiscal year 2005 omnibus package. However, the women’s business center provision, among others, failed to make the omnibus bill and this program now operates under outdated legislation.”
Sen. Snowe explained that S. 1517 “preserves our investment by simply making the women’s sustainability grant funding available for these 11 centers only during fiscal year 2005. While we must fix the funding problem in the long-run, we also face a crisis today. With this legislation, existing centers that have been established for the longest period of time would be able to operate without disruption in funding and could continue the programs and services they currently offer. Moreover, this provision does not require any additional appropriations but only reallocates current funds.”
