To provide for an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 through July 23, 2004, and for other purposes.

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

(Ms. VELAZQUEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, we are here today because Congress has failed to complete its work. Over 1 year ago, the Committee on Small Business unanimously reported out a bipartisan reauthorization bill. As a result of the failure to move this legislation, the authorization for the SBA expired last year and we are now forced to pass our fourth extension. Shamefully, the agency has been operating for 3 months without any authorization.

It is clear that the Nation's job creators, small businesses, are struggling. The United States has lost 1.7 million jobs since 2001, and we are continuing to see growth rates that only keep up with inflation. American manufacturers are being hit hardest, with 2.7 million jobs lost during that period and 11,000 lost in June alone. This is clearly not the picture of an economy that is getting back on its feet.

Last week, the House Committee on Small Business Democrats released a quarterly small business index showing that business conditions are at 7-year lows. Skyrocketing health care and energy costs and exploding Federal budget deficits are but a few of the barriers small firms face in achieving the growth our economy needs so badly.

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.

The legislation ensures small firms are given a fair chance to break into the Federal marketplace. By doing so, we provide the Federal Government a quality service at a good price. This is not just good for small businesses, it is good for the American taxpayer. Additionally, the likelihood of success for small business is nearly doubled when they have access to technical assistance.

Passage of the reauthorization bill will offer the greatest expansion of entrepreneurial assistance programs in decades.

Even more concerning is the possibility that our failure to act will actually worsen the business environment for small businesses. Small businesses are faced with a possible doubling of fees on SBA loans at the end of this month. Without immediate action, the current structure will lapse, leaving banks and entrepreneurs in a worse situation than when the program was shut down last year.

Although the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Manzullo), who cannot be here today, has tried repeatedly to bring this bill up for consideration, the Republican House leadership and the administration have blocked it.

In today's economic climate, small businesses are more important than ever. We need to ensure that they have all the tools for success, as they are facing numerous obstacles. It is unfortunate that we are here today passing an extension, rather than celebrating the passage of an SBA reauthorization.

These issues should not be subject to partisan politics. When our small businesses need us the most, our committee was able to work in a bipartisan manner to produce this legislation. We now ask the Republican leadership to recognize these efforts and pass the reauthorization bill that will get small businesses back creating jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo).

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

I would like to set the record straight regarding the tax cut that the President submitted to Congress and that Congress passed.

The tax cuts are not helping small businesses. The President's tax cuts have provided little relief for small businesses. In fact, under the latest tax cut, over half of small businesses receive less than $500, despite a cost of $350 billion. And, while the President talks about how the top tax rate cut helps small businesses, only 1 percent of small business owners benefit from the reduction in the top tax rate. In fact, out of the 28 million small businesses, only 180,000 benefited from the top tax rate, according to the figures presented to us by the Department of the Treasury. Those are your own numbers. Less than 5 percent of the latest 2003 Jobs and Growth package was in the form of targeted tax relief for small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney).

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

Mr. Speaker, there is no disagreement that we should pass this extension. It is, though, embarrassing that it has come to this. We expect small businesses to meet their taxes, comply with Federal regulations and pay their employees on time. But when it comes to Congress, we are not held accountable for our failure to meet their needs.

At a time when our economy is struggling, at a time when small businesses are struggling, Congress should be holding up its end of the deal. Passing the Small Business Administration Reauthorization Act must be a priority.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5008) to provide an additional temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 through September 30, 2004, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 5008.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill extends until September 30 the programs of the Small Business Administration not covered by an appropriation, including the Preferred Surety Bond Program, SBA's Private Sector Cosponsorship Authority, the Small Disadvantaged Business Procurement Assistance Program, the Small Business Development Center Drug-Free Workplace Assistance Grants Program and the Very Small Business Concerns Program.

Last June, the House acted responsibly by passing H.R. 4478 to extend the programs of the SBA, but the other body failed to act. These programs have been in limbo since June 4, and it is important that they are extended while we continue to work on an SBA reauthorization bill.

In addition, H.R. 5008 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.

Finally, H.R. 5008 corrects a legal problem regarding how the SBA pays fiscal transfer agents, who provide a vital role in the secondary market. For nearly 10 years, the SBA's fiscal transfer agent has been paid by a float on interest on the pools of securitized 7(a) guaranteed loans. Recently there has been some confusion as to whether or not this practice violates the Anti-Deficiency Act. The SBA has proposed a fix to this problem, and that solution is incorporated in section 3 of H.R. 5008, which essentially codifies the existing practice.

Passage of this legislation is needed in order to prevent the crippling of the SBA's 7(a) loan program, because without the liquidity of a secondary market banks will not make as many 7(a) loans as in the past.

This bipartisan bill has the support of the ranking minority member, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), and it has the support of the Bush administration. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 5008.

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

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

While reauthorization is extremely important, I think it would behoove us at this time to really think about all of the things that have been done and are in the process of being done for small businesses here and across America.

Twenty-five million small business owners will receive tax relief, totaling $75 billion. That is real savings. The rate reductions 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.

Regulation, which is another burdensome thing on small business, this administration has slowed the growth of burdensome new rules by 75 percent. Also, small businesses saved $7 billion last year in regulatory costs, and that is significant.

We have worked a lot to try to incent and grow our small businesses, and there is always more, much more, that can be done. But in terms of government procurement, for the first time in many years, the Federal Government exceeded its small business goal by providing a record $65.5 billion in prime contracts to small businesses. That is a significant increase over past years.

So, in conclusion, I would like to say that reauthorization of SBA is exceedingly important to small business, and what we are doing here today in extending the authorization is extremely important. But much has been done and much needs to still continue to be done to help small business, which is the backbone of our American economy.

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

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

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

I would like to thank the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez) for not only her advocacy for this bill before us today, but for her advocacy for small business. She is one of the staunchest cheerleaders for small businesses across this Nation, and I appreciate her service and her ability to get things done.

I thank our chairman, the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Manzullo), who is not with us today, to thank him also for his small business advocacy. It is good to know that we have a bipartisan opinion on this bill. I look forward to its passage, and I look forward to all of us working together to see that small business not only grows but thrives under this bill and also under further legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time.

Although I would rather be here to support the SBA reauthorization, I rise today in support of H.R. 5008, which would simply, once again, extend the important programs under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5008 marks the fourth extension of the SBA programs. The House Committee on Small Business passed the extension on the SBA programs with bipartisan support a year ago. I want to take this opportunity to commend the leadership of our ranking member, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), and our chairman for their strong leadership and their bipartisanship in working on that reauthorization.

Yet, the House leadership has failed to bring this bill to the floor for a vote. Why?

The leadership in this and the other body give a lot of lip service to small business. We constantly tout them as the backbone and the engines of our economy. Yet, on legislation as critical to their and, thus, our Nation's well-being as the reauthorization of programs on which they depend, this Congress has, once again, failed to act.

It is getting late in the year. Our small businesses cannot wait. They need security now. They need the assurance that the programs they will need to continue will be there now. They need to know what to expect, and we need to stop these stop-gap measures and give them that security and that assurance.

I am particularly concerned because I have heard Members ask, Why should we continue to fund agencies and programs that have not been reauthorized?

Mr. Speaker, actions speak louder than words. Failure to act on this legislation is sending the message that our Nation's small businesses are not a priority for this administration. But they are very important to both the Democrats and the Republicans on the committee.

It is also of great concern that this bill fails to address the current problem of high fees associated with the 7(a) program, the flagship lending program for the Small Business Administration. If the leadership fails to bring the reauthorization to a vote by the end of this month, the 7(a) lending program will once again be in jeopardy.

It is a good thing that, in our districts, the agencies charged with supporting small businesses are doing what they need to do. On that positive note, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and congratulate the University of the Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center, the university president, Dr. Laverne Ragster, and the SBDC director, Mr. Warren Bush, for successfully hosting its Small Business Innovation Research Program and Small Business Technology Transfer Program Orientation Conference last week.

Finally, on a bill previously before this body today, I want to take this opportunity to also join my colleagues in supporting House Resolution 717 and belatedly extend, on behalf of all of my constituents in the U.S. Virgin Islands, our best wishes to President Bill Clinton on his 58th birthday, as well as to wish him a continued speedy recovery, many, many more birthdays and good health and happiness, and God's richest blessings on him and his family.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York, both for yielding me this time and for bringing this matter to the floor today.

It is obviously essential that we finally take some action on this legislation. We need to extend critical funding to women's business centers across the United States. In particular, the Center for Women and Enterprise in Boston serves many of the constituents in my district and throughout the State of Massachusetts. It has been long overdue, and many of these centers have already suffered because of Congress's inaction.

It is a bit disturbing to know that it has been 10 months since the Small Business Administration authorization bill has expired. And it continues to linger, and we need the majority to come forward and the White House to come forward at this point in time and bring it and put it on the agenda. Everybody has great rhetoric about how important small businesses are to our country, to our districts and to the economy. But now it is time to put that rhetoric into action and make sure we move on this bill.

We do not have to tell people or remind them about how this economy is suffering: almost 2 million jobs lost in the last several years and still not anywhere near back to where we were in January of 2001.

We know what a generator of jobs, what a booster of the economy small businesses can be, and we also know how important the Small Business Administration is in providing capital for these businesses. So if we could do the bill that is before us today but also bring forward the Small Business Administration reauthorization, we could deal with that issue of capital.

At a time when the economy is suffering as much as it is, many businesses are starting to fail. They need that capital so that they can retool. Some need it to grow. And we need some new businesses to fill in where others have left. That cannot happen without this bill coming forward.

The so-called 7(a) loans are by far the most critical capital vehicles that we have for small businesses: $11 billion in loans to small businesses every year. That aspect has to be assured to businesses. If we do nothing by the end of this month, fees for that will double, freezing out many businesses from the opportunity to get access to this money so that they can expand or they can start up.

Time after time, we hear on the floor and we hear in people's individual districts how much they feel for small business and how certain they are that small businesses add to the benefit of our country.

Mr. Speaker, we need to put our money where our mouth is. We need this measure to be brought forward. I support today's bill because it does a good thing, particularly with respect to the women's business centers across the country, but realize that we have to do more and move the Small Business Administration reauthorization forward.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5008, and I would like to take this time to thank the chairman of the Committee on Small Business, the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Manzullo), and the ranking member, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), for their continued leadership in crafting a long-term reauthorization of the Small Business Administration.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5008 will provide temporary reauthorization of the Small Business Administration. While I support H.R. 5008, I do share the ranking member's frustration that we still have not had the opportunity to vote to pass a permanent reauthorization of the Small Business Administration, and consequently this raises concerns about the future of the 7(a) loan guarantee program, which is often the only source of long-term financing on reasonable terms for small businesses, particularly those in poor, rural and underserved areas.

While H.R. 5008 will maintain the current authority for the 7(a) program,

small business owners will see a doubling of administration fees.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Small Business approved on a unanimous, bipartisan basis a permanent Small Business Administration reauthorization, H.R. 2802. The committee marked up this bill on July 21, 2003. H.R. 2802 would revise the 7(a) fee calculation for small businesses, avoiding the increase that they will otherwise face under the current authority.

These small firms represent the future of our economy, Mr. Speaker, as they account for 75 percent of all new jobs created in the United States.

Therefore, I hope that we can work together to resolve any outstanding issues with respect to this bill and move this important legislation to the floor before we recess. In the meantime, I respectfully urge my colleagues to vote today in favor of the temporary reauthorization.