Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act

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

Mr. Speaker, up until now, on each of these bills, I have been speaking fast, but I know that Mr. Rose and Ms. Waters are planning to get here in just the next few minutes to speak on the next two bills. Since they are not here yet, it does the House no harm for me to speak more slowly and perhaps at greater length.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1190, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act, sponsored by my colleague, the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Downing).

I will point out that I am uniquely unqualified to address this bill since my entire district is in an urban area, that of the great city of Los Angeles. Yet, even I recognize the importance of getting capital to our small businesses in rural areas.

I strongly support this legislation, which would require the SEC's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to report on capital access issues faced by small, rural businesses.

Currently, the SEC small business advocate reports on small businesses that are minority owned or women owned or in disaster- stricken areas. Yet, at present, the law does not report on businesses in rural areas. The bill simply adds rural businesses to the list covered by the entities of the small business advocate and the entities that the small business advocate will report on.

Small businesses, no matter where they are located or who they are owned by, are the backbone of the American economy. Helping small businesses should be about as nonpartisan as we can get here in Congress. Lawmakers and regulators should be doing everything they can to support them.

Those businesses located in rural areas face unique challenges. We have had other speakers on other bills talk about how so many of our financial institutions and business investors are focused on the East Coast or the West Coast or in New York, Silicon Valley, or some of the other large cities in our country.

It is important, therefore, that the small business advocate also reports on the needs of rural small businesses that are seeking to raise capital. Lawmakers and regulators should be focused on those businesses.

This is common sense, and I hope my colleagues will support it.

I commend the gentleman from Montana for bringing this bill to the floor, and I look forward to continuing to discuss this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the House has no further legislative business after we consider the bills that are before us today. The authors of the last two bills up for consideration are on their way, so should I speak slowly, or should we go into recess? Either way, we are not delaying the House.

Mr. Speaker, I urge Members to support H.R. 1190, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act. It is a simple but important step to directing the SEC's small business advocate to include small, rural businesses in their reporting.

As I have noted before, the small business advocate currently reports on the challenges faced by minority-owned, women-owned, and disaster- affected small businesses. This would add rural small businesses to the list.

This is a gap we need to fix. Small businesses in rural communities face unique hurdles in accessing capital, and they deserve the same attention as the other types of businesses that the advocate focuses on.

No matter where they are located and no matter who owns them, small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They should be and are a bipartisan priority, and this bill is a step in the right direction.

With the understanding that we will be able to deal with the other bills that are scheduled to come before us even after a short recess, I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 1190, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1190) to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to expand access to capital for rural-area small businesses, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1190, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act. I commend Congressman Downing for leading this commonsense bipartisan bill.

Too often, the conversation around capital formation is centered on financial hubs like New York and San Francisco, but the backbone of America's economy is the local business communities in cities and towns and rural areas across all 50 States: the family-run manufacturers, agricultural innovators, entrepreneurs, and small-town tech startups. These businesses face unique but very real obstacles when trying to raise capital.

H.R. 1190 ensures that those voices aren't left out. The bill directs the SEC's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to proactively engage with rural communities, study the structural funding gaps that they face, and tackle their challenges when crafting policies.

This is not about expanding bureaucracy. It is about sharpening the focus of an office that already exists to ensure that its mission reflects the incredible variety of businesses that are the engine of the U.S. economy.

We all have rural counties in our districts where hardworking small business owners are ready to grow if only they can access the capital that they need. This bill gives them a seat at the table and a voice in sharpening the policies that affect their future.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1190, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Montana (Mr. Downing), my friend.

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

Mr. Speaker, in closing, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act takes care of our hardworking small business owners who are ready to grow. They deserve a seat at the table, Mr. Speaker.

I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 1190. I commend the Representative from Montana (Mr. Downing) for introducing this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chair for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the backbone of Montana's Second District. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses employ roughly 67 percent of all Montanans. That is well above the national average.

These businesses historically have difficulty accessing the funding they need to grow and create jobs. Their location presents an added challenge.

According to the Center on Rural Innovation, 12 percent of U.S. businesses are located within rural areas, yet they receive less than 1 percent of venture capital funding.

Many of the communities that I represent have populations of under 500 people. It places them among this underserved group. These overlooked people and places have inspired my legislation, H.R. 1190, the Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act.

As any small business owner can attest, the number one barrier to growth is access to capital. Through my own experiences, I know how difficult it can be for businesses to secure the funding that they need to grow. I have built businesses in technology, manufacturing, distilling, and real estate, and a primary driver in the success of all of these businesses was access to capital.

The SEC's Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation was created for just this reason: to identify capital access problems that small businesses face. However, rural small businesses are currently excluded from the required categories of businesses that the office monitors for these problems.

My legislation simply requires this office to identify and report to Congress the challenges faced by rural small businesses when trying to access our capital markets. H.R. 1190 will make it easier for Members of Congress to do our jobs to make sure rural businesses, like in Montana, are not left behind.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Bynum for partnering with me on this legislation. I was happy to see it pass out of the Committee on Financial Services with unanimous support. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1190 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.