Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Reporting Act of 2025

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my bill, H.R. 1621, the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Reporting Act of 2025.

As vice ranking member of the House Committee on Small Business, I am proud to partner with Congressman Stauber, who has done incredible work in this area to support Americans with disabilities and help to ensure that every American has the same opportunity to become a successful entrepreneur.

Mr. Speaker, this is, after all, the fundamental promise of the American Dream: that any person in this country can work hard, take risks, and hopefully find success.

Yet, Americans with disabilities, like other underprivileged groups, see fewer opportunities to make their entrepreneurial dream a reality. There are 44 million people with disabilities in the United States. In my home State of Kentucky, approximately 18 percent of people have a disability. Yet, people with disabilities make up just 6 percent of our Nation's small business owners. We have to change that.

Far too often, entrepreneurs with disabilities encounter significant barriers, both physical and intangible, when starting their own business, including having a harder time getting bank loans and start- up investments, inadequate support services, and insufficient outreach from Federal programs. We know this is just the tip of the iceberg and that more barriers exist.

Today, nearly 2 million small businesses are owned by people with disabilities, but there could be so many more. Here is how: by improving the public programs that serve differently abled individuals and implementing policies that make work and entrepreneurship more accessible, providing accommodations, tackling ableism, and the list goes on.

Mr. Speaker, to pull this off, our bill would require SBA to conduct a comprehensive study of the resources that are available to entrepreneurs with disabilities, examine their effectiveness, and determine what actions need to be taken to help support these entrepreneurs.

By conducting this report, SBA will have the opportunity to revisit the effectiveness of their programs to ensure that our government better serves people with disabilities who want to start their own small business.

This bill came together in a way that I think the Founders might have envisioned. Last Congress, the Committee on Small Business heard from my constituent Cody Clark, a small business owner, a disabilities rights advocate, and I think the only person who has ever performed a magic trick in front of our committee.

He testified on the challenges that entrepreneurs with disabilities face based on his experience as an entrepreneur with autism, and this bill was born from his insight and experience.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical legislation for Cody and for every other American with their own entrepreneurial dream, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Chairman Williams and Ranking Member Velazquez, for this incredible work and, as Mr. Stauber said, allowing us to work together in this way.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Stauber for his incredible work in this area and for his willingness to advocate for so many Americans, including his own child. It takes tremendous strength and courage. I thank the gentleman for working with me specifically on this important bipartisan piece of legislation to ensure that this Congress and the SBA do right by Americans with disabilities.

Mr. Speaker, entrepreneurship is the hallmark of the American Dream. It is who we are--a land of opportunity for all. This bill takes a commonsense, bipartisan step toward improving government services for entrepreneurs with disabilities.

By requiring the SBA to assess current programs and identify challenges and barriers that entrepreneurs with disabilities face, we lay the groundwork for a better, more inclusive society and economy.

Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. If we can make it easier for more people to start a small business, we will all benefit.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1621, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in favor of the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Reporting Act of 2025.

I will start by thanking my friend and colleague from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey) for introducing this bill and for his hard work in getting this bill to this point.

Every day, people with disabilities across our great country demonstrate resilience, innovation, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Yet, many roadblocks make entrepreneurship unnecessarily difficult.

These individuals don't lack talent, but they lack access. That is access to capital, access to resources, and the support needed to turn their ideas into successful businesses.

The Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Reporting Act ensures that we take a hard look at the obstacles standing in the way of aspiring entrepreneurs with disabilities. It directs the Small Business Administration to assess whether current programs are effectively serving these individuals and to identify where improvements are needed.

If we are serious about fostering economic growth and opportunity, we cannot leave behind the millions of great Americans with disabilities who want to contribute, who want to innovate, and want to build something of their own.

Removing these obstacles isn't just the right thing to do, but it is a smart investment in economic growth. Entrepreneurs with disabilities bring creativity, and they bring drive. We should be clearing the path and not blocking it.

Mr. Speaker, today is a fly-in day for the House of Representatives. This conversation between Chairman Williams, Mr. McGarvey, and the leadership of Ranking Member Velazquez won't get the headlines because this apparently doesn't sell to the news media.

We in this country, as Democrats and Republicans, have more in common than we do differences, and we are letting the American people know that today.

Chairman Williams has done a tremendous job in the Committee on Small Business of allowing Members to bring ideas and legislation that is bipartisan. I thank the chairman for his hard work and for allowing us to do that.

I thank Ranking Member Velazquez for allowing us to do that, as well.

I thank Mr. McGarvey for managing the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, this is who we are, and I point out that Mr. McGarvey said this is the way the Founding Fathers would want it. I totally agree with that. One of the gentleman's constituents brought the concern, and it took us a little while to get there, but we got there.

Mr. Speaker, we are working in a bipartisan fashion to remove obstacles in the way of the growth for our disability community.

Mr. Speaker, I know your background. The Speaker was chosen, just like me and millions of other parents, to raise a special child who God gave us. It is up to us now as a country and as legislators to not leave anybody behind.

Mr. Speaker, nobody in our disability community will ever be left behind, and you are seeing that in a bipartisan fashion.

I thank Mr. McGarvey, Ranking Member Velazquez, and Chairman Williams for their leadership and allowing us to introduce this legislation because we are helping the most vulnerable in our community. That is exactly what we should be doing.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1621) to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to submit to Congress a report on the entrepreneurial challenges facing entrepreneurs with a disability, 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 the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1621, the Entrepreneurs with Disabilities Reporting Act of 2025, introduced by Representatives McGarvey and Stauber.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation requires the SBA to report to Congress on the challenges facing individuals with disabilities and what resources or programs the SBA provides to assist them. The report will also include legislative recommendations to address those challenges.

America is the land of opportunity, meaning that anyone can and should be able to engage in entrepreneurship without regard to whether they have a disability. This bipartisan legislation will assess the challenges that individuals with disabilities encounter when starting a small business and identify whether and how government policies may exacerbate those challenges.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives McGarvey and Stauber for their leadership on this important issue and for introducing this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Stauber).

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.