To extend temporarily certain authorities of the Small Business Administration.

Mr. President, tomorrow--September 30, 2006--many of the SBA's programs and authorities expire. Our committee worked together to come up with a bipartisan package, a true give-and-take on ideas, including many reforms driven by needs identified in the response to the gulf hurricanes last year. That comprehensive small business reauthorization bill, S. 3778, is opposed by the administration, and is being blocked from consideration in the full Senate through various holds.

We finished our work at the end of July, and the bill has been pending on the Senate calendar for consideration since August 2. The administration and other opponents have had 9 weeks to work out a compromise. But they don't want to. SBA has told the small business community that they don't want an SBA reauthorization bill this year; they only want to reauthorize their ability to cosponsor events with the private sector.

In the absence of passing that legislation, which is a replay of our last reauthorization bill, S. 1375, that was obstructed, the agency is at the mercy of a continuing resolution, CR. Unfortunately, a continuing resolution doesn't extend all the authorities needed for the agency to operate. H.R. 6159 was put forward to catch some of the programs that would fall through the cracks. However, according to CRS and the Senate Legislative Counsel, as drafted, the bill still doesn't close the gaps. The gaps leave open the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs, the New Markets Venture Capital Program, and the Program for Investment in Micro-entrepreneurs.

There are disagreements over the interpretations of what needs to be authorized, and some of our colleagues have argued that even if there are disagreements on the interpretation of what programs are covered by H.R. 6159, we should move the bill anyway because we have a letter from SBA committing to cover those provisions considered ambiguous. Specifically, SBA gave Chairman Snowe a letter on September 27, 2006, committing to run the programs we are concerned about. Our colleagues argue that SBA would be bound by those written interpretations. However, I am sure my colleagues can understand why we might not feel comfortable relying on that letter given that on September 19, 8 days earlier, SBA sent a list to my staff regarding which programs are covered by a CR, those with ``hard sunset dates,'' and it contradicted the letter to our chairman. The contradictions raise valid concerns, and I am sorry that the Senate did not adopt the language that eliminates any vagueness. Neither CRS nor Legislative Counsel has an agenda with regard to SBA's reauthorization, so we prefer to go with their interpretations.

What are the contradictions?: *The Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs, *The SBDC Drug-Free Workplace program, *The Pre- Disaster Mitigation program,

In the e-mail, SBA said:

Those marked with an * do not need authorization language

in the CR to operate the core mission of the SBA on a short-

term basis. Grants for the year have already been given out

and other programs have the ability to operate without

authorizing language or are not operating and/or do not have

an appropriation.

In the letter, SBA said these programs ``would not be

covered by the CR and that [they] would cease to operate if

H.R. 6159 were not enacted.''

Also, problematic is the date. The bill extends the programs through February 2, 2007, instead of November 17, consistent with the CR. Because the SBA has the cosponsorship authority, there is no incentive for the agency to come negotiate with us on the comprehensive reauthorization bill.

We were given this bill last week, and told we had one hour to approve it. We tried, but our conversations, as referenced above, with CRS and Senate Legislative Counsel identified holes in the legislation. We asked Legislative Counsel to draft the corrections and told our colleagues that we were waiting for the draft. They moved forward without us. This take-it-or-leave-it approach is unnecessary.

Let the record reflect that we have been willing to compromise all along and only asked that the language accomplish: extension of programs or authorities that would fall through the cracks based on discussions with CRS and Senate Legislative Counsel and a date change to keep folks working to pass, this 109th Congress, S. 3778, the Senate's bipartisan, comprehensive SBA Reauthorization Act. We did not include provisions outside those goals.

It is disappointing that our goal was not shared. I am hopeful that the Veterans Committee will continue and that SBA will not pull resources from the New Markets Program or later argue that not addressing PRIME was a statement from the Senate that we didn't mean for it to be extended. That would be inaccurate, as reflected in S. 3778, where PRIME is moved to the Small Business Act and reauthorized.

Mr. President, as chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I rise today to ask unanimous consent to approve H.R. 6159, a bill passed by the

House of Representatives on Tuesday that would provide a short-term extension of the Small Business Administration, SBA, and all of its programs. In particular, it ensures the continued authority, through February 2, 2007, of the SBA's Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program, the Small Business Development Center Drug-Free Workplace Grants, the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs, and also the SBA's Cosponsorship and Gift Acceptance Authority.

Currently, many of the SBA's programs, authorities, or provisions authorized under the Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act are scheduled to expire on September 30, 2006. While most of the SBA's programs can operate through appropriations and the Continuing Resolution, this bill makes certain that the SBA will continue its vital small business lending programs such as the 7(a) loan guaranty program; the Certified Development Company program; and the Small Business Investment Companies program.

On July 27, 2006, the Small Business Committee unanimously reported out the Small Business Improvements and Reauthorization Act of 2006 (S. 3778), a comprehensive, bipartisan bill which reauthorizes the SBA for the next 3 years. This bill is a product of the committee's work over the last 2 years and includes many critical provisions to improve and revitalize the SBA and its programs.

My SBA Reauthorization bill will enhance the SBA's role in assisting American small businesses to thrive and grow, through the agency's lending programs as well as other programs and services. Most importantly, it will enable the agency to help small businesses continue creating new jobs for our economy. Since 1999, the SBA's programs and services have time and again proven their value, helping to create or retain over 5.3 million jobs in the United States.

I am confident that we can enact legislation to reauthorize the SBA before the 109th Congress ends and I am committed to work with my colleagues to pass a bipartisan bill. However, in the interim, we must ensure that the SBA can continue to offer the entire range of its programs to our nation's small businesses, which are the backbone of our economic foundation, creating nearly three-quarters of all new jobs and generating about 50 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.

However, at stake today are four key SBA programs and authorities, including the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs, which is scheduled to transfer to the Veterans Corporation on October 1, 2006. In a letter from SBA Administrator Steven C. Preston, dated September 27, 2006, the SBA stated that . . . if H.R. 6159 is not passed, then the Advisory Committee will terminate, and its duties will be assumed by the NVBDC [National Veterans Business Development Corporation].

We must act today to ensure that the SBA, the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs, and all of SBA's programs continue to operate. The bill before us achieves that goal by extending the authorization for the SBA's program through February 2, 2007. That will provide sufficient time and opportunity for both the Senate and the House to pass a SBA Reauthorization legislation, for Congress to reconcile the differences, and for the President to sign a long-term reauthorization bill for the SBA.

Too much was at stake for small businesses, and our economy as a whole, to allow SBA and critical small business programs and services to languish. We must find essential agreement and fulfill its obligation to America's small businesses. Clearly, if we strive for anything less, we would fail to support the backbone of our economy, our hope for innovation and new technology, and our small firms that employ millions across the nation ensure the success of tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6159 and thereby ensure that the SBA will continue to serve small businesses and enable small businesses to obtain the financing they need, as they contribute so greatly to the revitalization of our national economy.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6159) to extend temporarily certain authorities of the Small Business Administration.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the bill simply extends all of the programs, including pilot programs, the authorities or provisions of the Small Business Act, the Small Business Investment Act, until February 2 of 2007.

Currently, the programs and authorities of the SBA expire in September on Saturday, September 30. Passage of this bill will continue to give the committee the time necessary to work on a more comprehensive SBA reauthorization during the rest of this session.

Many of the programs of the SBA do not operate under a direct appropriation. This includes the 7(a) general business loan guarantee program; the Certified Development Company program; and the Small Business Investment Company program. Passage of this bill will make it absolutely certain that there is no legal ambiguity as to whether or not the Federal Government can continue to guarantee these critical loans and debenture programs during the period of time covered by a continuing resolution.

In addition, this bill would extend the authority of the SBA to operate several smaller programs including grants to Small Business Development Centers to participate in the Drug-Free Workplace program; sustainability funding for Women Business Centers; a pre-disaster mitigation pilot program; the New Markets Venture Capital program; and BusinessLinc. It would also extend SBA's cosponsorship and gift authority, which enables the SBA to accept private donations to help put on events or print publications, thus saving the taxpayers precious dollars.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is quite simple. It contains the exact same language, with only the dates changed, that was signed into law four times in the 108th Congress when this House confronted the same problem 2 years ago in attempting to pass a comprehensive SBA reauthorization bill into law. Unfortunately, we are at an impasse today for nearly the same reasons.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6159 so that our Nation's small businesses will see no interruption of service from the SBA over the next 4 months while Congress completes its work for the year.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no further people that are going to be speaking, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, the legislation being offered today will extend the authorization of the Small Business Administration and most of its programs. While these initiatives would have been extended with any the continuing resolution that the House will pass this week, this bill will extend the authorization to February of 2007.

It is unfortunate that after 2 years, and nearly 50 hearings in the committee, that the only legislation to address the issues at the SBA consists of eight lines of text. While this extension may not include any program changes, it in no way should reflect that the agency is without its problems.

In fact, over the past 2 years, many of the issues at the SBA have been exacerbated by a combination of budget cuts, mismanagement and the inability to adequately respond to the needs of small businesses.

In the last few years, SBA loan programs have grown more expensive to borrowers because of an increase in fees that are being paid by small businesses. We have also seen the problems in our Federal contracting system grow worse for small firms. This year alone, $12 billion in Federal contracts that should have gone to small businesses went to large corporations.

The situation in the gulf coast also revealed that the SBA has serious structural and management problems related to its disaster loan program. Over a year after Hurricane Katrina, just over $2 billion of the $10 billion in approved disaster loans for Katrina victims had been disbursed.

At a time when small businesses are faced with an economic environment that is less than certain, I believe that we should be doing more to help these entrepreneurs. The SBA has a role in improving the climate for small businesses, and Congress has a duty to give them the tools to do just that.

While this legislation will ensure that many of the successful programs can continue to operate, it does fail to extend key provisions that serve veterans and low-income populations. We should be extending all of the initiatives, not picking and choosing.

I am disappointed that Congress will not improve the operations at the SBA, and it is my hope that the committee in the next Congress will act quickly to rectify this

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 6159 which was received from the House.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read the third time and passed, a motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.