Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to offer my support for S. 141, long overdue legislation that will require the Office of Management of Budget to use a new subsidy rate model for the Small Business Administration's 7(a) loan program. This new model will more accurately reflect the true cost of this federal loan program to American taxpayers.

As a Ranking Member of the House Committee on Small Business, this issue is of vital importance to the hard-working entrepreneurs of my district, the 37th District of California.

Over the past few years, the House Committee on Small Business has held a number of hearings to address this issue, as small firms have been levied excessive fees for participating in the 7(a) loan program.

Recent estimates tell us that as much as 1.5 billion dollars over the past ten years has been returned to the Treasury of the United States at the expense of hard-working small business owners.

While the SBA currently has an alternative model, they have delayed its implementation until Fiscal Year 2004.

The passage of S. 141 will force the new model to be used immediately, allowing SBA to lift a lending cap imposed on the 7(a) program last year and provide small businesses long-awaited relief for entrepreneurs in search of capital to finance and expand their companies.

Small businesses are fundamental players in lifting the American economy out of its current doldrums and without investment resources this cannot and will not occur.

Passage of S. 141, will be the first step in correcting this wrong and I urge all of my colleagues to vote for passage of this important piece of legislation.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 19 had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that my colleagues join me in welcoming the 54 new Members to this august body and the returning Members who are charged with helping to chart the course for these new Members, knowing that they have a very complex and awesome responsibility. But, Mr. Speaker, today has been an historic day for us. We have seen, for the first time ever a woman, a Democratic woman, whose name was put in nomination for the Speakership of the U.S. House of Representatives, and another woman who became the chairwoman of the congressional Republican Conference. Those are historic moments for us, Mr. Speaker, and as the Democratic chair of the Women's Caucus, I am very much enjoyous of this momentous occasion that has brought these two women front and center to leadership roles.

So as we convene this 108th Congress, we should also pause to look at the other historic notes that were taken today in this esteemed body, as we convened with two sibling pairs of Members that have come to this House. The Sanchez sisters from California and the Diaz-Balart brothers from Florida will serve simultaneously as teams in this Congress, representing diverse districts on opposite coasts of this great country. My esteemed colleagues, with their formidable backgrounds, are all accomplished in their own rights, coming from immigrant families and immigrant backgrounds who have truly lived the American dream with hard work, as productive members of society, giving back and serving the people of their communities. They have now been elected to the U.S. Congress.

The senior sister, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez), has an MBA from American University and is an accomplished businesswoman, assisting municipalities and private companies in strategic planning and capital acquisition. The State of California selected her to independently review the financial status of Orange County's first toll road to save about $300 million in financing costs. The junior sister, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda Sanchez), with her law degree from UCLA, was a civil rights lawyer and labor activist heading up the Orange County AFL-CIO.

The senior brother, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz- Balart), has a law degree from Cleveland, Ohio's Case Western Reserve University, which he used to provide free legal service to the poor. The junior brother, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart), served in the Florida State Legislature for 14 years before being elected to serve in this Chamber.

Mr. Speaker, let us welcome all of these outstanding freshman Members, these pairs of siblings who have come to serve their respective districts, but who have made history, along with the two outstanding women, and may we all embrace them as they take their rightful roles. I know that all of us salute the Latino community, because they are proud of today's historic events, as well as all Americans are proud of these pairs of siblings.