[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
MEMBER DAY HEARING: COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
MAY 15, 2019
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Small Business Committee Document Number 116-020
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman
ABBY FINKENAUER, Iowa
JARED GOLDEN, Maine
ANDY KIM, New Jersey
JASON CROW, Colorado
SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas
JUDY CHU, California
MARC VEASEY, Texas
DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
ANTONIO DELGADO, New York
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio, Ranking Member
AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, American Samoa, Vice Ranking Member
TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
TROY BALDERSON, Ohio
KEVIN HERN, Oklahoma
JIM HAGEDORN, Minnesota
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
ROSS SPANO, Florida
JOHN JOYCE, Pennsylvania
Adam Minehardt, Majority Staff Director
Melissa Jung, Majority Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Nydia Velazquez............................................. 1
Hon. Steve Chabot................................................ 2
WITNESSES
Hon. Ed Case, Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, DC................................................. 3
Hon. Tony Cardenas, Member of Congress, U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC................................ 5
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Hon. Ed Case, Member of Congress, U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC............................ 8
Hon. Tony Cardenas, Member of Congress, U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC............................ 10
Questions for the Record:
None.
Answers for the Record:
None.
Additional Material for the Record:
Hon. Gil Cisneros, Member of Congress, U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC............................ 12
Hon. Andy Levin, Member of Congress, U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC............................ 14
Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, U.S. House of
Representatives, Washington, DC............................ 18
MEMBER DAY HEARING: COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2019
House of Representatives,
Committee on Small Business,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:40 a.m., in Room
2360, Rayburn House Office Building. Hon. Nydia Velazquez
[chairwoman of the Committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Velazquez, Kim, Veasey, Delgado,
Chabot, Kelly, Hagedorn, and Burchett.
Chairwoman VELAZQUEZ. Good morning. The committee will come
to order.
I thank everyone for joining us this morning, and I want
to, especially, thank my colleagues for joining us today for
the House Committee on Small Business Members Day hearing.
Today is a chance for the committee to hear directly from our
fellow members of Congress about their priorities for
supporting programs and policies that promote small business
creation and growth.
Our nation's nearly 30 million small businesses support 56
million jobs and can be found in every sector of the economy
and in every congressional district in the country. On this
committee, we probably represent parts of America from our
northeastern coastal cities to our rural heartland and
communities out west. And I know that when we travel back to
our districts, we are eager to hear from our local businesses
to understand what policies are working for them and what can
we improve.
For the members testifying here today, I know that you are
also gathering feedback from Main Street businesses in your
districts, and I look forward to hearing more throughout this
hearing.
On this committee, we oversee a wide range of policies and
programs dedicated to supporting American entrepreneurs and
small companies. We strive to support the budding entrepreneur
by making it easier to access affordable loans and advocate for
fair and true tax relief for small business. It is also the
mission of this committee to open the lucrative federal
marketplace to entrepreneurs, reduce onerous paperwork, and
give small companies the tools they need to take care of their
employees and build their companies. And we do so while working
with our Republican colleagues.
Our committee has a long history of working in a bipartisan
manner because at the end of the day we all agree that small
businesses truly are the backbone of our economy. They are what
unify us in our work and hold together our local communities.
Today, we have the chance to engage in an open dialogue on
how we can collaborate to support small firms. Thank you again
to all members for being with us today. I look forward to our
discussion and to working on your ideas to foster an
environment that promotes small business entrepreneurship and
job creation in communities across this country.
I now would like to yield to the Ranking Member, Mr.
Chabot, for his opening statement.
Mr. CHABOT. Thank you, Madam Chair. And as we begin, I
would just point out that both the current Chair, Ms. Velazquez
and I have served on this Committee for over 2 decades now, and
we have both served as Chair and we have both served as Ranking
Member, but one thing that we do do is work together in a
bipartisan manner and that is one of the reasons this is one of
the most productive Committees I believe in the House, and we
are going to continue to do that. So I thank her for that.
It has been quite some time since we have had a Small
Business Committee Day where we have hosted Member Day like
this, allowing other Members of Congress to come in and tell us
what is working, maybe what is not working in some cases in
their communities. It kind of broadens our perspective on what
is happening around the country. It gives us a broader, I
think, world view of things and what issues they are facing. We
kind of have, those of us on the Committee, we sort of have
small business on the brain. We think about this all the time
and not to the exclusion of everything else because most of us
are on other Committees. I happen to be on Judiciary, where we
just discussed executive privilege and a whole range of things.
Last week, we were finding the Attorney General in contempt,
and so we all are on other Committees that do interesting
things. And I am also on Foreign Affairs and there is always
something happening around the world, but none of that is as
important, as far as I am concerned, as the backbone of the
American economy. And that is America's small business, about
30 million of those.
So we are here to listen today and to learn, and so I want
to thank Representative Case who had the opportunity to serve
some years ago, and he had a sabbatical there for a while and
now he is back and better than ever. And refreshed. And I kind
of had that experience as well, except I lost when I left here.
You went out voluntarily and ran somewhere else and then came
back. So it is better to do it the way you did it than the way
I did it. So, but we welcome you back, and I will yield back,
Madam Chair.
Chairwoman VELAZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chabot. And the
gentleman yields back.
And if committee members have an opening statement, we will
ask that they be submitted for the record.
I also ask unanimous consent that Representative Sablan's
statement in support of his bill, H.R. 2603, be submitted for
the record.
Without objection, so ordered.
I will begin by introducing Mr. Case, Congressman Case,
proudly represents Hawaii's 1st Congressional District. Mr.
Case was born and raised in Hilo. His great grandparents on his
father's side immigrated to Hawaii in 1896 from Kansas, and his
family has lived in many of the state's islands over the
generations since. Before joining Congress, Mr. Case spent 2
decades at the Honolulu law firm of Carlsmith Ball, where he
rose to managing partner. Congressman Case serves on the
Appropriations Committee, and I am also proud to serve with him
on the Natural Resources Committee. Welcome, sir. You are
recognized for 5 minutes.
THE HONORABLE ED CASE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE
STATE OF HAWAII
Mr. CASE. Thank you for that very kind introduction from
both of you. It is great to be back in Congress, and it is
great to be back with this Committee where I spent my own time.
I served on this Committee, and it is good to share some
thoughts with you again.
I want to share those thoughts on issues of importance to
our small business community, both nationally and in my home
state of Hawaii. As you may remember from my prior service on
the Committee, my focus is not only on keeping small business
strong throughout our country but on protecting and expanding
on Small Business Administration programs that support some of
Nation's underrepresented populations and on insuring a level
playing field between small business and large government
contractors operating especially in Hawaii, issues that are not
uncommon throughout the country.
I want to begin by stressing that small business truly is
the key to the success of our economy in Hawaii. According to
the SBA, 99 percent of businesses in Hawaii are small business,
and a clear majority of employees in Hawaii are employed by
small business. These small businesses are the engine of the
economy in my home state and thus, as national small business
goes, so also does Hawaii business.
Given the rich, ethnic diversity in Hawaii, minority-based
programs are particularly important in my home state. Almost 93
percent of small businesses in Hawaii are minority-owned. They
depend on and have received great benefit from programs such as
the 8(a) Business Development Program and the HUBZone program,
which help provide a level playing field for small businesses
owned by socially and economically disadvantaged peoples in
historically underutilized business zones.
Additionally, the Microloan Technical Assistance Program
has been a great help in the development of native Hawaiian
businesses, and the Women-owned Small Business Federal
Contracting Program provides Federal opportunities to
industries where women-owned small businesses are
underrepresented. The continuation of these programs is needed
to empower some of our Nation's underrepresented populations
that are the true drivers of Hawaii's small businesses.
Furthermore, there are many great trade opportunities for
Hawaii's small business given its place in the Indo-Pacific
region. Hawaii exported $647 million in goods to 100 countries
in 2018 with small businesses generating 64 percent of those
total exports. The state's large market in 2018 was South Korea
at $222 million, followed by Singapore, Japan, China, and
Taiwan. With the world's fastest growing global markets in the
Indo-Pacific, keeping trade open within this region is crucial
to Hawaii's economy and our Nation's standing in the region.
The State Trade and Export Promotion Grant Initiative and
international trade loans have been vital components in
developing Hawaii's small business for trade with these foreign
markets, and I urge you to continue this Committee's
longstanding support for these programs.
Additionally, the Federal Government, primarily through the
Department of Defense, is the largest source of Federal dollars
in Hawaii, and it is important to make sure that small local
businesses have a fair chance to compete for defense dollars.
This is why I introduced legislation in my prior service in
Congress which would help to guarantee small business's place
in Federal contracting through such means as combatting
contracting bundling.
I would appreciate working with your Committee to continue
this fight to help ensure that huge corporations do not just
vacuum up and win all of the defense contracts, even though
small business throughout our country, and Hawaii's small
business particularly, are equally, if not better qualified to
do the work.
Finally, I want to briefly highlight the importance of the
SBA's Contracting Assistance Programs in Hawaii. With 1 in 10
residents of Hawaii being a veteran, the Service-disabled,
Veteran-owned Small Business Program has assisted numerous
veterans in the state transition from military service to
successful business owners. It is critical for this Congress to
continue our Government's commitment to our veterans.
In closing, thank you to all of you for your leadership in
helping our Nation's small businesses, which I believe is a
truly nonpartisan, bipartisan effort, and has been on this
Committee, and specially for your consideration of the needs of
Hawaii's small businesses. Mahalo.
Mr. KIM. Well, thank you so much, Congressman, for coming
on in here, and I am just taking the place of the Chairwoman
temporarily here, but I appreciate you taking the time. And I
just want to echo what the Ranking Member said, just how
important it is for us to be able to hear about the different
challenges and opportunities that small businesses are facing
in every single corner of our country. So I appreciate you
taking the time to come on out.
I want to be mindful of your time as well. I know we are
all very busy as well, so I just wanted to open it up and see
if there were any particular questions for the Congressman
while he is here; otherwise, we will take a brief recess until
our other witness arrives.
But I just wanted to open it up.
Ranking member, anybody else, if you have any questions for
the Congressman?
Mr. CHABOT. We informed our folks we would not ask any
questions. We usually do not do that with the members.
Mr. KIM. Sure.
Mr. CHABOT. And I was just thinking, I do not know when Mr.
Cardenas is going to get here but I would have no objection to
entering his statement into the record in full and that way we
could accommodate him and everybody else here, too.
Mr. KIM. Okay. Well, thank you so much.
We are just going to take a very brief recess, see if our
next witness arrives, and then we will proceed.
[Recess]
Mr. KIM. I would like to call the Committee back to order
as we have the Congressman here who was first elected to the
United States House of Representatives in 2013 for the 113th
Congress and has represented California's 29th District ever
since. Has been a leading voice representing the San Fernando
Valley with a passion and commitment, and serves on the Energy
and Commerce Committee. He is also a member of the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Welcome to our Committee.
Why do we not just jump right in as we just want to make
sure we are mindful of everyone's time? So Congressman, over to
you. You are recognized for 5 minutes.
THE HONORABLE TONY CARDENAS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM
THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Mr. CARDENAS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this
opportunity.
When I came to Congress, I was not familiar with the fact
that when members in that legislative body, it is not the
custom and practice up here for members to actually present to
the Committee, so I really appreciate this opportunity that
this Small Business Committee is allowing and affording us to
share because it is really important that we constantly have an
opportunity to remind the people that we represent that we
represent our districts, we represent our states, but we
represent all of America. And one of the things that I would
like to point out about small businesses is that I think
Americans do not realize how prolific and how important small
businesses are to everyday lives across this great Nation.
Whether you are in the smallest town in America or you are in
the biggest city, I think the numbers bear out that a large
percentage of the folks who feed their family are actually
working in a small business. And being a representative in the
northeast San Fernando Valley where the vast majority of the
individuals who live in my district are Hispanic, it is
important for me to also point out that one of the fastest
growing groups of small businesses in American for the last few
years and going forward appear to be the Hispanic small
businesses, both women and men-owned businesses.
Myself, over 22 years ago, I fed my family, completely on
commission of owning my own business, and it was something that
I was very, very proud of. And I take that with me in every
office that I have actually represented over the last 22 years.
My ability to realize that I was responsible for the front end
of a paystub. That I was responsible for making sure that when
people walk through those doors of my business, I had to try
very hard that I made good decisions for everybody, not just
for my family but for the dozens of families that depended on
my business staying open every time they got up and went to
work and made sure that door was unlocked and available for
them to feed their family. And that is what is going on across
America.
A few things that I would like to point out that are
important not only to me and my community but I think important
to all Americans, especially small businesses, is that the
Federal Government has a tremendous role to play when it comes
to access to capital. I remember owning my business that when I
had access to capital and I had a great idea and I was able to
expand my business, it was having access to capital that
allowed me to move forward at the rate and speed that I knew I
could and should in order to grow my business responsibility.
And I remember those times when I had to wait for the capital
or keep going from one bank to another to another to another to
get that small business loan to expand my business. What
happened, ladies and gentlemen, is that that did not afford me
to hire more people because every time I expanded my business,
along with that meant that more families got to feed themselves
because I hired one of their family members to work for me. And
it is really important that we realize that the Federal
Government in the greatest Nation on earth has a tremendous
responsibility to responsibly allow small businesses access to
capital. And that might mean a small business loan of maybe
$5,000 or $10,000 or what have you, that I can guarantee you
will eventually mean that that same business that got a small
business loan for less than $25,000, some day is going to end
up looking to get a loan to maybe buy the building that they
have been occupying for many years. Or to maybe even expand and
buy the building next door so they could actually double their
ability to produce. And those are the kinds of things that I
think that are important not only to us as legislators but it
is important to every single community that needs to make sure
that businesses are not thwarted, businesses do not slow down,
that that progress that people work very hard to make continues
at a pace that is organic and natural to that business and to
that community.
So in a nutshell, to me, when I think of small businesses,
I think of jobs. When I think of small businesses, I think of
that business owner who knows the name not only of their
workers but actually knows the name of the children of those
workers. Actually knows and comes in and says, hey, how is your
mom, how was her surgery last week, et cetera. Those are the
kinds of relationships that small businesses create that maybe
some larger businesses are lucky and fortunate to have that
kind of relationship with the people that they depend on every
single day. But I think that is at the core of what makes small
businesses wonderful, great, and such an organic, important
part of every corner of America.
So what I am here to remind all of us is we are fortunate
to be in the United States Congress. We are fortunate to have
the responsibility of making policy. But let us not ever forget
that every single day there are men and women in small
businesses that are working 50, 60, 70, 100 hours a week to
make sure that they keep those doors open, and that means that
the families that work there and the community they serve are
actually benefitting from that.
So thank you very much for this opportunity.
Mr. KIM. Thank you very much, Congressman, for your
passionate words there. I can really hear in your voice just
the commitment that you have to your constituents and the small
businesses there, and it really hits on that connection of just
community, you know, the community that many small business
owners, employees, and others are forming. And that is why they
have become the backbone and continue to be the backbone of our
society and our communities as well.
I just want to pause here before we conclude.
Would any other member of the Committee like to be
recognized at this moment?
If there are no other comments, I would like to conclude
this hearing by once again thanking my colleagues for being
here today. I can hear the passion and the enthusiasm in your
voice when you talk about the ways to strengthen our Nation's
small businesses. Many of the issues that you have raised and
others have raised about affordable capital and providing these
opportunities, they are the work that we here in this Committee
in the 116th Congress are dedicated to be able to do, working
together across the aisle to give voice to small businesses and
make sure they are not being left behind in any policy
initiatives or in infrastructure or tax policies.
I encourage you to work with our staff here, our
colleagues, on the legislation that we are talking about and we
are trying to figure out how to address to move forward to
address the issues that you are doing and we are going to do
everything we can to work in a nonpartisan way to be able to
achieve those.
I ask unanimous consent that members have 5 legislative
days to submit statements and supporting materials for the
record.
Without objection, so ordered.
If there is no further business to come before the
Committee, we are adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 12:03 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
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