C. W. Bill Young: “I am reluctant to rise in opposition to this amendment, because of its sponsor. I know that his heart is in the right…”

“I am reluctant to rise in opposition to this amendment, because of its sponsor. I know that his heart is in the right place. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) is an outstanding chairman of the Committee on Small Business. I know that he has worked very hard for the strength of small businesses because he understands, as most of us do, that without all of our small businesses in America, we would not have any big businesses because the big businesses rely on small businesses in order to get the job done. But the sponsors of the amendment are of the opinion that there is no money or that the 7(a) loan program needs more money. In this bill, if I remember correctly, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) provides $12.5 billion in loan guarantees for this program. So we have not forgotten this program in the appropriations bill. The amendment does not really add money to the loan program anyway. It adds money to the SBA administrative account and, therefore, will not even be spent on the loan program as the drafters intend. At the same time, and this is my larger concern, the amendment cuts not only other SBA administrative functions, hurting the agency that oversees the loan programs, but it also reduces programs in the Department of Justice, impacting homeland security initiatives, by $60 million. The impact of this would be devastating on the war on terrorism.”