Political Quotes

“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.”