Political Quotes

“I want to congratulate the conferees, particularly my subcommittee chairman and friend, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter), for coming up with a good bill that will support our Nation's small manufacturing exporters. Ex-Im is one of the few government programs that actually serves small businesses. Last year, 90 percent of Ex-Im's transactions and 18 percent of the dollar volume went to small exporters. As chairman of the Committee on Small Business, I am proud of what the conferees have done to further enhance exports from small firms. Many of our markets are saturated in this country. Ninety-six percent of the world's consumers live outside the U.S. This conference report recognizes this reality by helping provide small business exporters access to these tough but critical markets. The conference report agreed with the House to double Ex-Im's set-aside for small businesses from 10 percent to 20 percent. This conference report directs more of Ex-Im's resources to small business outreach, including the very small businesses, those employing 100 workers or less, and women and minority-owned firms. Finally, this conference report focuses on the importance of technology for small businesses, and directs Ex-Im to put out more of its applications process online and track its documents electronically to speed up its work.”