Hal Rogers: “Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to accept this amendment. I support the work the SBA does to help women start and maintain…”

“Mr. Chairman, I am prepared to accept this amendment. I support the work the SBA does to help women start and maintain small businesses. In fact, the bill includes funding for both the Women's Business Centers and the Women's Business Council at the current year levels. In fact, over the last 2 years, we have more than doubled the amount provided for Women's Business Centers. So this activity has enjoyed tremendous growth while a lot of other programs funded in this bill have remained stagnant, frozen, at current levels. The only reservation that I have on the amendment is the offset because the offset comes from the CALEA fund. And as all of us realize, this so-called CALEA fund, telecommunications carrier compliance fund, called CALEA, is the fund out of which we must pay the expenses of equipping our telephone systems so that the court-ordered wiretaps, the law enforcement activities, can continue. It is absolutely critical funding, and I am concerned about where the offset comes. But perhaps we can find some way to remedy that. So I would accept the amendment, Mr. Chairman; and I would call for a vote.”