John Kerry: “I offer this amendment, together with Senator Landrieu, to provide comprehensive relief to small businesses harmed by…”

“I offer this amendment, together with Senator Landrieu, to provide comprehensive relief to small businesses harmed by Hurricane Katrina. There are two reasons why it is important to do this at this time on this bill. No. 1, the $63 billion of combined assistance in the two supplemental spending bills doesn't allocate one portion of it to small businesses specifically. So there is no small business relief--no funding for small business assistance within the structure of the SBA or for other small business assistance programs Congress has created. No. 2, this appropriations bill is the funding source for the Small Business Administration. It is through the Small Business Administration that disaster loan assistance is available for homeowners and for business owners, and it is through the Small Business Administration that the Federal Government provides the full complement of assistance to the small businesses of our Nation. So it is appropriate for us to be doing this at this time. The SBA is indispensable to the recovery of the gulf region after Hurricane Katrina. I was down there on Monday and could see for myself the numbers of small business people who are impacted, listening to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, Congressman Jefferson and others, all of whom described how critical this help is going to be. The States concerned-- Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana--are still in the process of assessing the full extent of the damage.…”