Political Quotes

“Madam President, earlier this afternoon, I convened a meeting of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee as its chairman. We had noted an agenda to act on the nomination of Dilawar Syed to be the Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration. This was not our first attempt, and I am going to outline all the efforts that we have made to get a vote on Mr. Syed. But to my disappointment, the Democrats were there ready to vote on the nomination. We also had two important pieces of legislation that we were scheduled to vote on, and every Republican refused to show up, denying us a quorum to be able to conduct business. Let me share with my colleagues the state of play on this individual and on this nomination. President Biden nominated Dilawar Syed to be the Deputy Administrator of the Small Business Administration on March 3. He is a well-qualified entrepreneur and a small business advocate. After reviewing his paperwork and ethics agreement, the committee held a hearing on Mr. Syed's nomination on April 21. Now, during that hearing, Ranking Member Paul raised serious concerns about PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loan--EIDL--received by Lumiata, a tech company from which Mr. Syed serves as the CEO. After weeks of negotiations, I brokered a compromise between Ranking Member Paul and the SBA that provided access to the company's loan applications.…”