Political Quotes

“Madam President, I certainly concur in the comments that have been made by the Chair of the Small Business Committee, Senator Landrieu, who has exhibited tremendous leadership in bringing these initiatives to the floor for reauthorization. It has been a long journey for these programs, reaching the point of reauthorizing them for the first time since 2008. In the intervening years, the programs have had to rely on multiple extensions to continue to operate. These programs are of indisputable value to the growth in America when it comes to innovation and invention on the part of small businesses. They undeniably have been critically effective. When they have had access to venture capital and research and development dollars that are available in more than 11 agencies across the government, including the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, to name a few, they have provided invaluable support to the entrepreneurial spirit that is so critical to this country. As the Chair indicated, it is the small businesses in America, the one segment of the economy that undeniably creates the kinds of jobs that are so important to this country. In fact, they create two-thirds of all the net new jobs. We have to do everything we can to make sure that they are getting access to the kind of capital and support and the research and development dollars that are available at the national level. These two programs, were created back in 1982.…”