Political Quotes

“Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation, with Senator Snowe, to expand the geographic boundaries of HUBZones located at former U.S. military installations that have been closed through the so-called Base Closure and Realignment--or BRAC--process. These military installations were often the economic heart of the community in which they were located, and those communities can struggle for years to overcome the closure of those facilities. In recognition of this fact, Congress passed legislation providing ``HUBZone'' status for 5 years to military facilities closed through the BRAC process. Last week, the Defense Reauthorization bill passed by the Senate included language, authored by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, to extend HUBZone status for these facilities for an additional five years. The HUBZone program provides certain federal contracting preferences to small businesses located within a HUBZone. In addition to the BRAC- related HUBZones I have already mentioned, HUBZones are located in ``economically distressed communities,'' that suffer from low income, high poverty rates, or high unemployment. According to the Congressional Research Service, there are currently 127 BRAC-related HUBZones in the United States. Unfortunately, for many of the military bases that have been closed, HUBZone status has not brought the benefits we had hoped for.…”