Angie Craig: “I rise to comment on a bill that is being introduced by Senator Snowe today, the Veterans Small Business Opportunity Act…”

“I rise to comment on a bill that is being introduced by Senator Snowe today, the Veterans Small Business Opportunity Act of 2007. I am proud to join with Senator Snowe and Senator Pryor as an original cosponsor of this important bill. This legislation will benefit patriot "citizen-soldiers" who are called from their employment at America's small businesses to serve our country in uniform. In States across the Nation, small businesses are being affected by the mobilization of our Guard and Reserve personnel. In my home State, the Idaho National Guard's 116th Brigade Combat Team returned in 2005 from an 18-month deployment to Iraq. I visited members of the 116th while they were in Iraq and discovered that a good number had left jobs at small businesses across Idaho. I also held a hearing in Idaho during the 109th Congress to examine the reemployment rights of returning Guard and Reserve members. At that hearing, it was emphasized that, although legal rights to reemployment are critical, they do little for those who have no employer, or no small business, to return to. To me, it was clear that we should do more to help small businesses in coping with the financial hardships of frequent and lengthy mobilizations of its employees or owners during the war on terrorism.”