Jim Hagedorn: “I appreciate the gentleman for his words, and I would first like to commend Chair Velazquez and Ranking Member Chabot…”

“I appreciate the gentleman for his words, and I would first like to commend Chair Velazquez and Ranking Member Chabot for their leadership and their bipartisanship, demonstrating that a committee like ours can do very good work. I think our committee is an example for many others here in the House, so I thank them for that. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5146, the Unlocking Opportunities for Small Businesses Act, which is very important legislation. It was found through hearings and discussions with small businesses who wanted to be prime contractors with the government, the committee found that small businesses were having difficulties. Because of the criteria and so forth, the government wouldn't take into consideration, for instance, as Mr. Chabot and the chair said, their experience as subcontractors. So we wanted to do something about that. And I want to thank my friend, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, who helped me, and also coauthored the bill and collaborated with us on this bill, along with my friend from Pennsylvania, the good Dr. Joyce. I thank the gentlemen for all of their work. It is like the title of the bill says, we are going to unlock opportunities for small business contractors seeking prime contracting with the Federal Government. Unfortunately, small contractors are stuck in a catch-22.…”