Blaine Luetkemeyer

Our nation's small businesses, entrepreneurs, and startups continue to face extreme obstacles throughout the recovery due to the Democrat-induced inflation, the looming labor crisis, and the potential for increased taxes for the middle…

We believe that this legislation that we are talking about today will help strengthen our nation's job creators and the Small Business Administration's programs.

the bills before us today heed the warnings of the Inspector General, who lists loan agents as a top management and performance challenge for the agency

It is abundantly clear that no business, regardless of size or the amount of available resources, is 100 percent safe from cyber threats.

Many of these programs included the Paycheck Protection Program, PPP, which proved to be a lifeline during many months of uncertainty.

Our small businesses depend on our bipartisanship and cooperation now more than ever.

I am proud of the work this Committee has been able to achieve on a bipartisan basis such as the Paycheck Protection Program Extension Act.

As small businesses continue to recover, we must ensure they return to operating independently.

COVID-19 devastated small businesses, and through no fault of their own, many were forced to close their doors due to overreaching state and local shutdown measures and altered capacity restrictions.

Throughout this Congress, members have heard from numerous constituent small business owners and job creators in a prioritized legislation to support the small business recovery.

This is really interesting stuff here.

We need to protect the value of the transaction at the moment that it is done from the wild swings of valuation, for instance, when we have something like bitcoin.

Unfortunately, this administration is threatening the small business recovery with increased taxes and more regulatory burdens.

The PPP program, which was run by and administered by the financial institutions did a really, really good job.

If the Treasury Secretary and Biden Administration truly cared about the nation's small businesses and their employees, Secretary Yellen would be testifying today.

COVID hit our country and caused all sorts of unprecedented things within our economy to happen, shut down the economy.

This is very troubling and it is in complete violation of the law.

Madam Chair, we were. We were at the table.

I am deeply disappointed and concerned that Secretary Yellen is not with us today.

One of my biggest priorities on the Committee is to root out and rectify the waste, fraud, and abuse in every SBA administered program.

Current authorization for these programs is set to expire at the end of the next fiscal year.

The problem here is that the FAST program for almost 2 decades, almost 20 years has not been appropriated.

Innovation is the engine that drives our economy.

In this area of globalization, making it easier for small businesses to develop and commercialize new, innovative products is essential not only for America's competitiveness but for its national security as well.

I am very happy the Chairwoman worked with me to schedule this hearing and discuss our normal mutual problem here.