Tom Udall: “H.R. 2538 will establish a 3-year pilot program for providing grants to Small Business Development Centers for assisting…”

“H.R. 2538 will establish a 3-year pilot program for providing grants to Small Business Development Centers for assisting Native American, Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian populations with their small business development needs. Today we have demonstrated how important small business is to the health of our economy, but there are still places in this country where economic prosperity has often failed to reach. These areas deserve our attention and assistance. Consider this: nowhere in America has poverty persisted longer than on or near Native American reservations, which suffer an average unemployment rate of 45 percent. However, the number of businesses owned by Indian tribe members and Native Alaskans grew by 84 percent from 1992 to 1997, and their gross receipts grew by 179 percent in that period. This is compared to all businesses which grew by 7 percent, and their total gross receipts grew by 40 percent in that period. I would like to continue this growth and expansion of small enterprise through this legislation.”