Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 408, the Department of Homeland Security Mentor-Protege Program Act of 2021. Since the earliest days of the Department of Homeland Security, it has operated a mentor-protege program to encourage large businesses to help small businesses build their capacity to compete for government contracts. However, this important program was never codified in law. H.R. 408 not only authorizes the existing program but improves it. Small businesses, including woman-, veteran-, and minority-owned firms, are the backbone of our economy, but far too often complex Federal contracting requirements shut them out of the Federal marketplace. Building and sustaining a reliable pool of small business vendors is critical to ensuring that DHS' ever-evolving contracting needs are met and America's security is enhanced. H.R. 408 seeks to build and sustain this pool by incentivizing large businesses to provide technical, managerial, and financial assistance and subcontracting opportunities to small businesses. The bill requires participating businesses to commit to a mentor- protege relationship for 3 years to help establish long-term relationships between large and small contractors. Additionally, to ensure that Congress can monitor the effectiveness of the program in an ongoing way, it requires DHS to annually report on program participation and the benefits conferred upon small businesses.…”