Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I warn my colleagues, hundreds of thousands of women's faces are trained on us now, particularly the faces of women small business owners. They are taking names and they are counting votes and they want to know which side my colleagues are on. Mr. Chairman, I want my colleagues to listen to them. Roberta Verdun, president, Summit Graphics, North Brunswick, New Jersey: Without the DBE program, I would not have opportunities to bid against the big businesses out here. Deborah Ayars, A-TECH Engineering, Vineland, New Jersey: Without the DBE provisions of ISTEA, the ever-larger majority firms would let none of the work out of their firms. The DBE program is one of the most successful programs the government has developed. Elaine Martin, MarCon, Inc., Nampa, Indiana: I was low bidder on a job in 1987 where the owner told the estimator to give the job to a larger, male-owned firm that had a higher bid than mine. The estimator told the owner that the job had DBE goals and as low bidder, I should be given the opportunity to perform. In the 10 years since that one $100,000 job that I would have lost without the DOT DBE program, my company has grown from $200,000 to $3 million annually.”