Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the chairperson of the Small Business Committee, Chairwoman Velazquez, for yielding. The gentlewoman has, in the 3 years that I have been here, led this committee in a very positive direction, and also as the ranking member before she became chair. Ranking Member Chabot has also been a partner in this effort. I thank him too for his leadership of working together. I thank Mr. Hagedorn from the great State of Minnesota, which is one of my favorite places--Sleepy Eye, Minnesota--the gentleman knows that I know about Sleepy Eye--as well as Mr. Joyce, who is a colleague from Pennsylvania. I thank my colleagues for their leadership on this bill. The well-being of our communities depend in part on what we do to create circumstances where small businesses can thrive. When small businesses thrive, Americans enjoy great economic security. In my home city of Philadelphia, minorities constitute about 65 percent of the population. Yet, they constitute 80 percent of those in poverty. Coupled with the fact that the city has a poverty rate of nearly 25 percent, creating economic opportunity for minorities is critical to advance well-being: financially, physically, and socially. We, as Members of Congress, have tools in our toolbox to address economic disparity. One of those is H.R. 5146. This bill will allow small businesses to compete more fairly with large businesses by permitting small businesses to create past performance records.…”