Political Quotes

“it seems to me we have had considerable debate about the substance of this bill today, and there is substantial evidence that the mandatory source status that is enjoyed by FPI is a policy that is harmful to a variety of American industries and workers, including the furniture manufacturers and the garment-makers in my district. The core objective of this bill is to eliminate the status, the FPI status as a mandatory source supplier and, thereby, require the FPI to compete for Federal contracts rather than have the opportunity to simply claim them. I am a cosponsor of this bill, and I applaud this effort and I support the bill. What my amendment would do would further define the FPI's role in competing with private sector small businesses. Specifically, my amendment would prohibit the FPI from bidding on any contracts that are intended to be exclusively set aside for small business concerns. This Congress and many Congresses before us have established, for a variety of reasons, that a certain percentage of Federal Government procurements should be made through small businesses, and we call those small businesses set-asides. The whole idea has always been to ensure that small businesses, mom-and-pops, local people struggling, in all of our districts and in all of our communities, to get a business off the ground and to employ some people, that they get a shot at some of the business that their tax dollars pay for.”