Organizational Meeting — Hearing Before the Committee on Small Business, One Hundred Seventeenth Congress (February 4, 2021)
Summary
Printed transcript of the organizational meeting of the House Committee on Small Business for the 117th Congress, held February 4, 2021 at 9:35 a.m. in room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building, published as Small Business Committee Document Number 117-001. Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez presides, welcomes Blaine Luetkemeyer as Ranking Member after Steve Chabot, and explains the hybrid-meeting procedures. She introduces the new Democratic members and sets out the committee's work. The meeting adjourns at 9:55 a.m. and the committee recesses to prepare for a hearing.
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“Organizational Meeting — Hearing Before the Committee on Small Business, One Hundred Seventeenth Congress (February 4, 2021).”
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[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
FEBRUARY 4, 2021
__________
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Small Business Committee Document Number 117-001
Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
43-320 WASHINGTON : 2021
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman
JARED GOLDEN, Maine
JASON CROW, Colorado
SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois
CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia
JUDY CHU, California
DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
ANTONIO DELGADO, New York
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania
ANDY KIM, New Jersey
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri, Ranking Member
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas
JIM HAGEDORN, Minnesota
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
ANDREW GARBARINO, New York
YOUNG KIM, California
BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas
BYRON DONALDS, Florida
MARIA SALAZAR, Florida
SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
Melissa Jung, Majority Staff Director
Justin Pelletier, Majority Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
David Planning, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Nydia Velazquez............................................. 1
Hon. Blaine Luetkemeyer.......................................... 3
APPENDIX
Additional Material Submitted for the Record:
Rules and Procedures......................................... 8
ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
----------
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2021
House of Representatives,
Committee on Small Business,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:35 a.m., in room
2360, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Nydia M. Velazquez
[chairwoman of the Committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Velazquez, Golden, Crow, Davids,
Mfume, Phillips, Newman, Bourdeaux, Chu, Evans, Delgado,
Houlahan, Kim of New Jersey, Craig, Luetkemeyer, Donalds,
Fitzgerald, Garbarino, Hagedorn, Kim of California, Meuser,
Salazar, Stauber, Van Duyne, and Williams.
Chairwoman VELAZQUEZ. Good morning. I call the Small
Business Committee organizational meeting to order.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a
recess at any time.
I would like to begin by noting some important
requirements. During the covered period as designated by the
Speaker, the committee will operate in accordance with H.R.
965, which was incorporated into the 117th House rule under
H.R. 8.
Just as we did last Congress, we will follow guidance from
the Rules Committee to respect the rights of all Members to
participate. Standing House and Committee rules and practice
will continue to apply during hybrid proceedings as well.
House regulations require Members to be visible through a
video connection throughout the proceeding. Due to the nature
of a mark-up, it is extremely important that Members follow
this rule to ensure a quorum can be established and that
Members' votes can be recorded by the clerk.
As a reminder, Members can participate in only one
proceeding at a time, so if you have another committee
proceeding or meeting, please sign off and rejoin later.
If a Member wishes to offer an amendment that has not been
prefiled, we will take a brief recess to allow for its
uploading, printing, and distribution, then resume.
We may also recess briefly to address technical issues in
the event a Member or witness cannot be recognized to speak.
Finally, for those Members physically present in the
committee room today, we will also be following the health and
safety guidance issued by the attending physician. That
includes social distancing, and especially the use of masks. I
request Members and staff to wear masks at all times while in
the hearing room, and I thank you in advance for your
commitment to a safe environment for all.
I want to first welcome all returning and new Members to
the Small Business Committee. Before we introduce new Members,
I want to recognize Mr. Blaine Luetkemeyer, who is returning to
the Committee as Ranking Member.
Most everyone on the Committee knows that the former
Ranking Member, Steve Chabot, and I shared a wonderful working
relationship. Over the years, we moved hundreds of bipartisan
bills to make the world a little brighter for small businesses.
While Steve will be sorely missed, I look forward to
working with Blaine and hope that we can continue this
committee's tradition of working together.
As a former small business owner, Ranking Member
Luetkemeyer brings a breadth of firsthand experience to this
committee, and he has been a strong voice in Congress for
programs that benefit small firms.
We all know that small employers are facing challenging
times. The pandemic has disproportionately hurt small
businesses and workers from every corner of our country, and
they fear losing their livelihoods. It is our duty to implement
policies to help them rebuild and reshape our nation's
entrepreneurial landscape.
During the last Congress, we worked together to pass nearly
40 bipartisan bills through the committee and the House. It is
my hope that, given the membership we have this year and the
defining moment this is for our country, the Small Business
Committee will achieve even more for small firms in the 117th
Congress.
Small businesses deserve our partnership. We have a diverse
committee, and that is our strength, because we will ensure our
work benefits all entrepreneurs no matter their location,
industry, or background. We are their voice in Congress. While
we may not always agree, it is my hope we can have a productive
dialogue and do so in a respectful manner. I look forward to
collaborating with each of you this Congress.
Now let me take this opportunity to introduce the new
Members on my side. There are a few new Democratic Members of
the committee.
Dean Phillips is a small businessman from Minnesota who is
committed to working across the aisle. He drafted the Paycheck
Protection Program Flexibility Act with Representative Chip
Roy, helping thousands of small employers. He will be a true
asset to our committee.
Marie Newman of Illinois brings a breadth of small business
experience as a former owner of a consulting firm. Throughout
her career, she has also been an advocate for national issues,
such as healthcare, LGBTQ, and economic rights. I am confident
she will be a champion and powerful voice for small businesses.
Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia was a professor of public
management and policy at the Andrew Young School of Policy
Studies at Georgia State University before joining us in
Congress. During the Great Recession, Carolyn was the director
of the Georgia Senate Budget and Evaluation Office, where she
worked with both parties to balance Georgia's budget and get
the state economy back on track. Her experience coupled with
her commitment to bipartisanship will be instrumental in
helping small businesses recover from the pandemic.
We welcome you--all of you, and we are excited that you
will be serving in this committee.
I would also like to welcome back the Members who served on
the committee in the 116th Congress: Jared Golden from Maine,
Jason Crow from Colorado, Sharice Davids of Kansas, Kweisi
Mfume from Maryland, Judy Chu from California, Dwight Evans of
Pennsylvania, Antonio Delgado from New York, Chrissy Houlahan
of Pennsylvania, Andy Kim from New Jersey, Angie Craig from
Minnesota. We are very fortunate to have all you back on this
committee.
Now I yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. Luetkemeyer, for his
opening statement and to introduce his new members.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
I look forward to working with you. You and I have known
each other a long time--about 12 years, I think, in total--ten
on this committee. I stepped off a couple years ago, but we are
back. And, working with you on Financial Services, I think
there are a lot of areas I believe we can find some common
ground. I look forward to that opportunity.
I also want to welcome back the returning Members of the
committee on both sides of the aisle, and welcome all the new
Members.
As we begin this Congress, I want to say that I look
forward to continuing the tradition of bipartisanship that we
fostered on this committee on behalf of the nation's
entrepreneurs and innovators. We always say that small
businesses are an important economic driver for our nation.
Now, we must ensure that the small businesses that are
struggling from the COVID-19 pandemic can keep their doors open
and have the tools and freedom they need to recover.
My focus and concentration will be on policies that allow
small businesses to recover quickly. Additionally, we must
create an environment where small businesses grow and expand.
Access to capital, a smart regulatory environment, and an
appropriate level of taxation are priorities to get that done.
I look forward to lively debate and informative hearings,
and productive markups as we address these very important
topics that will assist the nation's job creators.
First, I want to recognize Republican Members who are
returning to the committee: Jim Hagedorn and Pete Stauber, both
of Minnesota, have made significant contributions to our
committee's consideration of legislation and policy, and their
experience will be invaluable as we contemplate the very
critical issues now facing our nation's small businesses.
Next, I would like to introduce the new Members of the
committee: Representative Roger Williams of Texas, who is not
new to Congress, but new to our committee. He is a small
business owner, former Texas Secretary of State, and former
Major League Baseball player, Atlanta Braves. I am sure you are
going to hear, ``Play ball,'' often this year.
Representative Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, who is also not
new to Congress, but new to our committee. Before coming to
Congress, he worked for a small healthcare products
manufacturer where he helped create thousands of jobs, and
actually marketed his products around the world.
Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York, a third-
generation small business owner, practicing law with his
father.
Representative Young Kim of California, one of the first
Korean Americans to serve in Congress and a former Member of
the California State Assembly.
Representative Beth Van Duyne of Texas, a former city
council member and mayor, who is used to solving problems that
we are going to be looking at over the next couple of years.
Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, who worked in the
banking, finance, and insurance industries and served in the
Florida House of Representatives.
Representative Maria Salazar of Florida, a five-time Emmy
Award-winning journalist.
And Representative Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin, a former
Army officer, newspaper owner, and Wisconsin State Senator.
As this committee considers the many issues related to our
nation's COVID-19 recovery and economy, I know the knowledge
and expertise of all of our new Members will be extremely
helpful.
Madam Chairwoman, I look forward to working with you and
our colleagues in a bipartisan manner to address these issues
impacting the small businesses.
With that, I would like to present you with a letter of
what I think are some great topics to begin the year with,
things that I think are important to our small businesses and
economy and their role in our economy. And it is pretty
lengthy.
I won't go into discussing it, but I think it gives us a
lot of topics to begin to discuss in the hearings, and I think
we are going to need to be able to address a lot of these
issues.
So, with that, I would like to yield the balance of my time
to our Vice Chair, Roger Williams from Texas.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Ranking Member.
I am also honored to serve with the Chairwoman. We also
served on Financial Services and have a long relationship as a
Ranking Member, as a dear friend on this Small Business
Committee.
In the 117th Congress, this committee has never been more
important with the things that we are going to be going over.
And I will turn my microphone on. After 10 years, I ought to
know that.
But this committee will never be--never be more important.
As someone who has owned a business and still owns a business
for 51 years, there is a lot of challenges out there for us,
and I know that this committee is the lifeblood, along with
small business, of our economy. And Main Street America will
ultimately turn this country around from the devastation we
have seen from COVID-19.
So, Madam Chairwoman, I give you my time back. Thank you.
Chairwoman VELAZQUEZ. Thank you. The gentleman yields back.
Colleagues, I look forward to the robust discussions and
debates that I know will transpire over the next 2 years, and
now we will move to the rules package.
With the adoption of today's rules package, I believe we
are making it clear to the small business community that we are
committed to working together and advocating on their behalf.
Pursuant to clause 2(a) of the House rule XI, today's first
order of business is to adopt the committee rules for the 117th
Congress. The adoption of the rule is central to the work we do
and the tone we set in this body. Perhaps most importantly,
they must ensure that all points of view are considered and
that the minority retains their full rights to be heard.
In this context, the rules mirror those of the 116th
Congress with some minor conforming and clarifying changes.
Most notable are the renaming of three of the five
subcommittees and clarifying the Member question order for
subcommittee hearings.
Three subcommittee names were modified to reflect the
change in nature of small business policy priorities. They are
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development,
formerly Innovation and Workforce Development; the next
subcommittee, Underserved, Agricultural, and Rural Business
Development, formerly Rural Development, Agricultural Trade,
and Entrepreneurship; and Oversight, Investigation and
Regulations, formerly Investigations, Oversight, and
Regulations.
The second rule change will clarify Member question order
for subcommittee hearings.
During the 116th Congress, many Members of the full
committee participated in subcommittee hearings when they were
not members of that subcommittee. While this is permissible
under the rules, a lack of clarity in the rules for this
scenario led to confusion with the question order.
For the 117th Congress, the rules have been amended to
clearly state that subcommittee Members will be recognized to
ask questions first before turning to non-subcommittee Members
with their question order based on full committee seniority.
This committee needs to run in a cooperative manner. I
believe the best way to do that is to make sure both sides have
an equal voice and are treated in a way that is fair. Through
adoption of these rules, we will continue this practice.
I would like to thank the staff on both sides for working
closely on the rules package. At this point, I would like to
yield to Ranking Member Luetkemeyer for any comments he may
have on the rules.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The committee's rules package before us this morning is a
product of both sides working together. The rules provide
opportunities for the majority and the minority to participate
within all facets of the committee. I thank you for your
collaboration, and I look forward to working in a bipartisan
manner on many issues to come.
I would like to take this time to mention a few of the
provisions within the rules.
All subcommittees now have a ratio of six majority Members
to five minority Members, which allows for appropriate
representation across the jurisdictional scope of the
committee. Three subcommittees, as you mentioned earlier, have
slightly altered names. We appreciate the Chairwoman retaining
``agricultural'' in the new Underserved, Agricultural, and
Rural Business Development Subcommittee, as many of our
members, including the 3rd District of Missouri, have
agricultural land and family farms.
The Subcommittee on Innovation and Workforce Development is
now the Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and
Workforce Development. And the Subcommittee on Investigations,
Oversight, and Regulations is now the Subcommittee on
Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations.
But make no mistake. No matter the name of the
subcommittees, our Members, Republican and Democrat, are
equally committed to continuing the rigorous oversight for
which the committee is known.
Additionally, the new rules now provide, at subcommittee
hearings, Members of the full committee who are not
subcommittee Members will have the opportunity to question
witnesses after the Ranking woman and Ranking Member of both
the subcommittee and the full committee if they are in
attendance and all subcommittee Members have inquired. This is
the way questioning is handled in other House Committees, so it
make sense that we follow that protocol as well.
Finally, because of social distancing during the 116th
Congress, this committee has sometimes been in rooms other than
2360 Rayburn, our customary hearing room. Our rules now state
that, for hearings held by the committee or a subcommittee in
the committee's hearing room or another assigned hearing room
in Washington, D.C., a quorum will be deemed present if one
Member from the majority and one Member from the minority are
present.
However, the rules continue to state that the Chair will
exercise reasonable comity by waiting for the Ranking Member,
even if a quorum is present, before striking the gavel.
Again, I thank the Chairwoman for working with me on this
rules package. They provide for a smooth operation of the
committee, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Chairwoman VELAZQUEZ. The gentleman yields back.
Are there any Members that wish to be recognized on the
rules?
The committee now moves to consideration of the rules
package. The clerk will read the title of the document.
The CLERK. Rules and Procedures Adopted by the Committee on
Small Business.
Chairwoman VELAZQUEZ. I ask unanimous consent that the
rules package be considered as read and open for amendment in
its entirety.
Does any Member seek recognition for the purposes of
offering an amendment?
Seeing no amendments, the question is on adopting the
rules.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and the
proposed rules are adopted, and staff is authorized to make
technical and grammatical changes.
Pursuant to House rules, the rules adopted by the Committee
on Small Business for the 117th Congress will be published in
the Congressional Record and made available to Members and the
public on the committee's website.
Now we will approve our Subcommittee Chairs and Ranking
Members. The full committee Vice Chair will be Mr. Kweisi Mfume
from Maryland.
Mr. Jared Golden will be the Chair of the Subcommittee on
Underserved, Agricultural, and Rural Business Development.
Mr. Jason Crow will be the Chair on the Subcommittee on
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development.
Ms. Sharice Davids will be the Chair of the Subcommittee on
Economic Growth, Tax, and Capital Access.
Mr. Kweisi Mfume will be the Chair of the Subcommittee on
Contracting and Infrastructure.
Mr. Dean Phillips will be the Chair of the Subcommittee on
Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations.
I now yield to the Ranking Member, Mr. Luetkemeyer, for any
remarks that he may have to introduce the subcommittee Ranking
Members.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am pleased to introduce the Republican Ranking Members
for the 117th Congress.
First, I want to recognize Roger Williams of Texas, who has
agreed to serve as Vice Ranking Member of the full Committee.
Next is Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota, who will serve as a
Ranking Member for the Subcommittee on Underserved,
Agricultural, and Rural Business Development.
Ranking Member for the Subcommittee on Innovation,
Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development will be Young Kim
of California.
Ranking Member for the Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
Tax, and Capital Access will be Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania.
Beth Van Duyne of Texas will be the Ranking Member for the
Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Regulations.
And Maria Salazar of Florida will serve as Ranking Member
for the Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure.
I believe the experience of all these talented Members will
be invaluable as we consider the important issues facing our
nation's small businesses.
And, Madam Chair, with that, I yield back.
Chairwoman VELAZQUEZ. The gentleman yields back.
I move that the list of subcommittee Chairs and Ranking
Members and Vice Chair as set forth in the roster be approved.
All those in favor, say aye.
Those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and the
Chairs and Ranking Members are appointed.
This concludes the order of business for today's meeting.
Does any Member seek recognition for debate before we conclude?
If not, without objection, this meeting of the Committee on
Small Business stands adjourned, and the Committee will stand
in recess for a few moments to prepare for a Committee hearing.
[Whereupon, at 9:55 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
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