Markup of H.R. 5450, H.R. 6591 and Other Bills (House Small Business Committee hearing, January 31, 2024)
Summary
Transcript of the January 31, 2024 House Small Business Committee markup, Small Business Committee Document Number 118-038, of nine bills: H.R. 5450, H.R. 6591, H.R. 7102, H.R. 7103, H.R. 6156, H.R. 7104, H.R. 7105, H.R. 7128 and H.R. 7129. Chairman Roger Williams and Ranking Member Nydia Velázquez opened. The appendix prints the bill texts, substitutes for H.R. 5450, H.R. 6591 and H.R. 6156, minority views on most of the bills, a DOJ compelling interest document and a letter from Morgan McGarvey. The last vote shown adopted H.R. 7129 by 24 ayes, 0 nays and 0 present.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
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“Markup of H.R. 5450, H.R. 6591 and Other Bills (House Small Business Committee hearing, January 31, 2024).”
Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/markup-of-h-r-5450-h-r-6591-and-other-bills-house-small-business-commi-bec7c56449/
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MARKUP OF: H.R. 5450; H.R. 6591; H.R. 7102;
H.R. 7103; H.R. 6156; H.R. 7104; H.R. 7105;
H.R. 7128; AND H.R. 7129
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
HEARING HELD
JANUARY 31, 2024
Small Business Committee Document Number 118–038
Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
55–405 WASHINGTON : 2024
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas, Chairman
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas
MARIA SALAZAR, Florida
TRACEY MANN, Kansas
JAKE ELLZEY, Texas
MARC MOLINARO, New York
MARK ALFORD, Missouri
ELI CRANE, Arizona
AARON BEAN, Florida
WESLEY HUNT, Texas
NICK LALOTA, New York
CELESTE MALOY, Utah
NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ, New York, Ranking Member
JARED GOLDEN, Maine
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
GREG LANDSMAN, Ohio
MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ, Washington
SHRI THANEDAR, Michigan
MORGAN MCGARVEY, Kentucky
HILLARY SCHOLTEN, Michigan
JUDY CHU, California
SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas
CHRIS PAPPAS, New Hampshire
BEN JOHNSON, Majority Staff Director
MELISSA JUNG, Minority Staff Director
(II)
CONTENTS
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Roger Williams ................................................................................................ 1
Hon. Nydia Velázquez ............................................................................................. 3
APPENDIX
Additional Material for the Record:
H.R. 5450 ........................................................................................................... 41
H.R. 6591 ........................................................................................................... 43
H.R. 7102 ........................................................................................................... 46
H.R. 7103 ........................................................................................................... 51
H.R. 6156 ........................................................................................................... 54
H.R. 7104 ........................................................................................................... 57
H.R. 7105 ........................................................................................................... 59
H.R. 7128 ........................................................................................................... 65
H.R. 7129 ........................................................................................................... 69
Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 5450 .............................. 87
Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 6591 .............................. 89
Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 6156 .............................. 91
Minority Views H.R. 5450 ................................................................................ 93
Minority Views H.R. 7102 ................................................................................ 95
Minority Views H.R. 7103 ................................................................................ 96
Minority Views H.R. 6156 ................................................................................ 98
Minority Views H.R. 7104 ................................................................................ 99
Minority Views H.R. 7105 ................................................................................ 100
Minority Views H.R. 7128 ................................................................................ 102
Minority Views H.R. 7129 ................................................................................ 103
DOJ Compelling Interest Document ............................................................... 105
Hon. Morgan McGarvey Letter ....................................................................... 164
Joint Letter Supporting SBA ONAA Bill ....................................................... 165
(III)
MARKUP OF: H.R. 5450, THE ENHANCING COM-
PETITION IN CONTRACTING ORDERS ACT;
H.R. 6591, THE ENCOURAGING SUCCESS
ACT; H.R. 7102, THE NATIVE AMERICAN EN-
TREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITY ACT; H.R.
7103, THE AGENCY ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
OF 2024; H.R. 6156, THE CHILD CARE SMALL
BUSINESS INSIGHT AND IMPROVEMENT
ACT OF 2023; H.R. 7104, THE NATIONAL
SBDC ADVISORY BOARD IMPROVEMENT
ACT; H.R. 7105, THE WOSB CERTIFICATION
AND OPPORTUNITY EXPANSION ACT; H.R.
7128, THE WOSB INTEGRITY ACT OF 2024;
AND H.R. 7129, THE PUT AMERICA ON COM-
MISSION ACT OF 2024.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 9:50 a.m., in Room
2360, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Roger Williams [chair-
man of the Committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Williams, Luetkemeyer, Stauber,
Meuser, Van Duyne, Salazar, Mann, Ellzey, Molinaro, Alford,
Crane, Bean, Hunt, LaLota, Maloy, Velázquez, Golden, Mfume,
Landsman, McGarvey, Gluesenkamp Perez, Scholten, Thanedar,
Chu, Davids, and Pappas.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. If I can have everyone’s attention
If we can have everybody’s attention. Before we get started, I want
to recognize Congressman Alford from the great state of Missouri
to say the Pledge of Allegiance and a short prayer.
Mr. ALFORD. Well, let’s start with a prayer, Chairman.
Dear God, we just thank you for providing us a place and a man-
ner and a time to conduct the business of this nation. I thank you
for our Chair and our Ranking Member, for the guidance and lead-
ership they provide each day in this Committee. God, thank you for
the Members here. Bless us. Give us strength, courage, wisdom,
and discernment as we move forward for the American people.
(1)
2
And God, I just thank you for our small businesses. Thank you
for the men and women who roll up their sleeves, who empty their
wallets, who spend time with their families, who dedicate their
lives, basically, to starting a small business. And I just ask that
every decision we make here, every rule we put forward or bill we
put forward, as we are doing today, it is your will and your guid-
ance to help those families succeed in America.
Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, in-
divisible, with liberty and justice for all.
The Committee will now come to order. A quorum is present.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the
Committee at any time. As required by the House rules, a copy of
the legislative measures have been made available to Members and
the public at least 24 hours in advance. Pursuant to Committee
rule 13 and House rule XI, all votes will be rolled to the end of the
meeting.
I now recognize myself for opening remarks.
Good morning again to everyone, and I welcome today’s markup,
where we will be discussing nine bills that address the various
needs of our nation’s small businesses. I am going to be speaking
on each of the bills we bring up today in greater detail, so I want
to keep my opening statement brief and just highlight a few points.
When I took over as the Chairman of this Committee, I wanted
to bring my private sector experience to the forefront. And I employ
hundreds of people back home in Texas at my car dealerships, and
almost all of them work on commission. It incentivizes them to
work hard and take ownership of what they are selling. This was
the inspiration behind one of the bills we were marking up today,
and I want to thank our colleague, Chairman Luetkemeyer, for a
lot of his input on this very thing.
This was the inspiration behind one of the bills we are marking
up today. It is Put America on Commission Act of 2024. This bill
creates a whistleblower program that will align the incentives of
the public and the government to help achieve the shared goal of
holding criminals that took advantage of the government lending
programs during the COVID-19 pandemic accountable.
When Congress passed the Pandemic Assistance Program here,
there was a need to strike the balance between getting money out
quickly and having appropriate fraud mitigation tools in place.
There was always the assumption that we would be able to catch
the fraudsters on the back end. However, as the inspector general
shared with the Committee, he knew this would lead to a disaster
and the after action report show he was correct. There has been an
estimated $200 billion in fraud in the SBA pandemic programs and
the OIG has 100-year backlog. A 100-year backlog to get through
all of these cases. This is not an issue that can simply be fixed by
throwing money at the existing problem. We need something that
will speed up the process.
That is where this bill will come into play. By creating this new
whistleblower program within the SBA, the inspector general will
receive a higher quality information that will lead to more and
quicker convictions.
3
Whistleblower programs have been proven to be effective in
many other agencies, such as the IRS and the SEC, and I am con-
fident that this bill will lead to more convictions of COVID fraud
when we look to replicate it at the SBA.
I will have more to say on this bill when it is brought up later
today, but I want to thank the staff on both sides of the aisle for
making this bill a reality.
And in closing, I would like to thank our Members for bringing
all of the bills forward for consideration in today’s markup. Every
piece of legislation we are going to look at today is the product of
hearings and our oversight efforts that we have conducted, and I
am proud to see our Committee activity being turned into legisla-
tion that will make main street even stronger.
With that, I look forward to today’s markup, and I yield to distin-
guished Ranking Member from New York, Ms. Velázquez.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this
markup today.
I plan to lend my support to the nine bills we are considering.
They make important improvements to the contracting programs at
SBA, codify the Office of Native American Affairs, takes a good
first step on childcare, and works to recover fraudulent pandemic
funds.
This Committee has a long tradition of working together to get
things done for small businesses, and I appreciate Chairman Wil-
liams and his staff for their efforts to work with us. I would like
to also commend the Members of the Committee to put differences
aside and improve SBA programs for small businesses.
Small business growth has proven resilient in uncertain times.
Since President Biden took office, 16 million Americans have filed
to start new businesses and more than 14 million jobs have been
created. Our nation’s 33 million small businesses play an impor-
tant role in driving our nation’s economy, and I am committed to
supporting entrepreneurs as they create good paying jobs in our
local community.
Thank you, Mr. Williams for joining forces with me on behalf of
small businesses and I look forward to a productive markup.
I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. And does any other Member
seek recognition for the purpose of making an opening statement?
Okay, if none, seeing none, we will now move to the consider-
ation of the first bill.
H.R. 5450
The first bill we will mark up is H.R. 5450, the Enhancing Com-
petition in Contracting Orders Act, introduced by Representatives
Scholten and Salazar. The clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 5450 to amend the Small Business Act——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, H.R. 5450 is consid-
ered as read and open for amendment. The bill sponsor, Ms.
Scholten, has an amendment in the nature of a substitute at the
desk. The amendment has been predistributed to all Members and
the clerk will report the amendment.
The CLERK. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R.
5450 offered by Ms. Scholten.
4
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the amendment is con-
sidered as read and the substitute will be considered base text of
the bill for the purpose of amendment.
I now recognize the bill’s sponsor, Ms. Scholten, for her state-
ment.
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I am proud to
speak on behalf of my bill, the Enhancing Competition in Con-
tracting Orders, which is cosponsored by my wonderful colleague,
Congresswoman Salazar.
The job of this Committee is to foster small business growth,
which means uplifting small businesses from historically underuti-
lized business zones, HUBZones, and ensuring that they can com-
pete and continue contributing to the American economy. My dis-
trict in Michigan is home to several HUBZones where businesses
who qualify for the program are eligible for certain contracting op-
portunities, including contract set-asides, sole source awards, and
price evaluation preferences.
My bill would provide additional clarification to federal agencies
on how and when to apply price evaluation preferences to
HUBZones. Currently, the HUBZone price evaluation preference is
not widely used because some agencies have incorrectly interpreted
that the preference does not apply to orders. As the federal govern-
ment increasingly drives its spending through indefinite delivery
and indefinite quantity contracts, significant opportunities for
HUBZone small businesses are being lost because the HUBZone
price evaluation is not being applied in the award of orders.
Importantly, the price evaluation preference language in the
Small Business Act is broad and does not exclude orders. It states,
in fact, that, ‘‘In any case in which a contract is to be awarded on
the basis of a full and open competition, the price offered by a
qualified HUBZone small business concern shall be deemed as low-
ering—or, excuse me, as lower than the price offered by another
offerer.’’
The only exception in the Small Business Act for the application
of the HUBZone price evaluation preference is for procurements of
agricultural commodities. The fact that Congress explicitly pro-
vided one exception, but did not provide an exception for orders in-
dicates that Congress did not intend there to be an exception for
orders. How could it? The price evaluation preference applies to or-
ders because orders are contracts.
Given the broad language in the statute and the fact that there
is only one explicit exception and that orders are themselves con-
tracts, the HUBZone price evaluation preference should be applied
as broadly as possible. And my bill, the Enhancing Competition for
Contracting Orders, would do just that, leveling the playing field
for all qualifying small businesses under the HUBZone program.
Many small businesses are unable to competitively bid on large
contracts—on contracts against these larger companies, and this
would make it more tenable to do so.
The 10 percent price preference granted by the HUBZone pro-
gram has been game-changing for HUBZone small businesses and
their ability to participate in the contracting marketplace. This leg-
islation would further clarify HUBZone benefits and ensure even
more businesses in West Michigan and across the country can com-
5
pete for government contracts. I strongly urge Members to vote yes
on this important legislation.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair, and I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. And I now recognize the
bill’s cosponsor, Ms. Salazar, for a statement.
Ms. SALAZAR. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you very
much for calling me your wonderful colleague. Very good.
You see, this is the way we have to work in Congress, in a bipar-
tisan fashion. And I think this is a fantastic bill because it is called
Enhancing Competition in Contracting Orders. Basically what it
does is that the pie, it cuts the pie, the big pie of a government
contract and gives big pieces to the small guy. And that is what
I like.
We have 250 HUBZones in Florida, 22 in the city of Miami that
I proudly represent. So that means that the big guys are now need
to share the pie with the small people. Those people that up to now
have not been able to bid and become what we consider the Amer-
ican dream, which is to be a client of the federal government. What
a fantastic bill. So thank you very much for cosponsoring with me.
And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to speak. I am very,
very excited that we are going to be able to bring the American
dream down to the small business owners. I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. And are there any other
Members who wish to be recognized for a statement on this bill?
Okay. I now recognize the gentlewoman, Ranking Member Ms.
Velázquez.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I commend Ms.
Scholten and Ms. Salazar for their bipartisan work to bring H.R.
5450 before the Committee today.
When the government invests in small businesses, they in turn
invest in their communities by creating jobs and buying local prod-
ucts. This is a driving force behind the HUBZone program. Unfor-
tunately, the program has not reached its full potential. In the
more than 25 years since Congress created HUBZones, the federal
government has never achieved the 3 percent procurement goal.
It is clear that efforts like the HUBZone preference can work.
This preference is now providing HUBZones with a competitive ad-
vantage when bidding against larger companies, but the authority
has not been properly interpreted and it is, therefore, underuti-
lized. This bill will clarify the original intent of Congress that the
preference be applied to all contracts and specifically to task or-
ders.
Again, I appreciate the sponsors for prioritizing this bill and the
HUBZone program.
I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Ranking Member yields back. And I now
recognize myself to speak in support of this legislation.
H.R. 5450, the Enhancing Competition in Contracting Orders
Act, seeks to encourage business development and hiring in areas
that are historically underutilized from a business perspective.
This bill provides the needed certainty about price preference when
the SBA HUBZone firm is competing for task order contracts.
HUBZone firms have the ability to utilize this price preference tool
6
for other government contracts. This allows them to compete
against some of their larger counterparts.
Unfortunately, there has been some confusion on if specific task
orders are also able to utilize this price preference tool. This legis-
lation looks to end unnecessary confusion for HUBZone firms and
make it clear that task orders do qualify for the same price pref-
erence as normal contracts.
The legislation should increase the ability for small businesses to
do business with the federal government and I urge my colleagues
to support H.R. 5450.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute?
Okay. If there is no further discussion, the question is now on
the amendment in the nature of a substitute, H.R. 5450 offered by
Ms. Scholten.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and the amendment
in the nature of a substitute, H.R. 5450 offered by Ms. Scholten is
agreed to.
Okay. The question is now on favorably reporting H.R. 5450, as
amended, to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
Opposed?
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and H.R. 5450 is
amended as agreed and to and ordered favorably to the house.
H.R. 6591
The next bill we will mark up is H.R. 50—or I am sorry 6591,
the Encouraging Success Act introduced by Representatives Ellzey
and Thanedar and the clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 6591, to amend section——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, H.R. 6591 is consid-
ered as read and open for amendment. The bill sponsor, Mr. Ellzey,
has an amendment in the nature of a substitute at the desk. The
amendment has been predistributed to all Members and the clerk
will report the amendment.
The CLERK. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R.
65——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the amendment is con-
sidered as read and the substitute will be considered based text of
the bill for the purpose of amendment.
I now recognize the bill sponsor, Mr. Ellzey, for an opening state-
ment.
Mr. ELLZEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank
Mr. Thanedar for joining me on this bill.
Thanks for allowing us to mark up H.R. 6591, the Encouraging
Success Act. The amendment in the nature of a substitute is a
technical correction by striking language on page 3, line 5 in the
original bill. Retained is the CutGo language stating no additional
amounts are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this act or
the amendments made by this act.
The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program was estab-
lished in the ’70s to help small businesses compete with large cor-
porations for U.S. Government contracts. A qualifying small busi-
7
ness can only be a part of the program for up to 9 years. To ini-
tially qualify and remain in the 8(a) program, there is a cap as to
the value of a small business’ assets. Since the program’s inception,
the asset cap has only been raised twice and is currently capped
at $6-1/2 million. That asset threshold is set through SBA-deter-
mined regulation, and the law does not outline any process of when
or how the SBA should reassess the threshold to remain in line
with market changes.
Unfortunately, because the requirements to initially qualify for
the program or remain in it haven’t kept up with market changes,
the cap is set to a level at which a small business is disadvantaged
to compete in the open market at the end of the 9-year program.
The SBA’s slow to change attitude with the asset cap can limit the
success of an 8(a) small business.
With the threat of being graduated out of the 8(a) program, small
business owners must decide whether their firm’s growth is worth
being removed from the program. My bill, H.R. 6591, with the
amendment, helps solve this situation and encourages success of
small businesses by compelling the SBA administrator to review
the qualification caps with greater frequency to ensure that small
businesses participating in the 8(a) program are allowed to grow
big enough to compete with larger companies once their participa-
tion in the program ends.
This bill is needed because if an 8(a) participating small business
surpasses the SBA-determined asset threshold, the small business
will then be graduated or removed from the 8(a) program. This has
literally killed many small businesses. Although the graduated
small businesses would still complete existing contracts, they
would not be able to compete for future 8(a) contracts while not
having grown big enough to compete with the big companies.
Mr. Chairman and Members, by supporting this bill, you are sup-
porting small businesses while ensuring they are not punished for
their success. Mr. Chairman and Members, I humbly request your
support for H.R. 6591, as amended, to send to the full House for
consideration.
Thank you, Chair Williams. I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. Now, Mr. Thanedar, the
bill’s cosponsor, is not here. Are there any other Members who wish
to be recognized for a statement on the bill?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Ranking Member.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Thanedar is here.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Oh, he just walked in, huh? You are late,
but early.
So, Mr. Thanedar, I recognize you as the bill’s cosponsor for an
opening statement.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Getting his glasses.
Mr. THANEDAR. Good morning and thank you, Mr. Chair. And
also thank you, Representative Ellzey, for introducing this impor-
tant bill.
I am proud to strongly support this bill as regular monitoring
and assessment of thresholds for the 8(a) program will ensure that
this invaluable program is helping those it is intended to. In my
home state of Michigan, there were 217 million worth of 8(a) con-
8
tracts in fiscal year 2022, making up almost 5 percent of Michi-
gan’s firms that received federal contracts in that year, according
to the Small Business Administration.
Fostering entrepreneurship is a key goal. Empowering individ-
uals to start their own businesses not only helps achieve their
dreams, but also adds to the economic vibrancy of our nation. En-
trepreneurs drive innovation and job creation. Minority entre-
preneurs bring diverse perspectives and valuable skills to our local
economy. However, they often face unique challenges when starting
or growing their businesses, including continued discrimination
and discriminatory barriers.
The 8(a) program helps address these challenges by providing ac-
cess to resources, mentorship, and federal contract assistance to
the minority community. This supports not only helps minority and
immigrant owned businesses thrive, but also enriches our district
by contributing to its cultural and economic diversity. It is a win-
win.
Federal contracts can significantly boost the growth and reve-
nues of local businesses. Programs like the 8(a) program are essen-
tial for providing these opportunities.
Small business owned by minorities enhance diversity. Encour-
aging the growth of small businesses owned by minorities and
underrepresented groups not only promotes diversity, but also cre-
ates economic opportunities and growth for all Members of our
community. A diverse economy with thriving small business is
more resilient. By fostering a diverse range of small businesses, we
ensure that our economy can weather economic challenges more ef-
fectively. A resilient economy benefits everyone in our district.
In conclusion, the support and encouragement of minority-owned
small businesses through continued refinement of the 8(a) program
not only benefits the entrepreneurs, but also contributes to the
overall wellbeing and prosperity of our community. I urge all Mem-
bers to support this bipartisan bill.
As a serial entrepreneur, Mr. Chair, I have been benefited by
small business and small business programs, one of the small busi-
ness programs, 504, which helped me grow my business. And I
have experienced firsthand what these programs can do to help mi-
norities, immigrants, and others to start small businesses create
jobs.
So I strongly urge support for this and I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. Are there any other Mem-
bers who wish to be recognized for a statement on the bill?
Yes, ma’am. Refer to the Ranking Member on her statement.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Chairman Williams, and thank
you to Representatives Ellzey and Thanedar for their work on H.R.
6591, which will require SBA to regularly update the thresholds for
determining economic disadvantage.
This bill is designed to help keep the 8(a) program relevant and
current, and that is needed. Last week, for only the second time,
the SBA released small business federal contracting data
disaggregated by race. While I applaud the SBA for releasing it, I
and many of my colleagues on the Committee asked them to do it.
The data shines a bright light on the inequities in our federal pro-
curement system. It highlights the need to prioritize and protect
9
programs like the 8(a) a program that assists minority business
owners who have been subject to discrimination.
Seeing that minority-owned businesses do not receive a fair
share of contracting dollars does not come as a surprise. We know
that discrimination persists and creates barrier. In fact, the De-
partment of Justice annually compiles a report on discrimination
and discriminatory barriers faced by women and minority business
owners in government contracting. It is compelling, and, Mr. Chair-
man, I ask unanimous consent to insert that into the record.
Chairman WILLIAMS. So moved.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. This bill is a productive step designed to en-
sure that minority business owners can succeed and thrive in the
8(a) program and the federal marketplace. That is why I am
pleased to support it, and I urge my colleagues to support as well.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back, thank you. I now recognize
myself to speak in support of this legislation.
H.R. 6591, the Encouraging Success Act, requires the SBA to re-
assess the 8(a) business development program asset threshold
every 4 years. The SBA 8(a) program allows certain small busi-
nesses to compete for valuable contracting opportunities. Small
businesses can participate in the program for 9 years. However,
there are certain circumstances where a firm will be removed from
the program. One of these if the owner’s assets reach a certain
threshold, essentially punishing a business owner for their success.
The goal of this program is to ensure small businesses are not
crowded out from the competing for government contracts. With
the prices of everything rising the past few years, we should ensure
that the SBA is appropriately tailoring this program to true small
businesses. The Encouraging Success Act will ensure that this
threshold matches current market realities by requiring the SBA
to reevaluate it every few years.
I encourage all my colleagues to support H.R. 6591.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute?
Okay. If no, there is no further discussion. The question is now
on the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 6591 of-
fered by Mr. Ellzey.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it. The amendment in
the nature of a substitute to H.R. 6591 offered by Mr. Ellzey is
agreed to.
The question is now on favorably reporting H.R. 6591, as amend-
ed, to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
Mr. STAUBER. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yes.
Mr. STAUBER. Request a recorded vote.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. A recorded vote is requested and
pursuant to rule 13 and House rule XI, further proceedings on the
bill are postponed.
H.R. 7102
Next is consideration of H.R. 7102, the Native American Entre-
preneurial Opportunity Act. The next bill we will mark up is H.R.
10
7102, the Native American Entrepreneurial Opportunity Act, intro-
duced by Representatives Davids and Crane.
I now recognize the bill’s sponsor, Ms. Davids, for an opening
statement.
Ms. DAVIDS. Thank you, Chairman Williams and Ranking
Member Velázquez.
Look, it is no secret that our nation’s entrepreneurs face chal-
lenges in starting and operating their small businesses. I can attest
that these challenges are often more pronounced in Tribal commu-
nities. Native Americans are twice as likely to live in poverty than
other Americans. This affects their ability to use their savings and
assets to finance a small business, to access credit, and to under-
take just the general risk of entrepreneurship.
Also, these business owners face geographical barriers with
longer distances for supply deliveries, lack of reliable broadband
and telephone service. These long distances have also made it
harder for Native American entrepreneurs to network, to find men-
tors, to reach their consumer base, and ultimately, it reduces their
chances of success.
Native entrepreneurs also frequently face bigger challenges in at-
tracting private investment and accessing federal contracting op-
portunities. We really must do everything that we can in our power
to find solutions to these challenges, to level the playing field for
Tribal small businesses and to boost our overall economy.
Currently, the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Na-
tive American Affairs does work diligently to connect Native busi-
ness owners with entrepreneurial development, with lending and
procurement programs. However, the SBA currently lacks a con-
gressional mandate for this office, limiting the capacity for the of-
fice to do the work that it needs to do, and leaves it vulnerable to
challenges or changes from one administration to the next.
This is why we really need to advance my Native American En-
trepreneurial Opportunity Act. This bill codifies the SBA’s Office of
Native American Affairs into federal law and establishes an assist-
ant administrator role to oversee the operations and report directly
to SBA leadership.
It also directs the office to report to Congress on its success or
maybe challenges in Indian Country.
Native-owned entities employing over 300,000 Americans are
vital drivers for our national economy, which is why these Tribal
businesses deserve a seat at the table to advocate not only for the
challenges, as I mentioned earlier, but also for their successes and
their achievements.
I do want to thank Congressman Crane for his partnership in in-
troducing this bill, and I absolutely encourage my colleagues to
support the Native American Entrepreneurial Opportunity Act and
vote in favor of successful entrepreneurship in Tribal communities.
And with that, I yield, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. I now recognize the bill’s co-
sponsor, Mr. Crane, for an opening statement.
Mr. CRANE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am proud to colead
H.R. 7102, which officially establishes the Office of Native Amer-
ican Affairs under the Small Business Administration. I want to
11
thank my colleague, Representative Davis, for your leadership and
the opportunity to work in a bipartisan way.
Tribal entrepreneurs face complex hurdles when it comes to run-
ning a business. This can come in the form of property rights ques-
tions, tax implications, regulatory burdens, and lending opportuni-
ties, to name a few. Entrepreneurs should have the flexibility to
start a business on a Reservation, just like anywhere else. But in
reality, the federal government has created barriers to enter the
market. Tribal communities could especially benefit from special-
ized expertise SBA offers to assist business owners in navigating
the unique complexities of running a business on a Reservation.
I am hopeful that passing this bill will bring attention to these
complexities, as this office will ensure Tribal businesses are not
overlooked. Starting a dialogue with our Tribal small business own-
ers, who may be unaware that this office even exists, could spur
economic development that supports our entire nation’s economic
growth and prosperity, which protects freedom for all.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. And are there any of the
Members who wish to be recognized for a statement on this bill?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Refer to the Ranking Member.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I strongly support
the Native American Entrepreneurial Development Opportunity
Act.
Let me begin by commending Ms. Davids for her leadership on
efforts to codify the Office of Native American Affairs at the Small
Business Administration. The office has been a valuable resource
for American Indians, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians
seeking to launch and grow their small businesses. Codifying the
office will ensure that Tribal small businesses will have access to
SBA full range of business development tools, regardless of the ad-
ministration. Importantly, the legislation requires the assistant ad-
ministrator report directly to the administrator, ensuring the voices
of their Tribal communities will be heard at the SBA.
Native American owned businesses are economic engines, con-
tributing over $33 billion to the U.S. economy every year and em-
ploying 200,000 people in their communities. Statutorily author-
izing the Office of Native American Affairs as SBA will increase ac-
cess to federal programs and services that support Native Amer-
ican entrepreneurs across the country and promote economic devel-
opment.
I would also like to thank Mr. Crane for coleading this bill with
Ms. Davis. I urge Members to support the bill and I yield back, Mr.
Chairman, thank you.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. And I now recognize myself
to speak in support of this legislation.
H.R. 7102, the Native American Entrepreneurial Opportunity
Act, establishes the Office of Native American Affairs within the
Small Business Administration. The SBA Office of Native Amer-
ican Affairs has been providing services like counseling, training,
and Tribal consultations for many years. However, the office has
not been codified into law. This bill will codify this office and pro-
vide Congress with better oversight and performance metrics that
12
could be tracked. This will require the office to provide a report on
the services this office provides to ensure that this office is per-
forming their task appropriately.
I want to thank my colleagues for introducing this bill and urge
my colleagues to support H.R. 7102.
If there is no further discussion, the Committee now moves to
consideration of H.R. 7102. The clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 7102, to establish the office——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the first reading of the
bill is dispensed. And without objection, the bill is considered as
read and open for amendment.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment?
If no, seeing none, the question is now on adoption of H.R. 7102
in favor of reporting it to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
Mr. ELLZEY. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. All opposed, say no.
Mr. ELLZEY. Mr. Chairman, I call for a recorded vote.
Chairman WILLIAMS. All right. A recorded vote has been re-
quested and a roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee Rule
13 and House rule XI, further proceedings on the bill are post-
poned.
H.R. 7103
The next bill we will mark up is H.R. 7103, the Agency Account-
ability Act of 2024, introduced by Representatives Stauber and
McGarvey.
I now recognize the bill’s sponsor, Mr. Stauber, for an opening
statement.
Mr. STAUBER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise today to speak
in favor of my bill, H.R. 7103, the Agency Accountability Act of
2024.
It is well known that endless bureaucracy and red tape crushes
small businesses. Yet since President Biden took office, over 700
regulations have been added to the Federal Register, costing nearly
$440 billion and adding more than 236 million paperwork hours. It
is clear that Main Street America is not a priority of this adminis-
tration. If the Biden administration insists on burdening small
businesses with such an overregulated landscape, the very least
they could do is ensure that small businesses have every oppor-
tunity to contract with the largest purchaser of goods and services
in the world, the federal government.
Right now, federal agencies set goals for awarding contracts to
small businesses. But meeting those goals is often treated like a
suggestion and not a requirement. The result? Too many agencies
fall short, leaving billions of dollars in contracts off the reach of
American dreamers.
My bill, the Agency Accountability Act, changes the game. It
shines a spotlight on agency performance by requiring public testi-
mony for failures. Agency heads will answer directly to Congress
for missing goals, explaining why they haven’t prioritized small
businesses and what they will do to fix it.
This isn’t just about finger pointing. It is about finding solutions.
Public scrutiny paired with mandated reporting on scorecard per-
13
formance will expose systemic roadblocks and identify best prac-
tices.
Our small businesses are more than just economic engines. They
are the embodiment of the American spirit, equipped with cre-
ativity, resilience, and a fierce determination to succeed. This bill
gives them a fighting chance, a seat at the table, and the oppor-
tunity to prove themselves on the national stage.
I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation as it
will help ensure the federal government is doing everything it can
to support small businesses in America.
Mr. Chair, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. And I now recognize the
bill’s cosponsor, Mr. McGarvey, for an opening statement.
Mr. MCGARVEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you,
Representative Stauber.
Each week we sit on this Committee and we discuss how we can
help ensure the federal government actually supports our small
businesses, the small business growth and entrepreneurship in this
country. This bill will do exactly that. It is going to bring the fed-
eral government one step closer to meeting its small business con-
tracting goals. We can’t just walk the walk. We have to talk the
talk, too. And that’s why I am proud to join Representative Stauber
as a proud sponsor of H.R. 7103, the Agency Accountability Act.
And I am grateful it was included in today’s markup.
The bill would require the head of the Office of Small and Dis-
advantaged Business Utilization of any federal agency that does
not receive an A grade on the SBA scorecard or whose agency does
not meet two or more of the subcategory goals to hit their quota
of contracts awarded to small business recipients to testify before
the House and Senate Small Business Committees. We can hold
failing agencies accountable, and we can ensure that small busi-
nesses everywhere have the opportunity to compete for and win
federal contracts that should be going to small enterprises.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill and look forward to its
passage today. I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. Are there any other Mem-
bers who wish to be recognized for a statement on the bill?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Recognize the Ranking Member.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to Represent-
ative Stauber and Mr. McGarvey for their bipartisan work on H.R.
7103.
I believe that most agency officials are making good faith efforts
to ensure that small businesses are able to participate and maxi-
mize opportunities in the federal marketplace. The goals are only
goals, though, and agencies are not penalized if they do not meet
them. The way we encourage agencies to meet their goal is to name
and shame them when they don’t. Requiring testimony is an addi-
tional way to do that and to use our leverage and congressional
oversight tools to hold their feet to the fire.
I am particularly pleased to see that this bill includes agencies
that have not received an A on the scorecard, but also agencies
that have not met two or more of their subcategory goals. Each of
the categories, including and especially the HUBZone and WOSB
14
programs, continue to need additional focus, and this is a helpful
step in that direction.
I am pleased to support it, and I urge my colleagues to do as
well. I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. And I now recognize myself
to speak in support of this legislation.
H.R. 7103, the Agency Accountability Act, brings accountability
to agencies who fail to meet their goals by bringing them in front
of Congress to answer to the American people. Government agen-
cies are required to meet a goal of spending a certain amount of
their contracting dollars with small businesses. Unfortunately,
these goals are not always met, and specifically, certain small busi-
nesses, like those that are service-disabled veteran-owned, are com-
monly left out.
To evaluate how agencies are meeting these goals, the SBA pro-
duces a scorecard which shows vital information on awards made
to small businesses by each agency. Each agency is given a letter
grade in the SBA scorecard. This legislation will require those
agencies that do not receive an A on their scorecard to be brought
before Congress.
I urge all my colleagues support H.R. 7103 so that we can finally
hold the government accountable for failing to meet its commit-
ment to small businesses.
If there is no further discussion, the Committee now moves to
consideration of H.R. 7103. The clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 7103, to amend the Small——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the first reading of the
bill is dispensed with. And without objection, the bill is considered
as read and open for amendment.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment?
Seeing none, the question is now in the adoption of H.R. 7103
and favorably reporting it to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it.
Mr. STAUBER. Mr. Chair.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yes, sir?
Mr. STAUBER. Request a recorded vote.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The recorded vote has been requested
and a roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee rule 13 and
House rule XI, further proceedings on the bill are postponed.
H.R. 6156
The next bill we will mark up is H.R. 6156, the Childcare Small
Business Insight and Improvement Act of 2023, introduced by Rep-
resentatives Landsman, Molinaro, and Meuser. The clerk will re-
port.
The CLERK. H.R. 6156, to require the administrator——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, H.R. 6156 is consid-
ered as read and open for amendment. The bill’s sponsor, Mr.
Landsman, has an amendment in the nature of a substitute at the
desk. The amendment has been predistributed to all Members. The
clerk will report the amendment.
15
The CLERK. Amendment in the nature of a substitute to
H.R.——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the amendment is con-
sidered as read and the substitute will be considered base text of
the bill for the purpose of amendment.
I now recognize the bill sponsor, Mr. Landsman, for an opening
statement.
Mr. LANDSMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to my Repub-
lican colleagues who helped us put this bill together, Congress-
woman Letlow and, of course, here Congressmembers Molinaro and
Meuser.
The Childcare Small Business Insight and Improvement Act is
an important step in lifting up and supporting childcare providers,
which are uniquely special and uniquely important small busi-
nesses. They help children as they are developing, and they help
families so that they can work. They are, as it has been said, the
workforce behind the workforce. They are essential to our economy.
And many, if not most, of our childcare providers are, in fact,
small businesses. We think about them sometimes as nonprofits,
and there are many that are, in fact, nonprofits and many that are
part of larger companies or bigger businesses. But the fact is, most
are small businesses. But the SBA was not really built for these
small businesses.
This bill will change that. It assesses the needs of our childcare
small businesses. It looks at the resources that the SBA currently
provides, but, most importantly, it starts to tackle the gaps of what
the SBA could be doing to lift up and support our childcare small
businesses and the leadership within the SBA that would be need-
ed to implement the recommendations.
So I am grateful for the bipartisan support for our childcare
small businesses, the workforce behind our workforce.
And with that, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. I now recognize the bill’s co-
sponsor, Mr. Meuser, for an opening statement.
Mr. MEUSER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And I
thank my colleague, Mr. Landsman, for his leadership.
For parents in the workforce, access to reliable and affordable
childcare is not just a convenience, it is a necessity. It enables par-
ents to focus on their careers, contribute to the economy, and pur-
sue their entrepreneurial aspirations with the confidence that their
children are in safe hands.
Entrepreneurs face unique challenges in balancing the demands
of building a successful business and caring for their families. Ac-
cess to reliable and affordable childcare can make all the dif-
ference, allowing entrepreneurs to concentrate on their businesses
while providing a secure environment for their children’s develop-
ment.
In talking with many small businesses, particularly as of late,
and local chambers in my district, such as Mr. Bob Carl, he’s presi-
dent of the Schuylkill County Chamber, they have emphasized the
importance and prioritized the importance of access to reliable
childcare for our small business owners and local economy. This
legislation recognizes the significant role for-profit childcare pro-
viders play in supporting working parents. By directing the SBA to
16
conduct a thorough study of the needs and challenges faced by
these businesses, this legislation will help this Committee and the
SBA understand how to appropriately assist increasing the overall
availability and affordability of childcare, benefiting both small
business childcare providers as well as the businesses and entre-
preneurs.
So I do thank my colleague again, Mr. Landsman. I thank my
colleague, Mr. Molinaro, for his leadership on this legislation. I
urge my colleagues to support its passage and look forward to its
consideration on the floor.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
I now recognize the bill’s cosponsor, Mr. Molinaro, for an opening
statement.
Mr. MOLINARO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly appre-
ciate it. And I am grateful to my colleague, Mr. Landsman.
This bipartisan legislation seeks to address a significant chal-
lenge for certainly many families across America. Quality and af-
fordable childcare is as much about providing assistance to children
as it is a part of developing young children. And so H.R. 6156, the
Childcare Small Business Insight and Improvement Act, is meant
to address the need for affordable childcare. The bill seeks to en-
hance the SBA’s role in supporting for-profit childcare providers
while seeking to foster a greater understanding of the needs and
challenges of small businesses.
New York, as sadly in many cases, is either the top or the bottom
when it comes to most expensive or least opportunity. New York
is the third least affordable state for single parents. And we know
in particular in upstate New York, we continue to face the chal-
lenge of accessibility to affordable and quality childcare. We hear
consistently not only from constituents, but also constituent busi-
ness owners about the lack of access to quality, affordable childcare
and how difficult it is, especially for families in rural communities
like mine, to access childcare.
The Childcare Small Business Insight and Improvement Act sets
our childcare providers up for long-term success and works to en-
sure that access to quality childcare is not a workforce barrier for
our growing communities. We have seen it consistently, too many
are locked out of the workforce simply because of lack of access to
childcare. And again, I reinforce that access to quality childcare is
as much about providing the opportunity for individuals to get to
work and kids to have those social relationships. But quality
childcare is quality early child development, and all of that is criti-
cally important to growing the American economy and closing the
gaps in places like upstate New York.
And with that, again, I thank my colleagues Mr. Landsman, Mr.
Chairman, thank you. And I encourage my colleagues to support of
the bill.
And I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. Are there any other Mem-
bers who wish to be recognized for a statement on this bill?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Ranking Member.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
17
Let me begin by thanking Mr. Landsman and Molinaro and Mr.
Meuser. But let me also praise Mr. Landsman for his leadership on
this important issue. Since being elected to Congress, he has made
it his mission to make life better for children and families, and in-
creasing access to quality childcare is one way to accomplish that
goal.
Affordable, high-quality childcare is essential to working fami-
lies, small businesses, and our economy. A recent study found near-
ly two-thirds of parents of infants and toddlers face childcare issues
that affect their productivity at work, resulting in $78 billion in
foregone earnings and job search expenses for families. It also
means $23 billion in workforce shortages for employers and $21 bil-
lion in lower federal, state and local tax revenues.
Unfortunately, quality childcare services has been in short sup-
ply, and the pandemic exacerbated the shortages within the indus-
try. To make matters worse, the emergency funding provided in the
American Rescue Plan for childcare centers has ended. Put simply,
we are in the midst of a crisis.
In December, we heard testimony that the loss of funds is threat-
ening the existence of more than a third of our nation’s centers,
and many providers have had to increase their fees. We must tack-
le this crisis head-on and provide families the support they need
to enter and stay in the workforce. That is why I am pleased to
support the Childcare Business Insight and Improvement Act,
which will make sure our nation’s 600,000 childcare businesses
have the resources they need to thrive.
Mr. Williams, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The Ranking Member yields back and I
now recognize myself to speak in support of the amendment in na-
ture of a substitute to H.R. 6156, the Childcare Small Business In-
sight and Improvement Act of 2023.
This legislation requires the SBA to examine the landscape of ac-
cess to childcare through a report that will assess the needs and
challenges of for-profit childcare providers as well as potential gaps
in federal support for childcare small businesses. The report will
include recommendations for the administrator on how to address
the challenges uncovered in the study.
This amendment preserves the intent of the original bill while
removing the mandate to create a new position to carry out the bill
before the study is conducted. I commend my colleagues for sup-
porting this legislation today while also maintaining fiscal respon-
sibility.
I urge my colleagues to vote yes on the amendment to H.R. 6156.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment to the amendment in the nature of a substitute?
If there is no further discussion, this question is now on the
amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 6156 offered by
Mr. Landsman.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no. In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes
have it, and the amendment and nature of a substitute to H.R.
6156 offered by Mr. Landsman is agreed to.
Mr. LANDSMAN. Mr. Chair?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yes. Recognized.
18
Mr. LANDSMAN. May I ask for a recorded vote?
Chairman WILLIAMS. A recorded vote has been requested and
a roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee rule 13 and
House rule XI, further proceedings on the amendment are post-
poned.
The question is now on favorably reporting H.R. 6156, as amend-
ed, to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it and H.R. 6156——
Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yes.
Mr. MEUSER. I request a recorded vote.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. A recorded vote has been requested
and a roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee rule 13 and
House rule XI, further proceedings on the bill are postponed.
H.R. 7104
The next bill we will mark up is H.R. 7104, the National SBDC
Advisory Board Improvement Act, introduced by Representatives
Mann and Golden.
I now recognize the bill’s sponsor, Mr. Mann, for an opening
statement.
Mr. MANN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I rise to speak in support of H.R. 7104. In Kansas’ big 1st Con-
gressional District, more than 80 percent of employees in the dis-
trict are employed by small business. There are five small business
development centers, or SBDCs, in the district, and they operate in
partnership with colleges or universities across the state. We have
ones in Liberal, Dodge City, Hayes, Manhattan, and Lawrence.
These SBDCs and those around the country offer beneficial re-
sources to small businesses, support entrepreneurship, and drive
economic development.
Between rampant inflation, high interest rates, a disruptive sup-
ply chain, and burdensome federal regulation, our small businesses
are struggling. SBDCs often offer the tools and resources that
America’s small business owners need to get their business off the
ground and to keep it running.
This legislation, the National SBDC Advisory Board Improve-
ment Act, would require the National Small Business Development
Center Advisory Board to provide an annual report to Congress
recommending improvements to SBDC’s outreach, technical assist-
ant, and training for small businesses. The National SBDC Advi-
sory Board should be a part of the solution to offer recommenda-
tions on how to keep those services and resources current and of
the highest quality, especially in rural America.
I appreciate Representative Golden joining me in this bipartisan
legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in voting yes
to advance this legislation to the full House.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back. I now recog-
nize the bill’s cosponsor, Mr. Golden, for an opening statement.
Mr. GOLDEN. Thank you, Mr. Chair, Madam Ranking Member.
I want to thank Congressman Mann for bringing this bill forward
and for asking me to go ahead and partner with him on this.
19
In the interest of time, I will simply say that I am strongly sup-
portive of the work of Small Business Development Centers and
take seriously the responsibility of this Committee and Congress to
have good oversight of taxpayer-funded programs. So I think this
bill makes good sense. It is a commonsense bill, it is a good bill,
and I encourage the Committee to support it. Thank you.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Are there any other Members who wish
to be recognized for a statement on the bill?
Yes, ma’am?
Ms. DAVIDS. Thank you, Chairman. And I would just like to
speak in support of the National SBDC Advisory Board Improve-
ment Act.
As Mr. Mann from the Big 1st in Kansas already stated, we have
quite a bit of entrepreneurship going on in the state of Kansas. I
know certainly the SBDCs in our state, including the one in the
3rd district at Johnson County Community College, works closely
with the folks in Lawrence and other places in the state. And just
wanted to thank my colleagues for bringing this bill up in a bipar-
tisan way. I think this is a great example of the ways that we can
work together to improve the entrepreneurial pursuits of the folks
in our communities.
So I speak in support of the bill and encourage my colleagues to
support it here and on the House floor. I yield.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. Are there any other Mem-
bers who wish to be recognized for a statement on the bill?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Ranking Member.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you. I am pleased to support the legis-
lation offered by Mr. Mann and Mr. Golden, which will require the
Small Business Development Center Advisory Board to submit an
annual report to Congress and the SBA on their activities and,
also, and this is the part that is so important, to make rec-
ommendations to improve the program.
I applaud Mr. Mann and Mr. Golden for their leadership on this
issue, but I will be remiss if I did not mention the importance of
reauthorizing the entrepreneurial development programs. It is im-
perative that this Committee review these programs and make im-
provements to better meet the needs of today small business own-
ers. As the former Chair of this Committee, I made certain we re-
authorized these bills in both the 116 and 117 Congresses. We
worked together in a bipartisan manner and all of the bills passed
the House overwhelmingly.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to working together to
mark up those reauthorization bills and appreciate your commit-
ment to that effort. I support this bill and I yield back my time.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentlelady yields back. I now recog-
nize myself to speak in support of the legislation.
H.R. 7104, the National Small Business Development Center Ad-
visory Board Improvement Act ensures our nation’s SBDCs func-
tion at the highest level possible. The National SBDC Advisory
Board consists of educators, small business leaders, and industry
experts to give advice on improvements to the SBDC program, to
the associate administrator. This bill elevates this important advi-
20
sory board by providing an annual report to Congress on opportuni-
ties to improve services and the program as a whole.
I want to thank my colleague from Kansas and my colleague
from Maine for introducing this bill. I urge my colleagues to sup-
port H.R. 7104.
If there is no further discussion, the Committee now moves to
consideration of H.R. 7104. The clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 7104, to require the——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the first reading of the
bill is dispensed with. And without objection, the bill is considered
as read and open for floor amendment.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment?
Seeing none, the question is now an adoption of H.R. 7104 and
favorably reporting it to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
Opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and H.R. 7104 is
agreed to.
Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Chairman, I ask for a recorded vote.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Request for a recorded vote has been re-
quested and a roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee rule
13 and House rule XI, further proceedings on the bill are post-
poned.
H.R. 7105
The next bill we will mark up is H.R. 7105, the WOSB Certifi-
cation and Opportunity Expansion Act, introduced by Ranking
Member of Velázquez and Representative LaLota.
I now recognize the bill’s sponsor, Ranking Member Velázquez,
for an opening statement.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Chairman Williams, and thank
you, Representative LaLota, for cosponsoring this bill.
Our Committee has regularly worked to strengthen the SBA
Small business contracting programs and to protect their integrity.
Continuing this tradition, the WOSB Certification and Opportunity
Expansion Act will move away from self-certification for the
women-owned small business program by requiring federal agen-
cies to only count contracts awarded to certified WOSBs toward
meeting their procurement goals. This will bring the WOSB certifi-
cation process in line with certifications from the other three small
business program. And while it will strengthen the program, it is
further intended to bolster its use.
This administration has awarded a record amount of contracting
dollars to women-owned small businesses, yet the top line goal of
5 percent of contracting dollars to WOSBs remains unmet. Simply
put, women-owned small businesses are not seeing the contracting
opportunities that should accompany their level of participation in
the federal market. This is not surprising when looking at the utili-
zation of the contracting authorities for small business programs.
According to CRS last analysis, the percentage set-aside or sole
sources to the other programs ranges from a low of 17 percent for
HUBZones to well over half, about 58 percent, for 8(a)’s. The vet-
eran’s programs seized 44 percent of its dollars reserved exclusively
for veterans. Of the spending now going to women-owned small
21
businesses, only about 5 percent is moved through the contracting
authority.
Stakeholders point to confusion around WOSB-specific require-
ments and processes. By moving more WOSB through the SBA cer-
tification contracting process, we are expecting that contracting of-
ficers will more confidently and more frequently set aside and sole
source contracts to women-owned small businesses.
I will close by highlighting two key points. First, we know this
will take time and resources for SBA to implement. I appreciate
the Chairman’s willingness to work with us to provide sufficient
time, and in doing so, we expect that WOSBs will not be penalized
if SBA faces delays.
Second, the WOSB program is unique in its use of third-party
certifiers, and those third-party certifiers charge fees. We believe
that existing and new processes laid out in the bill will ensure that
no WOSB is required to pay for a certification. I intend to monitor
both of these issues closely during implementation.
Again, thank you, Mr. Williams. I urge Members to support the
bill, and I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The lady yields back.
I now recognize the bill’s cosponsor, Mr. LaLota, for an opening
statement.
Mr. LALOTA. Thank you, Chairman Williams. Thank you to
Ranking Member Velázquez, a proud fellow New Yorker, for lead-
ing this effort with me. It is a good day when Members of the same
state delegation, but from opposite sides of the aisle work together
on an important issue that will not just benefit our state’s small
businesses, but America’s small businesses.
Our Women-Owned Small Business Certification Opportunity
Expansion Act will phase out self-certified women-owned small
businesses from the governmentwide procurement goals. In doing
so, we will achieve two main things: protect the integrity of the
women-owned small business program; and two, prevent the abuse
of federal small business contracting goals.
While our federal government has a goal to spend at least 5 per-
cent of its procurement dollars with women-owned small busi-
nesses, at present this includes self-certified firms. The SBA Office
of Inspector General has consistently pointed out that with small
disadvantaged businesses, the ability to self-certify opens up the
designation to risk. This holds true to the ability for self-certified
women-owned small businesses as well.
Meanwhile, women-owned small business owners in the SBA’s
Women-Owned Small Business Program go through a certification
program to ensure that only women-owned firms enter. This aligns
the Women-Owned Small Business Program with similar programs
that no longer count self-certified firms in these goals. A similar
provision phasing out self-certified service-disabled veteran-owned
small businesses from the procurement goals passed in the fiscal
year 2024 NDAA.
I ask that my colleagues support and vote yes on the Women-
Owned Small Business Certification and Opportunity Expansion
Act.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
22
Are there any other Members who wish to be recognized for a
statement on the bill?
Seeing none, I now recognize myself to speak in support of H.R.
7105, the Women-Owned Small Business Opportunity and Expan-
sion Act.
This bill will remove self-certification from the governmentwide
women-owned small business procurement goals, allowing anyone
to self-certify their business status could lead to fraud and abuse.
Women small business owners competing for critical government
contracts deserve to know that their competition did not falsely
self-certify their business status.
I am proud of the work already done to remove self-certification
from the service-disabled veteran-owned small business program in
the NDAA. And now it is time to do the same with the WOSB pro-
gram to help ensure integrity across SBA programs.
I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 7105.
If there is no further discussion, the Committee now moves to
consideration of H.R. 7105. The clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 7105, to establish——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the first reading of the
bill is dispensed with. And without objection, the bill is considered
as read and open for amendment.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment?
Seeing none, the question is now on the adoption of H.R. 7105
and favorably reporting it to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes haven it, and H.R. 7105 is
agreed to and ordered favorably to the House.
Mr. MANN. Chairman, request a recorded vote, please.
Chairman WILLIAMS. A recorded vote has been requested. A
roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee rule 13 and House
rule XI, further proceedings on the bill are postponed.
H.R. 7128
The next bill we will mark up is H.R. 7128, the WOSB Integrity
Act of 2024, introduced by Representatives Maloy and Scholten.
I now recognize the bill’s sponsor, Ms. Maloy, for an opening
statement.
Mr. MALOY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chair-
man. I’ll be brief.
We have already talked a fair amount about women-owned small
businesses, or WOSBs. This bill seeks to close a loophole. The SBA
inspector general found that while the SBA certifies that firms are
women-owned, the SBA does not have procedures in place to verify
size.
And this bill will close a loophole that allows women-owned busi-
nesses that are not small businesses to use the resources that have
been set aside for women-owned small businesses. It cleans up the
process and makes sure that the resources that we have set aside
to support women who are trying to enter the marketplace are, in
fact, going to women in small businesses who are entering the mar-
ketplace.
23
I represent Utah. Utah is the home to a lot of women who are
entrepreneurs, and I want to make sure that they can compete and
succeed. And in order to make that happen, we have got to level
the playing field and make sure these programs are operating the
way they were intended to.
With that, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. I now recognize the bill spon-
sor, Ms. Scholten, for an opening statement.
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Yes, sir. Thank you so much.
I am so proud to speak on behalf of this bill. The Women-Owned
Small Business—WOSB—Integrity Act, which is cosponsored, of
course, by Congresswoman Maloy. Women working together, happy
to see it.
Women, in particular, have been a driving force behind America’s
economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, creating about
half of new businesses for the third year in a row. To that end, it
is incumbent on us to continue to find ways to support them. I
strongly believe that one of the easiest ways to do this is by
streamlining the bureaucratic process required when registering as
a women-owned small business with the SBA. That is why I am
so proud to support this bill that would require the SBA, or third-
party certifiers, to certify that an applicant meets the SBA’s size
standards as a Small business for participation in the WOSB pro-
gram.
By incorporating the certification at the beginning of the reg-
istration process, WOSBs will be able to spend their time running
their business instead of defending their legitimacy and being
forced to engage in lengthy battles with the competing companies
that challenge the contracts they earn in the federal marketplace.
As the Ranking Member on the Small Business Committee on
Contracting and Infrastructure, I look forward to continuing to find
solutions that lighten the bureaucratic burden of running a women-
owned small business in America.
I urge Members to vote yes on this important legislation. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. And I yield back the remainder of my time.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. Are there any Members who
wish to be recognized for a statement on this bill?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yes, Ranking Member.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you. I really appreciate this bill’s spon-
sors, Representatives Maloy and Scholten, for their work to bring
it before us today.
The SBA’s IG has routinely highlighted what it believes is a dis-
crepancy in SBA implementation of the WOSB program. Like all
small business contracting programs, WOSBs must meet a number
of criteria for participation, including that the firm is owned and
controlled by women, it is certified, and it is small, among others.
The IG has stated that implementation of the size requirement is,
and I quote, inconsistent with the statutory requirement.
The purpose of this bill is to clarify that we expect SBA to have
a process similar to the other contracting programs when reviewing
WASP applicants. The OIG report states that they acknowledge,
and I quote, ‘‘that size determination is a specific process and is not
24
recommending SBA perform size determinations for each appli-
cant.’’ The legislation mirrors that language to clarify the intent.
With that, I support this bill and I ask for a yes vote.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. I now recognize myself to
speak in support of H.R. 7128, the Women-Owned Small Business
Integrity Act.
This bill will ensure that women small businesses’ owners and
the SBA’s women-owned small business program do not have to
worry about a large firm and misrepresenting themselves as a
small business when they enter the program. Self-certification in
the SBA contracting programs presents a major concern, as the
Committee has heard directly from witnesses in our hearings.
Unfortunately, the SBA does not have processes and procedures
in place to verify that WOSB applicants are in fact women-owned
small businesses. This is a missed opportunity by the SBA to en-
sure that only small businesses are entering the program and
WOSB participants are not competing with fraudulent actors.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7128, the WOSB Integrity
Act, and take this step to prevent fraud and abuse. If there is no
further discussion, the Committee now moves consideration of H.R.
7128. The clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 7128, to establish requirements——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, The first reading of
the bill is dispensed. And without objection, the bill is considered
as read and open for amendment.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment?
Seeing none, the question is now on the adoption of H.R. 7128
in favor of reporting it to the House.
All those in favor, say aye.
All those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and H.R. 7128 is
agreed to and ordered favorably to the House.
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Mr. Chair?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Recognized.
Ms. SCHOLTEN. I request a recorded vote.
Chairman WILLIAMS. A recorded vote has been requested and
a roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee Rule 13 and
House rule XI, further proceedings on the bill are postponed.
H.R. 7129
The next bill we will mark up is H.R. 7129, the Put America on
Commission Act of 2024, which I introduced along with many of my
colleagues on this Committee.
I now recognize myself to speak in support of this legislation
H.R. 7129, the Put America on Commission Act of 2024, will
maximize recovery efforts of fraudulent pandemic loan funds by
incentivizing everyday Americans to submit information on fraudu-
lent loans in exchange for a commission. This bill will establish the
Office of Whistleblower awards within the SBA to pass along tips
to the Office of Inspector General and credible evidence of pan-
demic loan fraud submitted by the public. If that information leads
to a final conviction, the office will then disperse award money to
eligible whistleblowers.
25
The need for this bill was demonstrated during our Committee
hearing last year where we examined the SBA inspector general’s
estimate that over $200 billion in taxpayer money was given out
to bad actors through PPP, EIDL, and other COVID-19 funding
programs by the SBA. This accounts for nearly 20 percent of all
pandemic lending and it is totally unacceptable.
One thing became particularly clear in that hearing was that
whistleblowers could serve as the key to uncovering this unprece-
dented amount of fraud. The newly established Office of Whistle-
blower Awards will be led by one staffer to coordinate tips to the
SBA inspector general for investigation.
Uniquely, the cost of the office’s operations and the whistleblower
awards are fully funded by the recovered fraudulent loan amounts
which are deposited into the whistleblower award fund. The office
will sunset at the conclusion of the final investigation under the ex-
piration of the statute of limitations for pandemic loan fraud.
Lastly, the bill provides authority to the SBA to seek a separate
civil monetary penalty against convicted fraudsters, which must
also be deposited the Whistleblower award fund. Any unused mon-
ies in the whistleblower award fund are mandated to be returned
to the general fund.
In the private sector commission works, this bill will look to
bring this common practice to help bring accountability to these in-
dividuals that chose to defraud the taxpayers during a global pan-
demic. I greatly appreciate the work that the Office of the Inspector
General has done thus far to uncover the extent of the fraud. But
it is clear that more work must be done to do the American people
what they need to have done, and also small businesses.
I am proud to put forward this piece of legislation that will hold
fraudsters accountable and recoup the billions of dollars stolen
from the taxpayers. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 7129.
Are there any other Members who wish to be recognized for a
statement on this bill?
Seeing none, I would—oh, Mr. Luetkemeyer, sorry. Yes, sir.
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate
your hard work on this bill. And you and I have been talking about
this for a long time, and I think you articulated some of the prob-
lems and ways that we can deal with this.
You know, the Inspector general did his job. He did the job of
going through the files, seeing what the problem is and showing us
how large it was. Now it is our job, the SBA’s job, to fix it. SBA
doesn’t want to do it. They think they can’t do it, which is, in my
judgment, I don’t believe that. But if they can’t do it, then maybe
we need to help them. And so if that is the case, then this bill is
a way to do that. It is a way to take back our first target, the dol-
lars that are taxpayer dollars. They are not the government dol-
lars. They are taxpayer dollars, our dollars that we are supposed
to be overseeing and then have SBA go find them, DOJ go find
them, whoever and however this is going to work.
I think this is extremely important piece of legislation, maybe
the most important piece of legislation that comes out of this Com-
mittee, because of the total amount of money that you’re talking
about, number one. And number two, the principle that if you owe
money to the government, we are not going to write it off. We are
26
going to ask you to pay it back. Just like every single business in
this country, when they do—or individual, when you take out a
loan, when you take something from somebody and you commit to
pay it back, you pay it back. That is a principle that has to be
maintained, and this bill will help do that.
Mr. Chairman, again, sincerely, thank you for your hard work on
this. I look forward to supporting it and urge my colleagues to do
as well.
With that, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. I now recognize Representative Meuser
from Pennsylvania for 5 minutes.
Mr. MEUSER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So we have discussed in detail, in multiple hearings this year,
the SBA’s inspector general estimate $200 billion of pandemic loan
dollars were potentially obtained fraudulently. So this number in-
cludes 8 percent of PPP, 44 percent of vital loans.
So by establishing an Office of Whistleblower Rewards within the
SBA and putting America on commission, as you have named the
bill, and as the Chairman likes to say, this legislation will
incentivize Americans to come forward with tips on potential pan-
demic loan fraud. This office will be another tool at our disposal to
fight to recover as much of the potential COVID fraud as possible.
This Committee must and will take seriously our role in overseeing
the SBA’s loan programs, especially the Pandemic Relief Programs,
and assure bad actors are pursued.
So I thank Chairman Williams for his leadership. I urge my col-
leagues to support its passage and look forward to its swift consid-
eration on the House floor.
Mr. Chairman, thank you. And I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back.
I would like to recognize the Ranking Member to speak on the
bill.
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Throughout the 118th Congress, this Committee has been pri-
marily focused on recovering fraudulent pandemic loans. I share
your commitment, and that is why I led efforts, along with Con-
gressman Luetkemeyer, to extend the statute of limitations for
fraud in the EIDL and PPP programs.
This bill, which became law, sent a strong message that unscru-
pulous behavior will not be tolerated and that those who commit
fraud will be held accountable in the years to come. The estimates
of potential fraud in SBA programs vary significantly, ranging from
26 billion to 200 billion. And while we may never know the exact
number, there is no doubt that the vast majority of the fraud oc-
curred in the first 9 months of the pandemic under the leadership
of former President Trump.
We also know with certainty that the Biden administration, led
by Administrator Guzman at SBA, took a number of steps to cur-
tail the fraud, including reinstituting longstanding controls, estab-
lishing a fraud risk management board, and creating a special
council for enterprise risk. The IG has attested to that in our Com-
mittee, and he reported that the oversight work has provided an
exponential return on investment, 1,300 percent on the dollar.
27
Given the stellar return on the investment, the single most im-
portant action we can take to recover fraud is to fully fund the IG
and our law enforcement community. I should note that the IG has
more than 90,000 actionable leads that have been submitted to
their hotline. The underlying issue is not necessarily a failure to
identify fraud, because the IG and DOJ have enough leads to stay
active for decades. The issue is adequately funding the law enforce-
ment community to investigate and prosecute potential fraud.
With that said, I appreciate the efforts of the Chairman to come
up with a creative solution to help recover fraudulent funds, and
I plan to support this bill. New spending will be needed to establish
the office and hire staff because this type of investigations and
prosecutions can take time and the recoveries, unfortunately, will
not flow immediately into account.
I am committed to making sure that SBA and the IG have the
resources they need to recover fraudulent funds. And I thank the
Chairman for working with me to bridge the differences on this
bill. Thank you and I yield back
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yields back. If there is no further discus-
sion, the Committee now moves to consideration of H.R. 7129. The
clerk will report.
The CLERK. H.R. 7129, to amend the Small Business Act——
Chairman WILLIAMS. Without objection, the first reading of the
bill is dispensed with. And without objection, the bill is considered
as read and open for amendment.
Do any Members seek recognition for the purpose of offering an
amendment?
Seeing none, the question is now on the adoption of H.R. 7129
and favorably reporting to the house.
All those in favor, say aye.
Those opposed, say no.
In the opinion of the Chair, the ayes have it, and H.R. 7129 is
agreed to and ordered favorably to the House.
Mr. ELLZEY. Mr. Chairman, I request a recorded vote.
Chairman WILLIAMS. A recorded vote has been requested. A
roll call vote is ordered. Pursuant to Committee rule 13 and House
rule XI, further proceedings on the bill are postponed.
The Committee now stands in recess subject to the call of the
Chair. We will resume at a later today at 11:45.
[Recess.]
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay, if I can have everybody’s attention.
The Committee will now come to order.
Without objection, the request for a recorded vote on the agreeing
to the amendment in the nature of a substitute for H.R. 6156 is
withdrawn and the amendment in the nature of a substitute of-
fered by Mr. Landsman is agreed to.
The Committee will now resume consideration of the bills on
which roll call votes are requested and postponed. We will start
with H.R. 6591.
The question now is on adopting H.R. 6591, as amended, and or-
dering it favorably reported to the House. The clerk will call the
roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Yes.
28
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
[No response.]
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
29
Ms. Scholten?
[No response.]
Mr. Thanedar?
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Mr. MOLINARO. Mr. Chairman?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yes.
Mr. MOLINARO. Mr. Chairman, how am I recorded?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Who said that?
Mr. MOLINARO. Mr. Molinaro. Okay. The other Italian from
New York.
The CLERK. Mr. Molinaro is recorded as not voted.
Mr. MOLINARO. I vote yes.
The CLERK. Mr. Molinaro votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. Are there any other Members who
have not voted or wish to change their vote?
Seeing none, the clerk will report it.
The CLERK. Mr. Chairman, on that vote, 22 ayes, 0 nays, and
0 present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The motion is agreed to, and H.R. 6591,
as amended, is adopted and will be reported favorably to the
House.
The question now is on adopting H.R. 7102 and ordering it favor-
ably reported to the Jouse. The clerk will call the roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
30
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
Mr. MOLINARO. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
[No response.]
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
Ms. Scholten?
[No response.]
Mr. Thanedar?
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
31
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Are there any Members who have not
voted?
Mr. MCGARVEY. I wish to be recorded as an I vote, Mr. Chair-
man.
The CLERK. Mr. McGarvey votes aye.
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Scholten votes aye.
Mr. Chairman, on that vote, 24 ayes, 0 nays, and 0 present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. The motion is agreed to and H.R.
7102 is adopted and will be reported favorably to the House.
The question now is adopting H.R. 7103 and ordering it favorably
to the House. The clerk will call the roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
[No response.]
Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
32
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
Mr. MCGARVEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. McGarvey votes aye.
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
Ms. Scholten?
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Yes.
The CLERK. Ms. Scholten votes aye.
Mr. Thanedar?
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. Are there any of the Members who
have not voted or wished to change their vote?
Seeing none, the clerk will report.
The CLERK. Mr. Chairman, on that vote, 23 ayes, 0 nays, and
0 present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. The motion is agreed to and H.R.
7103 is adopted and will be reported favorably to the House.
The question now is on adopting H.R. 6156, as amended, and or-
dering it favorably reported to the House. The clerk will call the
roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
33
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
[No response.]
Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
Mr. MCGARVEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. McGarvey votes aye.
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
Ms. Scholten?
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Scholten votes aye.
Mr. Thanedar?
34
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. Are there any of the Members who
have not voted or wish to change their vote?
Seeing none, the clerk will report.
The CLERK. Mr. Chairman, on that vote, 23 ayes, 0 nays, and
0 present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. The motion is agreed to and H.R.
6156, as amended, is adopted and will be reported favorably to the
House.
The question now is on adopting H.R. 7104, and ordered favor-
ably reported to the House. The clerk will call the roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
[No response.]
Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
35
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
Mr. MCGARVEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. McGarvey votes aye.
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
Ms. Scholten?
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Scholten votes aye.
Mr. Thanedar?
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Are there any other Members who have
not voted or wish to change their vote?
The clerk will report.
The CLERK. Mr. Chairman, on that vote, 23 ayes, 0 nays, and
0 present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The motion is agreed to and H.R. 7104 is
adopted and will be reported favorably to the House.
36
The question now is on adopting H.R. 7105 and ordering it favor-
ably reported to the House. The clerk will call the roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
[No response.]
Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
37
Mr. MCGARVEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. McGarvey votes aye.
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
Ms. Scholten?
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Scholten votes aye.
Mr. Thanedar?
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Are there any other Members who have
not voted or wish to change their vote?
Mr. MOLINARO. Mr. Chairman? Mr. Molinaro votes aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Molinaro votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The clerk will report.
The CLERK. Mr. Chairman, on that vote, 24 ayes, 0 nays, and
0 present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The motion is agreed to and H.R. 7105 is
adopted and will be reported favorably to the House.
The question now is on adopting H.R. 7128 and ordering it favor-
ably reported to the House. The clerk will call the roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
38
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
Mr. MOLINARO. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Molinaro votes aye.
Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
Mr. MCGARVEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. McGarvey votes aye.
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
Ms. Scholten?
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Scholten votes aye.
Mr. Thanedar?
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez? Can you repeat that?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
39
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Are there any of the Members who have
not voted wish to change their votes?
The clerk will report.
The CLERK. Mr. Chairman on that vote 24 ayes, 0 nays, and 0
present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The motion is agreed to and H.R. 7128 is
adopted and will be reported favorably to the House. I think this
is about as perfect as going to get right here for the people of this
great country that we are doing things to help Main Street Amer-
ica.
So with that being said, the question now is on adopting H.R.
7129 and ordering it favorably to the House. The clerk will call the
roll.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer?
Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Luetkemeyer votes aye.
Mr. Stauber?
Mr. STAUBER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Stauber votes aye.
Mr. Meuser?
Mr. MEUSER. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Meuser votes aye.
Ms. Van Duyne?
Ms. VAN DUYNE. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Van Duyne votes aye.
Ms. Salazar?
Ms. SALAZAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Salazar votes aye.
Mr. Mann?
Mr. MANN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mann votes aye.
Mr. Ellzey?
Mr. ELLZEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Ellzey votes aye.
Mr. Molinaro?
Mr. MOLINARO. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Molinaro votes aye.
Mr. Alford?
Mr. ALFORD. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Alford votes aye.
Mr. Crane?
Mr. CRANE. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Crane votes aye.
Mr. Bean?
Mr. BEAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Bean votes aye.
Mr. Hunt?
Mr. HUNT. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Hunt votes aye.
Mr. LaLota?
40
Mr. LALOTA. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. LaLota votes aye.
Ms. Maloy?
[No response.]
Mr. Golden?
Mr. GOLDEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Golden votes aye.
Mr. Mfume?
Mr. MFUME. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Mfume votes aye.
Mr. Phillips?
[No response.]
Mr. Landsman?
Mr. LANDSMAN. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Landsman votes aye.
Mr. McGarvey?
Mr. MCGARVEY. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. McGarvey votes aye.
Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez?
Ms. GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Gluesenkamp Perez votes aye.
Ms. Scholten?
Ms. SCHOLTEN. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Scholten votes aye.
Mr. Thanedar?
Mr. THANEDAR. Aye.
The CLERK. Mr. Thanedar votes aye.
Ms. Chu?
Ms. CHU. Aye.
The CLERK. Ms. Chu votes aye.
Ms. Davids?
Ms. DAVIDS. Ms. Davids votes aye.
Mr. Pappas?
[No response.]
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez?
Ms. VELÁZQUEZ. Aye.
The CLERK. Ranking Member Velázquez votes aye.
Chairman Williams?
Chairman WILLIAMS. Aye.
The CLERK. Chairman Williams votes aye.
Mr. Chairman, on that vote, 24 ayes, 0 nays, and 0 present.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The motion is agreed to and H.R. 7129 is
adopted and will be reported favorably to the House.
Let me also say, without objection, Committee staff is authorized
to make technically conforming changes, and Members have 2 busi-
ness days to file additional supplemental descending and minority
views.
Thanks for being here today. We did a good job. I am proud of
all of you. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 12:14 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
41
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