Measure Increases Small Business Access to Loans
CONGRESSWOMAN LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD BACKS MEASURES TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS ACCESS TO FEDERAL CONTRACTS AND SBA LOANS
Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard joined her colleagues recently in supporting legislation to strengthen small businesses by providing them with improved access to federal contracts and Small Business Administration loans.
“Our nation’s 26 million small businesses are the backbone of our communities, representing the majority of all employers, creating half of our gross domestic product and up to 80 percent of new jobs nationwide ,” Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard said. “By investing in small businesses, Congress is strengthening our economy and all of America ‘s families.”
The Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act ( H.R. 1873), approved in the U.S. House of Representatives May 10 by a vote of 409 to 13, will ensure small business owners have the opportunity to compete for contracts from the federal government. For the past six years, the federal government has failed to meet its 23 percent small business contracting goal. This failure costs small businesses almost $10 billion in lost contracting opportunities. Additionally, the federal government has incorrectly credited small businesses with receiving $12 billion in contracts that were in fact awarded to large businesses.
The Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act:
* Gives small businesses a better opportunity to secure government contracts by making it harder for government agencies to bundle contracts into billion dollar super-contracts.
* Makes changes to ensure more federal contracts are available to small firms - raising the federal small business government-wide contracting goal, requiring the President to establish small business goals on an annual basis, and increasing the goal for procurement for small disadvantaged and women-owned businesses from five to eight percent.
* Takes steps to ensure that large corporations are not able to take advantage of small business contracting programs, and requires the Small Business Administration to reach out to small businesses regarding the opportunities to compete for government contracts.
The congresswoman also recently supported the Small Business Lending Improvements Act (H.R. 1332), which passed the U.S. House of Representatives on April 25 by a vote of 380 to 45.
Providing small businesses with greater access to capital programs, the Small Business Lending Improvements Act:
* Makes Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) loans more economical.
* Assists veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to secure funding to start or expand small firms by eliminating borrower and lender fees and increasing to 90 percent the guaranteed portion of loans made to veteran-owned small businesses.
* Makes long overdue changes to strengthen the community ties between certain lenders (Certified Development Companies/504 Program) and their local economies and gives these development companies the tools they need to make the loans that are needed by area businesses.
The 504 Program provides growing businesses with long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land and buildings. A Certified Development Company (CDC) is a nonprofit corporation set up to contribute to the economic development of its community. CDCs work with the SBA and private-sector lenders to provide financing to small businesses.
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