Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
May 21, 2003 -- Page: S6794

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I thank Senators Collins, Talent, and Snowe for bringing up this subject in the Defense bill. I have small business advisory committees in my State and just last week hosted an African American leadership summit. The major complaint these small businesses have is bundling. They would like to have an opportunity to bid, but they are frozen out by this process.

I vowed I would try to help open the door because it is good for small business. Small business is the economic engine of America. That is where the jobs are created and it will be good for taxpayers, as the Senator from Maine has said, to have competition, to have more people working to get into Federal contracting, bringing something different to the table. So this is a very important part of our strong national defense, getting the best deal for taxpayers, but it is also very important that we help our small businesses have access to the biggest contracts that are made in America. Government contracts are the biggest and small businesses have something to offer. Where they are proven and where the 8A program has come in to help our minority-owned businesses get those opportunities, getting the backup they need to be reliable minority contractors, that is what we need in this country.

We need to open that door. The 8A program does open the door and it creates that level playing field that allows them then the platform to get some of the larger contracts.

I appreciate the Senators working with all of us to try to bring about this result. I vowed I would do it. I think if we can do it in the Department of Defense, later we can then use that as a model for all of the Federal agencies in our country. We will do a better job for the taxpayers and we will help the small businesses of this country that are creating the jobs. We want more jobs in our economy. That is the bottom line. It is a win for everyone.