Yvette D. Clarke tag:,2008-12-04:/4 2009-11-20T12:35:53Z Speeches from Representative Yvette D. Clarke within the last 90 days Movable Type Enterprise 4.24-en Rep. Yvette Clarke speaks on the House Floor on Women Policy Focusing on Small Business tag:clarke.house.gov,2009://4.1018 I’d like to thank my esteemed Colleague Congresswoman Marcia Fudge for giving me a moment to comment on women in small business. As the Co-chair for the Women’s Caucus taskforce on Women and Education, she has consistently demonstrated her leadership on these vital issues and should be commended.

I am especially pleased to be speaking on these issues with you here this evening because of the timeliness of this conversation. Women entrepreneurs have come a long way in recent decades but more must be done, especially in this dire economic environment.


As the sole Member of CBC on the Small Business Committee in the House or the Senate I am constantly monitoring developments that effect women owned small businesses, especially those in underserved areas. 

The impact of small businesses cannot be stated enough.

Small businesses are the key to the health of the U.S. economy.
o They represent 99.7% of all employer firms,
o employ about half of all private sector employees,
o pay nearly 45% of the U.S. private payroll,
o and are responsible for more than half of non-farm private GDP.

Women owned businesses are an important factor in this economic story. Recent studies show that there are close to 8 million individual women owned small firms, with a $3 trillion impact on our close to $14 trillion economy, employing close to 23 million people.

These are great numbers, but I for one believe that more must be done! Not only do I believe it, but the facts bear it out!

A study was recently released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York entitled, “Gender and the Availability of Credit to Privately Held Firms”.

The report relied upon data on privately held businesses drawn from the Federal Reserve’s Surveys of Small Business Finances covering the period from 1987-2003. Authors of the report concluded that when compared to male-owned firms, women firms are

o “significantly smaller as measured by sales, assets, and employment;
o younger as measured by the age of the firm;
o more likely to be in retail trade and business services and less likely to be in the construction, secondary manufacturing, and wholesale trade industries;
o and more inclined to have fewer and shorter banking relationships.
o Women owners are significantly younger, less experienced, and not as well educated.”

The report further found that women firms are significantly more likely to be credit-constrained because they are more likely to be discouraged from applying for credit, though not more likely to be denied credit when they do apply.

This report reflects the fact that women owned businesses have made great strides in recent years, but that challenges to growth, business model diversification, technical capabilities, and ability to access capital remain.

The bottom line is that women entrepreneurs need more support. I have long been an advocate for women owned businesses, and it is vital that we improve existing programs and explore the need for new ones to narrow this achievement gap.

Most recently, I have been hard at work exploring possible solutions for women entrepreneurs.

Last month, I introduced HR 3771, The Veteran, Minority and Women-Owned Construction Business Mentorship and Grant Assistance Act of 2009.

This legislation would establish grant programs for women-owned small business construction companies to help create the internal business systems that are essential for success.

Funds would also be made available to local groups and schools to bolster technical assistance to these firms.

This bill would create opportunities in the highly competitive construction sector, at a time when there has been a stark decline in construction activity due to the housing downturn. The legislation is really about building capacity for small firms so that they can better compete for the many stimulus opportunities that are still being developed.

Most of the total $787billion in Stimulus funds have yet to go out. Further, most of the remaining funds are targeted to shovel ready construction projects. Projects that our women owned businesses should participate in.

I’d like to take this opportunity to applaud the women builders in this country. So often, the image of the construction industry is a burly guy in a hard hat. Well I’ve got news for you gentlemen, women builders face great challenges and in my experience meet and exceed them consistently in a highly competitive environment.

The fantastic women builders will benefit from this legislation, and I’d like to thank my colleagues, including you Congresswoman Fudge, for supporting the bill.

We have as of today 23 cosponsors for the legislation. The growing support for this legislation is proof that Washington is waking up to the prominent role that small businesses, including our women owned businesses will play in our recovery!

Another challenge I hope to address in the near term is the relationship between small business sub-contractors and larger prime contractors. Often, large Federal contractors pledge to use certain sub-contractors for projects when submitting bids for federal contracts.

For example a prime contractor will receive unofficial credit for listing a woman owned firm as a possible subcontractor while submitting a bid.

Then, when the project is awarded to the prime, sub-contractors can be cut out at the discretion of the prime.On Capitol Hill and in Brooklyn, we call that the “bait and switch!” I think this practice is unfair, especially to our women owned businesses and I am looking at ways to address this issue.

Finally, I have been tirelessly working to find ways to improve access to capital for our women owned businesses. It is no secret that our largest depository institutions are not lending as much as they could, but are instead using the excess capital they have to provide capital buffers for their own balance sheet health, retarding any rebound that could be fueled by small business lending.

I applaud President Obama for announcing that his Administration will be seeking low cost loans to smaller banks and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI’s) as a means to address the small business lending gap.

I am especially supportive of CDFI’s as a means to getting credit to our smaller women-owned firms in underserved and economically distressed areas. For every dollar of CDFI investment, $15 of non-federal dollars are leveraged to provide lending to deserving borrowers.

I will be studying how to improve programs like CDFI’s to leverage government investment to help people help themselves.

Let us make no mistake, the last great frontier for women entrepreneurs, especially in our communities, will be consistent ability to access credit.I will fight tirelessly alongside my colleagues to make this a reality.

As I said earlier, these are but a few of the challenges faced by women owned businesses. I am always paying attention to the issues affecting our women entrepreneurs and I will for as long as I am a Member of Congress. Much work is left to be done, but with the great leadership of people like Congresswoman Fudge, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I know we will get to where we need to be, and beyond. I yield back the balance of my time.

 

 

 

]]> Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke's Floor Statement in Support of H.R. 3962 Affordable Healthcare for America Act tag:clarke.house.gov,2009://4.1009 Madam Speaker, today, I rise in support of H.R. 3962 Affordable Healthcare for America Act. In the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, nearly 47 million Americans lack health insurance, 13.5% of which are New Yorkers.... Madam Speaker, today, I rise in support of H.R. 3962 Affordable Healthcare for America Act.
In the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, nearly 47 million Americans lack health insurance, 13.5% of which are New Yorkers. Last year alone, New York City’s hospitals spent 1.2 billion dollars in charity costs. Tragically, people who are either uninsured or underinsured often have to go without vital healthcare simply because they cannot afford it.


Every American has a human right to adequate physical and mental healthcare, and I believe that government has a responsibility to assist its citizens in securing quality healthcare.
Unfortunately, my republican colleagues don’t seem to fully grasp the dire situation our healthcare system is in. Maybe they would have come up with a bill that actually addressed the deficiency in our broken healthcare.

It is unfortunate that there are those who just don’t care. Those who are satisfied with the status quo of rising premiums, satisfied with individuals being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, satisfied with ignoring the pain and suffering of the 47 million Americans who are uninsured.

Instead of working to fix the problem, they capitalize on people’s fears and doubts. It is meant to distract, delay, confuse, and engender fear among our citizens. Today we will not allow the voices of fear to dominate the health care reform debate.


This bill provides healthcare coverage to 96% of Americans and includes a strong public option that will provide the needed competition to lower premium costs. That is why I support H.R. 3962 Affordable Health Care for America Act.

In my district, the 11th Congressional District of Brooklyn, the Affordable Health Care for America Act will:

• First, improve employer-based coverage for 367,000 residents. As a result of the insurance reforms in the bill, there will be no co-pays or deductibles for preventive care; no more rate increases or coverage denials for pre-existing conditions, gender, or occupation; and guaranteed oral, vision, and hearing benefits for children.


o Second, it will provide credits to help pay for coverage for up to 160,000 households, if they need to purchase their own coverage.


o Third, under the bill’s insurance reforms, 11,900 individuals in the district who have pre-existing medical conditions will now be able to purchase affordable coverage.
o Finally, this bill will allow 11,300 small businesses to obtain affordable health care coverage and provide tax credits to help reduce health insurance costs for up to 11,400 small businesses.

Healthcare is a fundamental human right, rather than a commodity. A year ago, Americans cast a historic vote to change the course of this nation. Today, we cast this historic vote, to finally manifest the change they demanded. Access to Affordable Healthcare. I am proud to cast my vote in favor of this bill.
 

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