Roger Williams Decries 'Bloated' Programs At SBA, Presses Expert On Ways To 'Streamline' Agency

3 hours ago

During a House Small Business Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) spoke about ways to increase efficiency at the Small Business Administration.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Cisneros. I now recognize Chairman Williams from the great state of Texas for

00:04five minutes.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And, Mr. Trent, on a side note, thanks for being here.

00:10Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

00:11You're saying Dodge pickups went up from $18,000 to $20,000?

00:14$80,000 to $100,000.

00:15Yeah. Well, I'm a Dodge pickup dealer.

00:18That's a good truck.

00:19In Texas. And we're selling for $70,000.

00:21Ooh. So it sounds like a good profit off of that.

00:24You need to get down there and see me.

00:28Mr. Gutierrez, as we've been discussing bloated and duplicative SBA programs, waste taxpayers'

00:35dollars and undermine the efficiency or the effectiveness of services provided to small

00:39business, could you elaborate on ways the committee can streamline SBA programs?

00:44Sure. I love the idea of having more SBA presence in the field to serve the rural communities.

00:53I believe that there is a lot of programs that were created to duplicate some of the

01:01services that we've been doing for over 40 years.

01:03For example, I believe the Navigators program was designed to reach those underserved populations.

01:11We are already there.

01:12We are already serving the underserved populations, from rural America to Main Street, St. Louis,

01:17Main Street, Kansas City, to down in Joplin, Missouri.

01:20We do all that sort of stuff.

01:21So to have that money duplicated to a whole new agency or organization, you're recreating

01:28the wheel.

01:29We've been doing it for, like I mentioned, over 40 years.

01:32During the time that there was CARES Act money, we were allocated a large amount of money.

01:37Our results doubled or sometimes tripled in some of the areas.

01:40When that funding did go away, we were left with what we believe would have been the COVID

01:45cliff, where the money dried up, but the demand for our services didn't.

01:50We're still at an all-time high.

01:51So the services that we provide, we often have up to two weeks before someone can come

01:56in and see one of our business counselors in the rural area.

01:59But as far as duplicating, it's just a process.

02:02The first ones here will be the last ones out the door, because we're here every day

02:05doing what we need to do to serve Main Street America.

02:09Mr. Ortiz, as you mentioned in your testimony, assessing the performance of SBA programs

02:14is important to maximizing utility of a taxpayer resource in aiding and supporting small businesses.

02:20So my question to you would be, what performance metrics would you suggest the SBA consider

02:25implementing to maximize the effectiveness of the SBA programs?

02:28Chairman Williams, thank you very much for the question.

02:32In this era of DOJ, I think trying to achieve that combination of effective and efficient

02:39is what we need to do here.

02:40And with the SBA, that's one of the things we need to do as well.

02:44I think it's important that we set metrics to know that we are successful.

02:47One of the biggest metrics that I see that we can do, and this is a very, very tangible

02:52one, is this failure rate of small businesses.

02:54For example, the failure rate for small business in the first year is about 20 percent.

02:58And when you look into the number one reason why, it's because they don't know how to create

03:01a business plan.

03:03So again, I go back to the teach the fisherman how to fish.

03:05Let's actually teach them how to create business plans.

03:08Imagine if we could reduce that failure rate in four years from 20 percent to 10 percent.

03:12You have 33 million small business owners.

03:14No one could actually conceive that you create another 15 million small businesses by doing

03:18so.

03:19And each small business employs two people.

03:22You've just added 30 million more American small businesses or jobs to those small businesses.

03:28And so there's an important metric there that we need to take into account.

03:33Establishing this effective and efficient combination of a $1.5 billion agency, it's not necessarily

03:39about saving money.

03:40It's just about making those dollars work harder for American taxpayers.

03:43Well, that's great.

03:45We know that small business is the backbone of our country.

03:47Ninety-nine percent of the businesses are small businesses.

03:50That's right.

03:51Seventy-five percent of the workforce and payroll is done by small business.

03:55That's correct.

03:56And we've got to keep risk and reward in their life all the time, where they can take some

03:59risk and get reward and not be burdened by regulations in the federal government.

04:03Easier to compete against each other than to compete against the federal government.

04:07That's correct.

04:08I think every single day.

04:09With that, Mr. Chairman, they've never been cheaper than they are today.

04:12Mr. Trent, let me tell you that, okay?

04:15And thanks for letting me have fun with you, okay?

04:18I yield my time back.

Roger Williams Decries 'Bloated' Programs At SBA, Presses Expert On Ways To 'Streamline' Agency

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