Transcripts For CSPAN SBA Administrator Linda McMahon Testifies At Confirmation Hearing 20170125

Two hours. [inaudible] in the mcmahon to have the sba. Thank you so much for being here. We have senators blumenthal and mcmahono introduce mrs. Both of these gentlemen have run against mrs. Mcmahon and vice versa, so i hope they didnt bring their files. Weve been trying to forget. Sen. Risch in any event, senator blumenthal, the floor is yours. Thank you so much for gracing us with your presence. Blumenthal thank you. Im pleased to introduce our fellow colleague, Linda Mcmahon. We know her as a fellow citizen of connecticut and as a successful business leader. As the cofounder and former ceo of the wwe and as a generous contributor to many significant charitable causes and educational institutions in connecticut, including, for universitycred heart , near where we live. In my view, mr. Chairman, i recommend her because i think she would be an excellent fit for this agency based on her experience and expertise. As a business leader. She knows, as i do, that Small Businesses are the backbone of our economy. They are the most vibrant and vital job creators. They not only innovate by fostering new jobs, but they also invent new projects. They are the startup in every sense and they embody the american dream. Having been to connecticut, i know how they create jobs, new products, and opportunities for others. The sba plays an Important Role, as this committee well knows, in supporting fault Small Businesses financially, but also encouraging them with expertise and experience. Linda mcmahon has that kind of expertise and experience. Leader and aless tenacious fighter. Her professional life has been about building businesses. She has started and struggled in the entrepreneurial trenches, with payrolls, hiring and firing, working hard for a vision. We have known our share of differences. But i have never questioned her unwavering drive and focus. She has used her business to realizeerans and women their own dreams and opportunities. I am hopeful that under her leadership, the Small Business administration will continue its focus on veterans and women. She has played an integral role in spearheading the opportunities and dreams for women. That has been the focus of her life, her professional life most recently. I am pleased to be here to introduce her and recommend her to the committee. She understands the needs of arees like connecticut, who still working hard to recover from the economic recession, who need new jobs and i hope that she will continue to have connecticut at the top of her mind as she assumes this new role and i look forward to working with her. And i know the other members of the committee will as well. Thank you very much. Thankyou, sen. Risch you, senator blumenthal. I was hoping she would have idaho at the top of her mind. Senator blumenthal i will let her say that. Sen. Risch the floors yours. Senator thank you so much. It gives me great pleasure to help introduce our fellow nominee, Linda Mcmahon, to serve as the next administrator of the Small Business administration. Individual will be amusing and surprising to the folks in connecticut who watched us duke it out under two long senate campaigns. But politics cant work if political branches note grudges never die. They have to find a way to Work Together. Im here to support linda. Not because we have magically become of one mind on how we approach every problem the country faces, but i have confidence that she is going to give good, sound counsel to President Trump when it comes to policies affecting Small Businesses and i believe she has the pot the passion for the job. At the core, the mission is simple, to help americans start, build, and grow businesses. Virtually every owner and starter of the Small Business wants to one day be the owner of a big business. Before you today sits a very talented and experienced businessperson who did just that. Over the past several decades she has shepherded her Small Business from a one desk operation to an incredibly profitable enterprise. Hundreds of employees around the world. She also understands the unique challenges facing Women Business owners. She cofounded the womens Leadership Organization and equipped women to become successful business leaders. Her work there assures me it she is going to build on the significant momentum of her predecessor in the Obama Administration. The federal government just recently surpassed its fiveyear excuse me its 5 contracting goal for women owned his misses. I have confidence that Linda Mcmahon is going to further empower women to create thriving businesses with the help of Partner Organizations like the womens Business Development council, which is had success in connecticut. Listen, i saw firsthand the fight that she brings to any endeavor that she takes on. I am sure that we will never question whether she has the experience and the determination necessary to lead this great agency and i would really urge the members of this committee to support her nomination and im very pleased to join with senator blumenthal and introducing her to you today. Senator murphy sen. Risch senator murphy, thank you so much. We will keep the score book of records on this event and get it duly noted. You are suddenly welcome to stay, but knowing that we are all drinking out of a fire hose these days, we will certainly give you the excuse, im sure, you will see this when you need to see it. Thanks so much, thank you for coming. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Risch thank you. Linda, so you know where we are headed here, and for everyone else, im going to make a very brief Opening Statement and then yield to sen. Shaheen do likewise and at that point we will administer the oath that is required by committee rules. And in the floor will be yours to make an Opening Statement and, as you can see, you have a list of people with deep and probing questions who will then take turns from each side. In any event, first of all, thank you for coming to spend the time that you did. Thank you for being willing to take on this important appointment. Small Business Administration is not a large federal agency, as federal agencies go. , a to a business person Small Business person, it can be one of the most important and critical endeavors that the government undertakes. You and i had the opportunity to talk about a couple of endeavors that the sba does. They are of course known for loaning to Small Businesses. You will find, i think, when you a veryown, that there is robust fleet of lenders out there who service the Small Business community through the Small Business administration. I think you will be well satisfied with how they operate, what they do, and the work that they do for Small Business. Of more importance to me, actually, because that part of the operation is doing so well, the efforts that the sba undertakes to try to level the Playing Field, for Small Businesses. When we talk with every business these days it used to be that when i started in politics the most hated organization of any government was the irs. Andirs has fallen way back the other agencies that do the regulatory things that the government does have really risen to the top. In my state, and our dealings, the epa is way up there. And after that there are others that come in behind. If you ask any businessman today, Small Business man or big businessman, but particularly Small Business, whats the biggest challenge you face . Say bly they wont well, its access to capital approval or taxes being too high or have you, they will tell you that the regulatory structure of the government in America Today is strangling was strangling businesses. Everyone can tell you stories. Within the office of advocacy, they are supposed to be independent, but they havent been. They are supposed to stand up complain loudly every time the federal government does something that affects Small Businesses. There is a process in place for them to formally do this. It hasnt worked very well. Im hoping that as we go forward we are going to be able to make it better. The poster child for that was the rule proposed regarding the waters in the united states. The office of advocacy rightly complained in said look, this is a big problem, especially for Small Businesses in agriculture. Others, too. The agency said that they were making a finding that this would not have a Significant Impact on businesses. You have got to be brain dead to reach that kind of conclusion. In any event, i know that you share my concern about that. I hope we will be able to Work Together to try to do more for Small Businesses. We all know that when the ,overnment puts on a regulation the General Electric corporation comes in and hands it to an army of lawyers and compliance officers and what have you, they have to take care of it. If it comes to a guy thats fixing lawnmowers in his garage and he gets a multipage from the federal government, it becomes a big problem when it comes into his work dramatically. Will work on that as we go forward and look forward to hearing your thoughts on that. Would that i would like to yield to my distinguished colleagues. Thank you for a much, mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding todays hearing and congratulations on taking over the gavel as the chairman of the committee. We have had the opportunity to Work Together in the past and i look forward to working with you to this coming session address the needs of Small Businesses. I also want to recognize the new members of the committee. Did duckworth on the democratic side and on the republican side, senators in half, young, and brown. Welcome to this committee. I think you will find that this is a committee that works in a very strong bipartisan way to address the concerns of Small Businesses and i look forward to continuing to do that. Im also very pleased to welcome Linda Mcmahon, President Trumps nominee to head the Small Business administration. I appreciated the opportunity to meet with you and to hear your passion for the work that Small Businesses do. You know, i got on this committee in 2008, after i got elected to the senate, because Small Business is such a concern for New Hampshire. 96 of our employers in hampshire are considered Small Businesses. Just important to New Hampshire and so many of the states represented on the they are thet engine of the economy that drives this nation. Two out of every three jobs created are from Small Businesses. They are our leaders when it comes to innovation. They produce, this is one of my favorite statistics. More patents than large businesses. Im not sure that most people appreciate the innovation that occurs in our Small Businesses. Unfortunately, unlike big business, our Small Businesses have not yet fully recovered from the great recession. For example, according to a Harvard Business school analysis, Small Business loans have dropped by 20 since the financial crisis. Lending to large firms has increased by 4 . Thats why the fda and its programs sba and its programs are so critical. Last year they backed 70,000 loans to Small Businesses, supporting 29 billion in lending and nearly 100,000 jobs. The sba also helps Small Businesses win 90 billion in federal contracts, providing counseling to more than one million entrepreneurs. Of course, there is more work to be done. And thats why you are here, mrs. Mcmahon. I know you share those goals and values for what we need to support Small Business in this economy and i look forward to hearing your Statement Today and your response to the questions. Senator shaheen mentioned new members of the committee, they may be new but they have been around the wall a while. Dont expect softball questions. With that, i would ask you to stand and be sworn. If you would raise your right hand . [indiscernible] my understanding is it you might have some introductions of your own . Im proud to introduce my daughter, stephanie, and her husband. Sen. Risch welcome, welcome. 1 i have wonderful friends senator blumenthal linda i have wonderful friends who have traveled from around the country today and im appreciative to them as well. Thank you. Linda thank you very much. Sen. Risch thank you very much. At this time, the floors yours for an Opening Statement. Linda thank you very much. Thank you, chairman. Ranking member shaheen and the singers members of the committee, im honored to have your consideration to serve as the head of the u. S. Small Business Administration. I would like to thank senators blumenthal and murphy for their kind introduction. And it was nice to be on an even Playing Field today. To stress mylike gratitude to President Trump for his opportunity to join his administration and his confidence in me. As an entrepreneur myself, i have share the experiences of the nations Small Business owners. We are more than our products and services. We are people. We are families. The Small Businesses that are the engines of our National Economy are driven in part by people working to put food on the table, pay for braces and swimming lessons, save for college and prepare for their own retirement. Whether it is an organic farmer or apt Developer App forgeter, we can never that Small Businesses are people with goals and values that cannot be calculated just on a profit and loss statement. I will do my best. My husband and i built our business from scratch. We started out sharing a desk. Over decades of strategic growth and hard work, we built it into a publicly traded Global Enterprise with 800 employees. I am proud of our success. I know every bit of the hard work that it took to create the success. I remember the early days. With every month i had to decide whether i should continue to lease a typewriter or if i could finally afford to buy it. Yes, believe it or not that 12 per month at that time made a difference in our budget. Like all Small Business owners, i know what its like to take a risk on an idea, manage cash flow, navigate regulations and tax laws, and create jobs. Since stepping down as ceo of wwe in 2009, i have worked to help more people have the opportunities to pursue those goals. In my travels throughout connecticut, 2010 to 2012, when i was campaigning, i met with more than 500 Small Business owners. To wring shops, restaurants, uring shops,to restaurants, offices. Small businesses are responsible for half of private sector jobs in the majority of new jobs. They were my focus. I have past two years floated women in. Ntrepreneurship i wanted to share my vast experience with others who were launching startups and looking to scale their businesses. Through live events and webinars, we were discussing things like applying for loan and developing a Business Plan. We also worked to build their confidence. I always say that even entrepreneurs with the best ideas sometimes need a little window beneath their wings. Sharing our by stories of success and failure, our networks of contacts and resources and our strategies for addressing challenges can give Small Business owners the confidence to help propel them forward. Small Business Owners do not just need confidence in themselves. In order to take a risk, they need confidence in the economy. I will work to revitalize the spirit of entrepreneurship in america. Small businesses want to feel that they can take a risk on an expansion or new hire without fearing onerous new regulations or unexpected taxes, fees and fines that will make such growth unaffordable. We want to renew optimism and our economy. Small businesses have had some tough blows in the past decade. I know what its like to take a hit and i have learned that it is not how you fall, but it is how you get up that truly matters. Early in my career when we were young, my husband and i declared bankruptcy. We invested in a company didnt we didnt understand and trust the people we shouldnt have. When that company went under, we were left holding the bag. We worked hard to pay off those debts until we realized we just couldnt. Bankruptcy was a hard decision at a tough time in our lives. We lost our home. My car was repossessed in our driveway. We had a young son and a baby on the way. We had no choice but to work hard and Start Building again so we could support our family. When our daughter was born, a Perfect Little baby so full of promise and potential, i took it as an omen things were going to be ok. We owed it to her and to our son that we would make it ok. Fortunately, we did. As i visited Small Businesses all over the country, i have seen that same resiliency over and over again. Entrepreneurs are fighter. Fighters. They work hard. When they get knocked down by a recession, Natural Disaster, or a change in consumer demand, they turn to their creativity to make it better. But sometimes they need a helping hand. If i monitored to be confirmed, i will work to guide sba in the most efficient and effective way possible. I believe i leadership believe in leadership by example. I never expected employees to do anything i wasnt willing to do myself. I believe in setting expectations and Holding People accountable. But trusting them to do the job for which they were hired. If confirmed i will look forward to working with the sba staff. Im eager to learn from their experience and expertise. I will listen. Their ideas, concerns, and recommendations will be taken seriously. I know that there will be new challenges in a government setting, but i will commit myself to the same responsibility to deliver value to the taxpayers of america as i did to shareholders of my company. Over the past two weeks i have had the pleasure of meeting with many members of the committee and i am prescient the kind words of encouragement i have received. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you today. I will be very happy to answer your questions. Sen. Risch thank you very much. We appreciate that. The way we are going to do this is we are going to use the is called the earlybird method, or the firstcome, first serves method served method. I reserve my time to interject as we see appropriate going down the pike. With that, i will yield the floor to my friend, senator shaheen. You, mr. Een thank chairman. Thank you for your statement, mrs. Mcmahon. I know that we discussed this when you came to visit, but i think its important to give you the opportunity to address it in the committee. Asause you have been quoted saying that you supported merging the sba into the department of commerce. That proposal has been a major concern for businesses in my home state who believe that their voice in washington is already not loud enough. So, i wonder if you could clarify your position and whether you believe that sba should continue as a Standalone Agency or whether you think it should be merged into another agency . Linda thank you very much, Ranking Member shaheen, for the question and opportunity to clarify. When i was running for the senate in connecticut, i was a strong advocate for reducing duplicative programs. As part of my campaign i talked about the list every year that they open out of duplicate of programs. During that time president obama had indicated that he was looking to merge some of the agencies. When i was asked if i supported merging sba into commerce, i was really focused on sba or commerce, i was focused on the concept of merging agencies to reduce those costs. Im a Firm Believer that sba needs to be a Standalone Agency. Im very proud that President Trump has kept it as a cabinet post. Eiffel termsolar and execute as well as i can to advocate on behalf of Small Businesses. Thank you very much for clarifying that. In New Hampshire, sba has made significant progress in the past four years and we have seen growth in lending and Government Contracting and to some extent this has been because of the of the sbamany Resource Partners. The Small Business development centers, womens business center, Veterans Business outreach centers. These partnerst are really critical to the mission of sba and Small Businesses. As an administrator, how would you identify opportunities to maximize sba Resource Partners and maximize Adequate Funding for their staffing . Sen. Shaheen linda first of all i look forward to going to our different districts and regions and meeting with those, a, the leaders and managers in those office to hear what programs are working and what programs are not. I dont have a working knowledge today of how sick having those how successful those programs have been and you and many others i have talked to. I would wanted to continue to encourage our outreach. My former company, wwe, we were always concerned about veterans and returning veterans and jobs. Wwe is part of hire a veterans program, that veteran aspect of helping them create jobs. As i already stated ive been very forthcoming in wanting Women Entrepreneurship to grow and continuing to support that. Its very near and dear to my heart. I will continue that outreach with our different organizations and mentor through the Womens Centers as well. Thank you. Im pleased to hear that. I know the Resource Partners in the country will be pleased to hear that as well. As we discussed in our meeting one of the best ways sba can help Small Business is making sure they have access to federal contracting. Senator murphy metropolisntioned mentioned in his introduction, we saw for the first time last year Small Business owners had reached 5 in terms of access to federal contracts. It is a milestone but a very slow start to what we need to do more of. I wonder if you could talk about how you plan to work with federal agencies to increase Small Business opportunities for federal contracts. I would first like to fully understand what those projects are and how we can best fit the businesses to those contracts. In terms of the prime contracts and subcontracts we need to make sure we have adequate representation for that growth. I would want to make sure our businesses have the right outreach, right advocates in those markets. Thats what i would focus on , making sure we have those right advocates. Thank you. My time is up. I want to make a point, mr. Chairman, of announceing i will enter a question into the record of congresswoman velvelasquez, about the situation in puerto rico, something you and i discussed when we met, mrs. Mcmahon. I will be submitting that for the record. Thank you very much. Senator paul. Senator paul congratulations and welcome. I think the chairman put it very well when he said Small Businesses are worried about regulation. The cost of regulation is significant to Small Businesses particularly if you have 1,000 banks or one bank your Compliance Costs is better if you have one bank or spread it through 10,000 employees. This goes on across america. We have big businesses come to washington in favor of regulation because they see it as im ped. As an impediment to smaller competition. I think Small Business does need a voice and i hope youll be a good voice for Small Business. In your opinion, do you think were overregulated . Underregulated . Do you think regulations are a problem . Do you have any idea how the Small Business department may be run to add to the regulatory burden. Linda thank you for your question. What i learned when i was campaigning was the overregulation environment was costing them time, effort and money they couldnt focus on their business. I think we forget sometimes Small Business, especially mom and Pop Companies starting up. I have a special place in my heart for them, theyre the chief cook and bottle washer, ceo, cfo, janitor, every other thing. When they get a packet of regulation forms they have to fill out in order to comply with regulation, a, they dont know what to do with it, b, they cant afford to hire lawyers to get them through the Regulatory Environment. Either they become more at fault not compliant, or take time away from their business to do it. It is really difficult for Small Businesses to suffer under that type of Regulatory Environment. Paul one of the other burdens is taxes. I wouldnt discount it, say it is about equal. A lot of them pass locs as individual income. A moderately successful Small Business might be paying 39. 6 income tax, in addition an Obamacare Tax and 43, 44 before you, god forbid, live in the northeast and have a 12 state income tax on top of that. I think there is a great burden. You wont get to address tax policy directly unless there are ways you can as a Small Business administration but you will also be a voice in the cabinet. I want to hear are we overtaxed, undertaxed or is it an im is our tax structure and impediment to the formation of Small Business . Linda thank you. Having first started out as a sub s corp, and womens leadership live i started as an llc, so i understand how that pass through income works. I do think if were involved in tax reform we need to consider how to also make it a level Playing Field for those pass through companies. I would be a strong advocate for that. Senator paul thank you. good luck. Linda thank you. Thank you very much, senator. Senator curtin. Senator curtin mrs. Mcmahon, first, thank you very much for being willing to serve in this public position. We also thank your family because this will be family sacrifice. If you think youve traveled before, this is a big country but we thank you, your willing willingness to serve. You heard the numbers. I could go over the Small Businesses in maryland, over a million jobs. I see Small Business with a way to deal with student athletes on head injuries or new drugs being developed on the 270 corridor. They are going to help quality of life. Small businesses and help other businesses deal with administrative costs. I see in our National Defense so Many Companies figureing out better ways to test our weapons system. All that dlis ativity of small the creativity of Small Business. They use mentoring and. Eveloping a plan over time it is difficult to know what a faithful need to get a loan. For is very challenging Small Businesses to get. Particularly Venture Capital to be latte close risks. They use it as an advocate to make sure they have government procurement. Government procurement is a very important part of opportunities for Small Business. Much for ourery personal visit. Ou need an advocate in that dealing with other regions we talked about you havent issues, minority businesses. One thing is common, when an agency is doing their like thent, contractors as possible they have to evaluate every contract that is there and they tend to bundle into large contracts that make it virtually impossible for Small Businesses to be a prime contractor. We attempted to pass antifunneling to ensure that is not done. Can you tell me how you will make sure procurement is fair to help Small Businesses grow . Linda thank you very much. We did have a good conversation about that. I find the best way to on view obviscate what youre trying to do is bundle things or stack stuff on top of it. Id like to peel back some of that bundling and take a look at it so we have the opportunity for Small Businesses to have that fair shot. They shouldnt just continue to get squeezed out. I would want to be their advocate. I would want to hear from them. How did this happen . Howd we get around this . How do we need to speak to and how can i advocate more strongly on your behalf . What avenues have you gone down what other avenues do you need to go down so we can reach an and make this more about you . I would be working hard to advocate for our Small Businesses. I appreciate that. I appreciate your response to what youve done for veterans, returning warrior, to me, thats an extremely important part to help veterans and returning warriors with regard to Small Businesses. I shared with you my state Montgomery County of Commerce Chamber had returning warriors , to help mentor them to start Small Businesses in leadership. As a result, over 700 veteran owned businesses have been help helped by this program in maryland. It received help from the national Business Administration to make this a national program. I urge you to look at these types of programs because they do help the entrepreneur spirit for our returning warriors. We must everything we can to help them coming back to our country. Linda thank you. One quick comment. I serve on the board of a Company Called american corporate partners. It is a mentoring company for returning veterans to help the transition between the military and private sector. The outreach is to companies and corporations that then mentor men and women returning and guide them and often have them come into that company and spend days with different members of the executive or whatever branch they want to be in and its been very successful. Senator curtin thank you. The last part i would make in regards to access to capital, its been particularly difficult for minority businesses and hope we can find ways to do more outreach to help access to capital for particularly minority businesses. Thank you. Thank you. I figured if chairman british can call you linda, i will also. Thank you for taking the time that you did. You have been pretty busy. You are taking this very seriously. I have particularly enjoyed our visit because i have been there. We have similar backgrounds. You were bigger than i was. I did get up to the numbers that you did. Yearsremember spending 20 being beat up by the bureaucracy. I think that the office that you have has the opportunity to do so much more. Ofhave a guy who is the head the farm bureau. When i talk about the problems farmers are having, throughout america, he said it is nothing that is in the agricultural hill. It is the overregulation of the epa. Those are his words. We watch this happen. Of all the problems, the one the scared us the most was water bill. There are a lot of liberals woodruff prefer to take that away from the states and give it to the federal government. I bring that up, that is an example. Your department that youre going to be responsible office ofl advocacy. Ands an independent office its purpose is to advocate on behalf of Small Businesses to other agencies to rule on their rulemaking. It has been pretty much ignoring. Youre are going to have to stop from the zero base. One you given any thought how you will be available for people it was designed for originally . Linda if i have the privilege likeing confirmed, i would to strengthen that office. I have always been a defender of the little guy. We need someone who is going to go to bat for our Small Businesses. Im just the girl to do that. Why do you think it wasnt done before . Why do you think it was not done in the last administration, i have 300,000 Small Businesses in my state of oklahoma. I didnt hear from all of them but almost all of them on the problem. How will you revive that . Linda i think i have to first find out why it did not work. I heard that comment from more than one that the office of advocacy really needs to be strengthened and have teeth when it goes to the other agencies to say, you know, youre not comply complying and why arent you complying. As of right now, those teeth arent there. I need to find out why. I dont know why. I want to know why and will get back to you on that. Thats good. I would assume the number of people working, there are a lot of people that have not been as responsible and responsive to Small Businesses and youll have a chance to determine who they are and if necessary make changes. I would assume that would be an accurate statement. Linda thank you very much. They have within there the Small Business Innovation Research program that provides funding for the Small Business to commercialize new innovative technologies. Receive areceiving better chance of bringing ideas to market than those not receiving the funding. In many recent years rural states including oklahoma have under underperformed in this funding. Can you tell me what the sba changes they can make to and improve this . Linda again, thank you. Its a little bit difficult to say exactly what youre going to do when you really dont understand what has been done today. I do understand sbir has been so helpful with the research and Development Aspect in provideing that kind of research for startups. I would like to understand what those startups need and continue with sbir. Have you been able to get the benefits of sbir in your company or know people personally who have . Linda i do not. Ok. Look forward to working with you. Thank you. Thank you, senator. Senator heitkamp. Thank you mr. Chairman and thank you for attending the subCommittee Last week on regulatory affairs. It was all about Small Business and the advocacy role sba should be playing we were disappointed may not have been aggressive as they should have been in the last several years. I look forward to continuing to work with senator inhofe on a legislative solution on a lot of our problems. I noticed when i left that subcommittee no ones hair was on fire. Mr. Chairman, it was a great discussion. We welcome you at any point, linda, to our subcommitteesubcommittee. Its a great place for gathering of talking about Cross Section of Small Business and regulatory reform. I wish just for a minute youd been able to turn around when you were speaking about the challenges you had and have seen the pride and affection in your daughters face. It was quite lovely. Its clear you have a great relationship. As my mothers heart just got a little warmed by that affection. I think its what so many Small Businesses are about. Theyre about families and theyre about working together and learning how to overcome struggles. But i want to talk about two groups of entrepreneurs that i think are looking for a different level of engagement and involvement. We talked a lot about programs. The first is young entrepreneurs and the second are native entrepreneur entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs. Thank you so much for coming to my office. We had a great discussion. Im concerned that young entrepreneurs frequently may be able to write the best app or write the best program. They somehow dont know how to translate that into business. I personally believe we are experienceing a complete failure in Financial Literacy in america that is finding its way into the business community. Im interested in your thoughts and im just going to throw in the native piece and you can have the rest of my time. Native americans have experienced a lot of economic challenges, really, from the initial engagement in this country. The challenges that sba has in Indian Country are exacerbated by the challenges we have with jurisdiction and the challenges we have with making sure there is a commercial code people can rely on. So i think im interested in how you can work with both these groups of entrepreneurs to engage a future for shallmall engage a future for Small Business in america, especially in Indian Country but among entrepreneurs. Linda obviously, i have more experience with young entrepreneurs than i do in Indian Country. I would look forward to working with you and understanding more of the situations that alreadyre in your state relative to how Small Business administration can be beneficial to our indian Small Business developers. I look forward to that, so thank you. Young entrepreneur, ive found, are great with ideas. Some of them have a great business savvy. Some have no clue what to do. Theyre in their garage or dorm room wherever they are and developed this unbelievable app and have all kinds of stuff, boy, somebody will buy me and i will be a millionaire. It doesnt always work that way. I think theres a discipline that needs be shown more to our entrepreneur entrepreneurs. Young entrepreneurs. I sit on the board of trustees of Sacred Heart University in connecticut. One thing we do is implement Small Business development there. As we try to steps of business but they are creating business, they have developed business, understanding inat the we need to continue that not just in our universities but i have kids in high school that dont know how to balance a checkbook. Its really, we need to have that fundamental understanding of economics as we move forward to develop the next generation of young people. I dont think theres no dispute we need to grow the Financial Literacy. I saw it when i was tax commission. People with ideas, great ability, didnt know how to file the simplest of tax forms, theres going to be need for some tax forms to be filed. I look forward to continuing our discussion about the challenges of native americans and entrepreneurship. Thank you, very much. Thank you mrs. Mcmahon for being here today. I appreciate the time you took to sit down with me and many members of the committee. I want to say a special thank you to senators blumenthal and murphy for being here today. I think so means time we get caught up in partisanship that we forget theres many issues we are passionate about that share bipartisan nature. I want to thank them for being here to support you here today. I love they work to together especially when it comes to legory reform and tax reform. And taxatory reform reform and others. I want to thank them for that. We sat down and talked about a number of issues, once of the issues i brought up as we sat down was project i have been working on over the last year. Its legislation that give Small Businesses a stronger voice in the regulartory process. The legislation did pass out of this Committee Last year and we worked hard with the folks in sba in the Obama Administration to get their feedback because the goal is to make sure the bill is bipartisan and a success. So we did talk about it. And the purpose of the profit it act is to strengthen the voice of Small Business to improve the quality of their certification and analysis when they are writing a rule. Simply put it says if theres a battle of analysis between different agencies on the Economic Impacts of a rule, then there should be a third party that will step in review the facts, and then issue an objective assessment. The Small Business office of efficacy testified last year, had completed on the wo yous because they believe that the rule would have Significant Impact on Small Business. As well with this prove it act there were a number of organizations that supported it. The chamber and women impacting Public Policy, all of those organizations supported it. Can i get a commitment to work with me on this legislation and help implement it, given the desire by our president to make sure we are reducing regulatory reforms on Small Businesses . Linda i did enjoy our meeting. When you talked about this isnt that i thought just a common sense thing . We need more common sense and government. If you have two sides that cant agree you have a third party that jumps in. I liked what you are telling me, that it would make the agencies Work Together before it had to become a public event and help us addressing legislation. I think that it is a good piece of legislation and i would look more about learn more about. on a related topic, what are your goals in the first few months should you be confirmed . There are so many things to look at. We want to be mentors to our entrepreneurs. We want to grow and create jobs. If i had to walk in the first day and someone said what is the first thing you want to look at today, i would say i want to look at our Disaster Relief program. Disasters dont pick a time. They happen. We need to be prepared for those disasters. I dont know how effective they have in. , the devastation of the east coast and in my state of connecticut, there was a delay of time of response. I dont know if that was because it was a massive storm, resources went so far, but we need to get ready for that. Ago tornadoes in georgia killed 19 people. We have to be ready for Disaster Relief. One Small Businesses are put out of business for a while, the economy suffers. Because they are out of business. We need to get those funds to them and make those direct loans to them so they can get back and functioning. That is a passion that i think we need to take a strong look at. Ernst i was not immune to those Natural Disasters. 90 7 of jobs come from Small Businesses. Thank you. Senator duckworth. Senator duckworth thank you for , toding time with me address my concerns of the Debbie Debbie ee use of 1099 employees. As well as the potential as sba, i who is in the doubt want that to become the happens to avoid paying Health Benefits and protections for Small Business employees. I appreciate your address for monopolistic practices at Debbie Debbie ee. Thank you for that. I want to focus on one of the goals of the sba. Congress created it to achieve two goals. To help american Small Businesses and make sure they win a fairmont of government contracts. I want to focus on the second goal. As a member of congress, im concerned it is not meeting the needs of americans american Small Businesses. 98 of our businesses are Small Businesses. There are significant portions hour of our economy. I often hear from illinois Small Businesses who are frustrated by clunky and complex federal websites. They are very confusing online tools. They may be fine for large corporations who have teams of lawyers to weed through them and figure out what they need. Youand i talked about how are chief cook and ceo in janitor of the enterprise, these federal tools are failing Small Businesses. They want to do business with the government but dont know where to start. Simply put, the federal government is falling short in tapping the potential of millions of americans who are ready to help agencies achieve their mission with Innovative Products and services they can provide. When you commit to working with me to streamline and modernize these vital online federal contracting tools . Linda as someone who herself is technologically challenged i concert we understand the frustration of many Small Business owners who are trying to break through the morass of looking at these websites. It is important we make our tools the most direct way they can be so they are easy to use. If you make things too complicated many give up before they can try to get through. Itll have the resources to have it explained. I would look forward to sort through this and say lets bring someone else and. What is it they really need so that when those websites get developed and refined they actually do become a useful tool. Once companies have use those tools trying to answer these contracts with the government will you commit to working with me to improve the Small Business prime contracting goals for each agency . We spoke about this. Small businesses have a hard time competing for some of these. About thelittle bit frustrations at the v. A. Major bureaucracy. Im hoping that you will focus with me to improve those goals across the federal government and hold people accountable with a real fair portion of the federal contract. Im happy weve gotten to 5 . I would like to see that go up. ,o yes, i would look forward should i be honored to be confirmed, to working with you and the committee. Severaln invited to of your states. I would be happy to sign up to the visit many states that are here. I do recommend coming to chicago in the winter. I want to address the prospect of the trillion dollar Infrastructure Program which he spoke about, i seem to be recommitting to a muchneeded investment. This goes back to making sure Small Businesses have a shot at those contracts. They are not just clustered in large cities. That you will commit to working with me to make sure special attention is paid to providing Small Businesses with their opportunities to compete for disadvantaged Small Business enterprise when it comes to that Infrastructure Program. Linda i would look forward to that. The Small Businesses often talked about, they were shuttled over. They didnt get their fair share. Senator duckworth. Thank you so much. Thank you mr. Chairman. Mcmahon, a lot of our discussion had to do with the size of the federal government with regard to regulatory overreach. Not just over the past of administration but over a series of administrations. 2008, 25,000 new regulations have been issued for american businesses under the Obama Administration. It has reached nearly 727 billion dollars to require 460 million new hours of paperwork. That is on top of Compliance Costs of nearly 2 trillion for all federal regulations. 11 of our gdp. The Independence Office of advocacy is a truly important voice standing up for Small Businesses. The office of the advocacy intervenes in the regulatory process. It helps to inform other regulators about the impact of Small Businesses. Some of the members here of indicated their concern with the capabilities of the particular office of advocacy. I would like to talk specifically about the last year , the office of advocacy stepped in on behalf of many Small Businesses in the united states. Ranchesily farms and that have been impacted by the u. S. Ters of the as you may recall, the Small Business administration sent a letter, which i would like to onmit for the record today, they criticized the rule and its impact on Small Businesses, and they actually recommended the entire rule be withdrawn. That was apparently ignored. If you were administrator would you be willing to write a similar letter recommending this role be withdrawn once again and reminding our new administrator of the epa of the damage that it has done to Small Businesses . Would look forward to working with you and the other and others who have brought the issue of it. Senator ernest, i met with her, Small Businesses in her state wanted to expand. It would have to get approval for the federal government in order to do that. Id clearly think that is overreach. I would look to see we had the right regulations and not overburdened someones. Would you consider if necessary, would you consider really showing that letter once we get it through the Office Similar to the way it was done last time addressing it to the new director of the Environmental Protection agency . Like to find the most effective way to put teeth in that office. I can take that as an almost yes . Im looking forward to working with you on that. Let me move on. , ifupfront Loan Guarantee you are confirmed as the administrator will you look at the continuation of these waivers . I would like to make sure that we are making it as easy as possible to get these loans and to help our Small Businesses. I would like to take a strong look at what did we accomplish, did we get feedback from Small Businesses that this was beneficial . When i have those answers i would want to see what the merits of that are. Thank you. Thank you sen. Rounds . Thank you mr. Chairman. It is good to see you. Thank you for the time that we spent together. I want to commend you for the comments you made regarding president froms comments about women. I ask you to be a strong voice for women. Should you be the confirmed administrator were you commit to preserving the Program Funding that exist to promote women and entrepreneurship to improve these programs . To be a definitely want strong advocate for women, for Small Businesses, for minorities in business. For veterans in business. And with members of congress to make sure we have the right regulations tell our businesses growth. I think that you have an understanding of the special challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, having been one yourself. And minority owned businesses. Those are groups that i am focused on to make sure that they have the support from sba that they should get. Weve heard a lot of things about access to capital, you heard that when you are running for office. Unless we know what the causes are we cannot make the have you a changes deed those causes and what you would do about that as sba administrator . Linda thank you for your question. When i was running for the senate in connecticut, there was a company that was in the rural area. It was an entrepreneur who made grit it looks like spring. They were made by hand. He probably had they were mostly women. And he built his business from two to three people. He gotten loans from the bank and it was time to expand the business. He knew the community banger, now he as work orders and more business coming in, in order to do that he needed to add on to his facility. So he went to see his same community banker. And banker told him your asset rich but cash poor. He said i get that. Because if i had the cash i would not need be to here to get through this time. What the banker told him was in the past i have been able to loan you this money, but today, under the new regulatory vierm environment, you no longer equal as you did before. You would have to over collateralize in order to make the loan to you. That meant he had to put up all asset, house, other assets in order to collateralize a much smaller loan. While entrepreneurs are happy to take managed risk that was simply too much. He did not expand and he didnt grow his business, he didnt hire the next people. Thats an example of a Regulatory Environment that does not allow our Small Businesses to grow. I have heard those commence comments from Small Businesses in my stated. Some of those resulted from the financial collapse and the under regulation of Financial Services industry on wall street, theres a cause and effect. Im with you in trying to resolve some of those issues. There was a reason that it changed because there was uncollateralize loans which lead to collapse. We hear a lot about over regulation, when i talk to my Small Businesses, its easy to say were in over regulated environment, what specific regulation is causing you trouble. Unless we identify them. Ill give you an example. There was an orchid farmer. He should ship cut flowers but they could not ship whole flowers so we worked to change that. When we moved to improve the Regulatory Environment that you had asked those specific kinds of questions so that we get to the heart of whatever the regulation is that is causing them problems as opposed to some kind of, yes, were over regulated that doesnt take us far in my opinion. Linda i dont know how you change regulation if you cannot identify them. You have to know theres negative and positive impact. Im committed to doing that for sure. Thank you i know my time it up, im glad you mentioned one of the first things you would do is look at Disaster Relief because sba being on the graund and disaster strikes, i was pleasantly surprise by your response it that question. Thank you. Senator scott. Thank you for being here and willingness to serve. According to the 2016 nfib survey, they listed things liar cost of health insurance, federal taxes, tax complexity, economic uncertainly, and locating qualified employees as top concerns. As a Business Owner you can identify with many of the concerns if your confirmed how would your experience play a roll when determining if sba can eleavate some of the concerns of the Small Businesses owners. Having walked in the shoes of Small Businesses owners, i understand when youre in a its difficult to have access to have access to capital and get loans when you have no collateral. I know there are a lot of startups that face those kinds of issues getting capital. I know how to talk about that. You can get a line of credit. When you need it you cant get it. Its really important vise. Advice. To Small Companies, to manage cash carefully. It is a great part of success. Under capitalization is why Small Companies fail. Shoes ialked in the understand that. The things you mention, the cash flow, looking , you haveemployees had success with triple h and the rock and other folks as well. [laughter] i thought that was funny as well. I was looking how to throw that in. We watched wna and wwe and whole nine yards, thats my plug that there. You turned pretty red there. I do think one of the challenges Small Businesses face is how to align the jobs with the skills in the marketplace. I was a Small Business owner for 20 years, attracting the right talent to the night 64 of the jobs are created in Small Businesses. Olympic only type in colorado and South Carolina the number one tourest destination in the world. The reality is our tourism drives a lot of our entrepreneurs ship. Entrepreneurship. How do we align the opportunities and access to jobs with those folks looks for that job in that marketplace. Linda it may be a different twist on that as well. I continue to say when i was campaigning, that was like a fouryear period when i did learn about whatevers going on in my state. What i found out was that in many instances, there werent as much a shortage of jobs as there were trained people for the jobs. I think we have to refocus how we are looking at the jobs market sitting on the board of trustees at sacred heart, i looked at the education programs. Are we reaching out to corporations in our companies surrounding our university to understand what kind of shifts and changes we need to make to fulfill that the employment strain . We are starting to be more successful but we have a long ways to go. Its one of the things im committed to even before i was asked to do this. I would like to continue we are training our folks for the job center. I would just close with a comment. I hope that you will look for withinrereate synergy government. Within government. To find those jobs that are available. I think that is a great place for the sba to take a unique perspective on their mission and to improve the outcome of the average person who starts in a very difficult place and finds entrepreneurship as a path forward. Linda thank you very much. Thank you senator scott. Senator coons. Sen. Coons welcome mrs. Mcmahon. I thought we had constructive informing meeting last week. Im thrilled to have the opportunity to continue the conversation. It was about the key role the sba can play helping Small Businesses grow. The importance of accessibility ip, theal, strengthened value of mentoring the programs like score, federal Government Manufacturing extension program. Which help Small Businesses to grow. We have a Great Community we hope youll come visit. There are a number of iconic head, that dogfish started with sba loans that help them grow in their early stages. The real will see impact sba has had in our state worked well with my office. I love doing smalltown business to see the impact the sba programs can have. We talked about your knowledge intellectual property to protect some of the key innovations that your business engaged in. I talked about my passion for patents so Small Businesses know how to protect what they have. Do you agree it is important to educate Small Businesses about how they can protect what they innovate through patents or trademarks or other ip . That was suchhing , we wantedt of wwe to make sure when i was there, sometimes you bring a little bit of knowledge to be dangerous or you have enough knowledge to know you have to go further for expertise. Developedpany intellectual property, that we protected it. It was important we registered trademarks. We have invested so much money to grow and develop that product or that intellectual property, but if you dont protected, and then someone else takes it away from you you dont have a leg to stand on because you didnt defend your him property. It is important to make sure young businesses understand the value of what they create and that they need to protect that. You have to extend some money to do it. In the long run you are protecting your investment. Workingk forward to with you on that. We also talked about how this is an area of general broad agreement in what is often an otherwise contentious subcommittee. The fact that you are introduced positively by two gentlemen you ran against was a moment of agreement about the skills and value that you bring. Work on hope it will the program to make sure were finding the right balance loan programsing and a return to subsidies. Let me mention to other things. Ive had the joy of working on credit,ng the Tax Companies that use technology and innovation to grow quickly. I would be grateful for any help you could offer in are working together to inform or Small Businesses that are technology centered about that opportunity. And the last congress, to advocate for the score program, something that was launched by dupont retirees. It helps Small Businesses that really need to get their First Business plan together or need specific skills. I would be interested in hearing whether you can see a way towards supporting score and sing this as a Critical Program if you are confirmed. Thank you very much. Statistics show whether it is women in businesses, you are more successful with mentors. It is someone you can talk to to give you advice. When they underscore have taken it upon themselves. These are seasoned and accomplished professionals. To have that as a resource is fantastic. I would like to see more and more mentoring. We will have more and more businesses be successful. Cost and high impact program. I would love to work with that work with you on that. Im grateful you are stepping up and are taking this Important Role in the trump administration. Thank you, senator coons . It is so good to be with you. Someone of your caliber and experience. Willing to put yourself in this capacity. One of the advantages to being lower on the totem pole, i get here hear the brilliant questions of my colleagues. One of the disadvantages, i have when myk my questions questions that i intended ask i will attempt to ask some things that have not been addressed. My dad has grown a commercial distributorship over the years. Now my brother has taken over that business. I understand the unique challenges and opportunities that are associated with Small Businesses. Tens to be rigged against the little guy, outlatory things to crowd competition. Code is another example. The Small Business administration, it has been mentioned many times, it has an opportunity perhaps unrealized advocate on behalf of Small Businesses. In each of the different federal agencies, through the office of advocacy. That is going to be a point of emphasis on your part. The regulatory flexibility act of 1980 tasks this office of advocacy with monitoring federal Agency Compliance with the act, assisting regulatory agencies to mitigate the potential adverse impact of rules on small entities. That seems like a lot of work. This is, comparatively speaking, a Small Department compared to department of defense and whatnot. , 180ld be very interested days into your service, to get feedback to this committee, my office in particular, about what you have learned, how its operations might be improved. If additional authorities are required to advocate on behalf of of our nation Small Businesses and young firms, that would be instructive to all of us. Do i have commitment should you become our next head of the department . Linda i look very forward to reporting back to all of the members of committees things i have found where i have found issues or problems that i need help and guidance, and i hope that you would not hesitate to reach out to me to say these are some things that really that i really want you to take a look at. Lot for me to be a to absorb. You will make every effort within 180 days to provide a report. I will get back to you as soon as i can with that in that time. That is fair enough. The second question pertains to basic government efficiency, avoiding duplication. Something you indicated is important to you. Can i get a commitment you will find efficiencies to streamline the work at the sba . Linda i definitely want to streamline. Where we need to streamline, where we need to add we need to add. Back in myi know great state of indiana, we have stumbled upon some unique approaches to assisting our Small Businesses, some which may be replicated by other states. No doubt other states have their own examples. I think there might be an an effectiveo be Clearing House for best practices, emerging from the local level or state level, perhaps even best practices that we have seen in other countries. With your commitment to work with me on that, perhaps we will be able to assist our Small Businesses. Can i get your commitment to explore that as well . I am a Firm Believer in best practices. As we look across what is going on, we will identify some areas so id to be sure not like best practices. We will go to senator martin. Senator martin thank you. We talked in my office, i raise this issue of Net Neutrality with you. It isason i did was that not really well understood. 68 of all Venture Capital goes to software and internet startups. They are Small Businesses. Which is the Business Model and Venture Capital and other money close that way, again, do we have that next generation of startups. Are you familiar with the Net Neutrality issue and what is your general philosophy toward those areas of Economic Development in the Small Business area of our country . Mcmahon i think when we spoke yesterday, i said thank you for informing me about this. I have not dealt with Net Neutrality in any of the businesses ive been involved in. I understand your concern from yesterday that we dont want any access to then internet because it can impede Small Businesses. So i would like to learn more about that and learn more from you about how it can be used effectively. Sbir, some staggering numbers from massachusetts since the program was created in 1982. Massachusetts Small Companies have received 20,000 Small Business grants and 2300 new firms were created out of those grants, creating tens of thousands of new jobs in our state. Sbirry much rely upon grants as part of longterm Business Planning. Senator shaheen and i and others have been advocating to make this a Permanent Program and have had a chance to look at sbir. What would you think of your prospect for making it a Permanent Program . To mcmahon ive just begun familiarize myself with it and ive talked to many senators on the committee to have talked about how important it is around the world, as you and i talked yesterday about technology and startups and what a large proportion they are. ,ow the Small Businesses especially in your state, i want to delve more into that and see how we can best utilize it to make sure we can enhance it. We need to make it permanent. Would like to continue to learn from you, Ranking Member shaheen, and others about that. And climate change. Im a change is real. Its happening and we see it especiallyoastlines, our country, and over and over again, fema and the sba have had to respond in order to give help to louisiana, affected by historic flooding or, along the northeast with historic storms that hit our coastlines. Fema and the sba have responded to these Natural Disasters. Climate change is only going to get worse. Have you looked at the issue of what that impact is and what planning sba might have to make to deal with these changing conditions and its impact on Small Businesses . Ms. Mcmahon i learned from you yesterday about the warming of the waters from massachusetts to maine and the cape cod area. Warming bodyt around the world. Ms. Mcmahon and i found that a statistic. Its driving the cod north and lobsters north, so the fishery industry is really being impacted by that climate change. Statistics iy real want to learn more about not only as it relates to massachusetts, but where else in our country can Small Business be effective and we can take an active role. The tsarnaev brothers attacked boston on memorial day on 2013, the fda stepped up to help all the Small Businesses in. Hat area so they could recover i think theres another great function of the sba that is not fully understood, whether its a Natural Disaster or manmade, andsba has been there hopefully we can continue to see that. Senator booker . I want to thank you for being here. It means a lot to step forward and make the kind of sacrifices youre going to have to make, so i am grateful for your patriotism. When your daughter and soninlaw stood up, i want to say your daughter is far more fierce and intimidating than your soninlaw. He and i are about the same age, almost exactly the same age, so maybe we should go to the senate jim so i can get back in shape. Stephanie could give you a mean hip toss. Senator booker i believe that. Had some good years. In fiscal year 2015, we received loans with over 500 million going to underserved communities. I was blown away by how minority women in particular are doing such an extraordinary job in our country of starting businesses. Im proud to support a lot of the programs focused on them and i wonder if you support a higher andin fiscal year 2017 2018. Ms. Mcmahon what i would first like to see is all our all of our loans being made effectively . I want to make sure we are serving more and more minorities come a Small Business owners, our veterans, our native americans, but i need to know first ball, are the loans we make effective . If they are, lets increase it. Senator booker i appreciate that. The loan is far more useful than other aspects of government dollars. The traditional ways they are used, something that kiva is untraditionalther methods that beat traditional loans and something i think the sba should be looking at two figure out other ways to get capital into the system. Something your predecessor did trying to correct for bad policy coming out of the 1990s was a lot of folks who were imprisoned for nonviolent drug use, for many of them doing things to of our last three president s have admitted to doing would come out of prison and have paid their debt to society but would not be able to get pell grant or food stamps come a stripped in many ways of their ability to compete economically. Changes sosor made that they were available to get loans through the sba. It was a remarkable change in some of our great entrepreneurs are people who have made mistakes in the past. I want your commitment that is something you will look to continue as a practice. Ms. Mcmahon i would certainly like to know more about it. It sounds like something that has been effective. Senator booker i appreciate you looking into that again. One out of 10 americans are violating drug laws and those are enforced disproportionately on poor people. Theres no statistical difference between blacks and whites using drugs, but you are four times more likely to be strip of opportunities to compete economically and your attention to continuing that program would be helpful. There has then a lot of talk about the sba and transparency. I want to make sure you are committed to having transparency so we can have her metrics about how your loans are doing and being directed toward different populations here. Quickly, i have a lot of problems with the regulations as well. Theres a lot of opportunities for people to work on both sides of the aisle. The number one employer in america, if you include contractors with the federal government, the federal government creates commend us jobs but navigating the byzantine labyrinth of complicated rules and regulations is difficult. Take the people who manage our pension funds, which has been one major outlet while womenng managers, often run businesses and minority businesses actually outperformed the big folk, but because of the way these regulations are, its hard for those smaller businesses to compete. The technology field, this is difficult because small tech firms often provide Greater Services cannot compete for government grants because the weight is promulgated and it is too difficult to navigate. If you look at Small Businesses in general, looking inward at the way we do our processes is critical to empowering Small Businesses and if we can help make space for Small Businesses to compete for larger contracts or break down those large contracts into my thighs opportunities, we will help fuel our economy in a significant way. If someone is a member of the cabinet and all of these cabinet members that push billions of dollars out into the private market and someone says lets look at a way to power Small Businesses to make a majorly impactful difference and get Better Service for their dollars. Is that something you will be focused on . I would absolutely advocate for our Small Businesses having that access to compete. Thank you very much. Senator kinsey . Thank you. I enjoyed our visit in my office. I think you will be a great addition to mr. Trumps team. I just have a couple of questions. Isyou understand how hard it to start or expand a Small Business in America Today . Yes, sir. N i have had that experience. I know very well. Senator booker talked about this, but lets start with the regulation. Is what Small Business people tell me every day. They dont complain about specific rules are paying their fair share. They tell me we need simpler rules. We fewer rules. We need quicker decisions by the bureaucracy. We need government workers who will answer the phone. We need government websites that a normal person can navigate. Thats all they are asking for. It has been my experience and i have been in america longer than ive then in washington. Ive been a senator for three weeks. You cant refer jobs if you are against business. Business women and businessmen need five things. Taxes, they need reasonable regulation, they need capital, they need recent infrastructure. They need a skilled workforce. I realize sba cannot provide all of those, but tell me how you are going to help with Small Business women and Small Businessmen get those things . For one thing, thank you very much. I need a lot of what you talked about, if i was fortunate enough to be confirmed. You will be. Ms. Mcmahon did you hear that . I think it is really important that we do mentor these Small Businesses. A lot of times, someone has a wonderful idea. This is my business, this is what i want to do. Im going to come in and show you and they will show you an abstract Business Plan and even if they help you get that right and you get all of the tees crossed and eyes dotted, you have to say this is not a good idea. This business does not look as though it has the legs to succeed and i think often, theres not enough of that kind of mentoring. All the other things you have identified is like a blueprint for success. Lower taxes, fewer regulations, but a lot of times you dont have the basic understanding of what its going to take to have a successful business and there needs to be that aspect of mentoring as well as and that will help us grow more quality businesses that do have the opportunity to succeed. Lots of Small Businesses fail and i understand that. But whats happening in our country is a lot of really smart people are afraid to try. They are afraid of their chances of success. They just think there are nine and they start looking at the different permits and regulations and on top of that, you have to have the capital and many people have to put a second mortgage on their home. It is insurmountable. And heres what i hope you will do because i do believe you will be confirmed. I think you are very qualified for this position and i think the president has chosen well. Im familiar with what sba does and i know you are as well, but i hope you will be the advocate for Small Business in this administration. Of jobs aree, 90 created by Small Business women and Small Businessmen who are taking a risk. It is a risk and sometimes they fail, but when they stop trying, at least in my part of america, we are in real trouble. Thate you will take on role. Theres something i can do to help, let me know. Good luck. Ms. Mcmahon i dont think i could be an advocate for sba if i were not an advocate for Small Business. I think they are one and the same. Thank you. Thank you. Senator shaheen, we are back to you. I only have two questions. On one or twoing other people, but as you are aware, the Small Business administration is a relatively small investment in this economy. You look at how it compares to many agencies in the federal government, there just is not one of the largest. Lets just put it that way. Yet, as weve heard from all the members of this committee, Small Businesses are very important to this countrys economy, to job growth, and we need to do what we can to support them. It is particularly true in rural , doesntNew Hampshire have very many large cities. We are mostly a rural state and much of america is also. Sba,there are cuts to the that has an inordinate impact on Rural America because one of the places they can get support is from the sba for mentoring, for guidance on issues that come up with their businesses or loans, it is very significant. Yount to hear from you that will be an advocate for the budget of the Small Business administration because what we saw in the last Republican Administration was that they cut sbas budget by 32 . Can you reassure me you will do everything you can to advocate for sba in the Current Administration . Ms. Mcmahon absolutely. I want to make sure we have the right edge it to accomplish what we need to accomplish. It may be if i have an opportunity and im confirmed, im looking at one aspect of expenditures to say i think we can take some of these dollars and move it over here, i think those are the right ways to look at the budget and make sure we are asking for the right kind of appropriation, but lets lay out our programs. Heres what we want to accomplish and here is what it is going to take. When it was budget time, we went back to zerobased budgeting. Yet had to justify your department and your expenditures. Thats a sobering experience. Im not advocating that necessarily at sba, but theres a peeling back of my understanding of the budget and where they are being spent and if they are being spent effectively. My commitment to this committee will be i will be an advocate to make sure sba runs effectively and efficiently. I appreciate that. Effectiveness is a goal we all share. With that in mind, i want to call your attention to what was reported this week, that the new administration is repairing budget cuts based on a blueprint published by the heritage foundation. Because the blueprint endorsed for severaling programs i think are very important to Small Business, one is the Small Business Innovation Research program, weve heard from a variety of numbers attesting to the importance of that program. Weve seen it in New Hampshire in terms of job creation in providing innovation to the department of defense and at a hearing before the Armed Services committee, we heard from experts that the most effective existing program to help our military get the innovation they need is the Small Business novation research program. You to look at that carefully as there are discussions about that program. The heritagea foundation blueprint talks about cutting is sbas role in disaster assistance. Given your interest in that, you express that at the hearing and it has been raised by a number of members and i would have severe reservations about cutting disaster assistance. Trade, for international for some a Small Businesses having access to those International Markets can make the difference between growing and succeeding and failing, especially when times are tough. I would urge you to take a hard look at those issues and advocate for what is in the best interest of our Small Businesses. Thank you very much. Finally, we turn to senator rubio and senator rubio will be the last. Is a momentous occasion because its not very often you get question by every Single Member of committee. Ms. Mcmahon im honored. weve known each other and i had some time to spend with her and talk about these issues. I will focus my question on one issue, of interest in the state of florida. We have discussed the zika virus intact on Small Business and a number of questions have been asked about Disaster Relief for communities impacted by storms and other events. A newat has become disaster is the impact of a pandemic or the designation of a community being a place that you should avoid. The cdc was a sickly telling you areont visit if pregnant or certain geographic areas in the community. I dont need to tell you that was not good for business. While some people think it just impacts hotels and nightclubs, it impact all sorts of Small Businesses down the chain from the uber drivers to the florist to the wedding that got canceled. One of the things we discussed was opening up or redefining the use of the Disaster Loan Program what Small Businesses face during a health crisis. I know you need to look at what the cost would be. With Disaster Relief, it is hard to predict, but i hope thats something i can encourage you to be openminded about. I dont think we are going to have many of these but theres nothing to say it couldnt happen again and our ability to help some of these small by theses impacted outbreak of a pandemic like zika dynamic,ture is a new especially in communities involved a lot of international travel. I dont know if youve had a chance to explore that issue any further but i hope you can work with us in achieving that end we could unfortunately see that play out in a number of different places in the future. I have not had an opportunity to look at it outside of our discussion by look forward to working with you. Senator rubio i would love to have you come to florida i know everybody wants you to get everywhere. Ms. Mcmahon could it be during the winter . we would schedule sometime between november and march. Theres some real dynamism in our Small Business community and aslways wanted people i commented to you in our meeting, some of the key areas like where i live in south florida and miami, people know that eight street is a traditional area where the cuban exiles congregate. Theres walmart and the other big chains but eight out of 10 storefronts and businesses are familyowned and operated as this is. For me, people say all the time, that is truly the backbone of our country and Business Class and they dont get the headlines. A lot of these businesses face challenges. You could have the greatest product in the world but anything we dont think about in terms of challenges to Small Businesses, when they decide to expand the road in that area and go into construction, its great for the future but for the next year and a half, customers are thinking how do we get in and out and its devastating for some of these Small Businesses. People focus on the loan programs and financial assistance, but to be an advocate for the challenge of a Small Business, whether its regulation, taxes or things of this nature, i believe Small Business in America Needs advocates in the federal government who are constantly watchdogs for any Public Policy that has a disproportionate impact on smaller businesses. I know you are going to be busy getting around, but when it is cold and snowing everywhere else, i encourage you to come and we will find the right place, whether its in Central Florida weve got Small Business success everywhere in to state and we would love interact with you and i thank you for your willingness to serve our country. Im grateful for the opportunity we have had to talk. Nomination process is and always a pleasant experience, so it sounds like this meeting has gone well and i look forward to working with you and i anticipate you will be confirmed soon. Be senator from hawaii had an equally attractive offer. Invited to i was north dakota and i asked if we could do that when it was warm. With that, we will conclude the hearing. Thank you so much for your willingness to serve. Senator shaheen has another meeting to go to and she wanted me to express our appreciation. Good hearing. A weve got a good Diverse Group of senators with different ideas about things, but that is what makes america great. Senator shaheen and i have been talking about trying to move this as quickly as possible. We have been talking about trying to get you confirmed but obviously, its not over until it is over. This week thatp we will try to move it next week. We are going to leave the record businessl the close of tomorrow and we will keep the record open for two weeks to add statements and submit letters. With that, thank you. Thank you to your family for being supportive. With that, our committee is adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] house and Senate Republicans threeday policy retreat is underway in philadelphia. This is the view from across the street where the lawmakers are meeting and where some protesters have gathered