Political Action Committee Needs Support to Continue Work

However, 8-PAC, a political action committee that is committed to supporting small businesses, has contributed to the framework of quite a bit of legislation over the 60-days in Washington DC, and has shared their constituents' views and perspectives along the way.

Consequently, a lot of legislation has gotten passed that benefit their members. In June, Congress passed two bills that specifically help their constituents. These bills are H.R. 2359, the SBA Entrepreneurial Development Programs Act of 2007; and, H.R. 2366, the SBA Veterans' Programs Act of 2007. In July, the Micro-loan Amendments Modernization Act of 2007 and the SBA Trade Programs Act of 2007 were passed.

"In early August, right before the recess, legislation was introduced to increase contracting accountability and transparency at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The Transportation Security Administration was given a unique waiver from federal contracting laws in the aftermath of tragic events of 9/11. This exemption for TSA creates an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy, decreases competition, and shuts out small businesses from too many contracting opportunities. The legislation introduced repeals the TSA's exemption from federal contracting laws and requires the agency to meet the 23 percent small business contracting goal. TSA must be in compliance within 180 days.

Yet, in the Gulf Coast, small businesses are still not receiving contracting opportunities. The largest buying agencies in the Gulf Coast have had nearly $2 billion dollars to spend on Gulf Coast rebuilding. However, rather than choosing to do business with the local small firms they have actually taken $55 million away from these businesses since April alone. Members of Congress questioned the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the General Services Administration (GSA), Small Business Administration (SBA), Veterans Administration (VA), and the U.S. Army Corp. or Engineers, on these issues; and they all promised to do more work with the local small firms," says Rudy Sutherland, 8VSB Political Action Committee Chairman.

Four months later, it is clear that these agencies still aren't working with the Gulf Coast small businesses. Instead, they are actually taking money away from these entrepreneurs, or giving small businesses low dollar work, hindering the region's ability to fully recover. Congress found that all six of the agencies combined gave out $100 million in contracts that were labeled as small business, but were actually awarded to large corporations and ineligible entities.

When Congress comes back into session at the beginning of September, 8VSB will need to make their presence felt even more. However, this effort costs money to sustain. They hope you, their supporters, can help financially. They encourage supporters to send their contribution payable to "8vsb Political Action Committee" to their Treasurer, Attn: Malisa Phagan, 1507 Greendale Dr., Missouri City, Texas 77489. They accept personal or business checks only.

Sources

FCW.com,"Gulf Coast's small businesses never made a priority, lawmaker says"
Email from Rudy Sutherland, 8VSB Political Action Committee Chairman