Landrieu, Snowe Introduce Bill to Boost Small Business Contracts

From MSNMoney.com:

U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair, Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and Ranking Member Olympia J. Snowe, R-Maine, today introduced a bill to modernize and strengthen the Small Business Administration's government contracting programs to help increase small business sales and create American jobs.

"Government contracts are perhaps one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways the government can help immediately increase sales for America's entrepreneurs, giving them the tools they need to keep our economy strong and create jobs," Sen. Landrieu said. "These contracting opportunities represent job creation for small businesses in a way that is unique. When large businesses get new work they typically spread that work among existing employees. When small businesses get these contracts they must staff up to meet the increased demand. By increasing contracts to small businesses by just 1 percent, we can create more than 100,000 new jobs - and today, we need those jobs more than ever."

"Federal contracting opportunities have served as a vital tool for American small businesses, helping them to grow, expand, and hire," said Ranking Member Snowe. "Yet the ability of these companies to earn Federal contracts is frequently stunted by the egregious and repeated failure of Federal agencies to meet their statutory 23-percent small business 'goaling' requirements. Our bill, which is based on legislation I originally introduced as Chair of this Committee in the 109th Congress, will endow the SBA with additional and improved instruments to remedy this consistent underperformance and meet the myriad demands of an ever-changing 21st century contracting environment."