Essential Estrogen

When Congressman Bruce Braley was selected to serve as chairman of a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, it marked the first time since at least 1959 that a freshman congressman from Iowa had held such a distinction. This week, the Democrat is touring the First District to ensure his constituents know perceived lack of progress in Washington, D.C. isn't a reflection on his leadership.

"This gives you some idea about how busy our Small Business Committee was," Braley said Wednesday as he stood in front of a screen and highlighted the 18 bills that were sent out of the House Small Business Committee and passed on the House floor during 2007. "Within recent memory the Small Business Committee has not done nearly as much as we did this year. ... The overwhelming number of those bills passed with strong bipartisan support."

Despite all the work he and his committee has done and overwhelming approval in the House, however, none of the passed bills have yet been discussed on the floor of the Senate -- much less been signed into law.

"After all that work, after all that bipartisan agreement, none of these bills have become law," he said to the small crowd of small business owners and government officials gathered in Waverly. "This is why Congress's approval rating is so low. The question is, 'What's the hold up?' There is a very easy answer: The Senate."

Braley, while urging constituents to contact Iowa Sens. Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley to push the bills, said that the Senate Small Business Committee has not taken any of the bills put forth by the House seriously.

"There are two reasons [why this has happened]," Braley said during a private interview following the event. "One is the procedural way the Senate operates. They have to get 60 votes to cut off debate. Almost every bill we vote on in the House has one hour of debate and then we go to the vote. In the Senate, they can have unlimited debate, and, when you're dealing with these enormous issues like the war in Iraq, children's health insurance and the farm bill -- those things take up a lot of floor time and crowd out some other very important issues like these small business bills."

Another frustration, he said, is the inaction of the Senate Small Business Committee on bills passed by the House. A bill he authored, the Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act, passed the House by a vote of 409-13 in May. It was dispatched to the Senate where it sat with little notice until just before the end of the year.

"When I talk to leadership, I tell them that there is overwhelming bipartisan support for these bills," he said. "These are the things we can get done to show the American people that we are serious about improving their lives. I'm sure we can get them passed, even if the President tried to veto them. That's the message I'm sending to leadership, and I hope that they'll have more time in 2008 to make these bills a priority."

Although politics in 2008 will be dominated by the presidential contests, Braley said he still hopeful the bills will receive attention.

"I think that with the presidential candidates talking about a lot of the 'big picture' issues, and with the president we have now being unwilling to work with us on a lot of those issues, we have to find other things that we can get to his desk and either get his signature or else try to get his veto over-ridden," Braley said.

Bills Passed Through the Small Business Committee and U.S. House in 2007:

• HR 434, a temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act
• HR 1332, the Small Business Lending Improvement Act of 2007
• HR 1361, the RECOVER Act
• HR 1468, the Disadvantaged Business Disaster Eligibility Act
• HR 1873, the Small Business Fairness in Contracting Act
• HR 2284, to amend the Small Business Act to expand and improve the assistance provided by Small Business Development Center to Indian tribe members, Alaska natives and native Hawaiians
• HR 2359, the SBA Entrepreneurial Development Programs Act of 2007
• HR 2366, The SBA Veterans' Programs Act of 2007
• HR 2397, the SBA Women's Business Programs Act of 2007
• HR 2992, the SBA Trade Programs Act of 2007
• HR 3020, the Microloan Amendments and Moderinization Act
• HR 3206, a temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act
• HR 3221, the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act and the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007
• HR 3567, the Small Business Investment Expansion Act of 2007
• HR 3866, the Small Business Programs Act of 2007
• HR 3867, the Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act
• HR 4252, a temporary extension of programs under the Small Business Act
• HR 4253, the Military Reservist and Veteran Small Business Reauthorization and Opportunity Act of 2007

In addition to discussing his work as a part of the committee, Braley listened as community leaders voiced their concerns on the difficulty of working with the Small Business Administration, funding for proposed road projects and how best to to contact and work with their federal legislators.

Braley serves on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in addition to his duties with the Small Business Committee. He is the chairman of the subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials. His "New Era Program" for renewables workforce training was included in the Senate-passed farm bill and, he said, he was optimistic it would survive conference and be a part of the final bill sent to the president.