Sen Kerry Business Week Interview

[globalvillage]

JULY 26, 2006

JOHN KERRY CRUSADING FOR SMALL BUSINESS

Small Biz
By Jeffrey Gangemi


John Kerry: Crusading for Small Business
The Democratic senator talks about the obstacles faced by small businesses looking to win federal contracts, and what he's doing to help


John Kerry (D-Mass.), the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, has been working with the committee's chair and ranking Republican member, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), to introduce legislation designed to help small businesses get a fair shake in government contracting.

Along with Snowe, Senator Kerry is drafting this year's Small Business Administration reauthorization, the formal review of that agency's policies and programs, to which he hopes to add language helping small businesses get their share of government contracts. He's working on the Small Business Federal Contractor Safeguard Act, designed to curb contract "bundling" and add other protections for small businesses.

Senator Kerry has also been working to expose what he says is inaccurate reporting by the SBA when it states that 25.4% of government contracts were set aside for small businesses in the 2005 fiscal year. Kerry says that number does not account for a whole set of categories, known as exclusions, that could be awarded to small businesses.

Kerry recently spoke with BusinessWeek.com reporter Jeffrey Gangemi about the challenges currently faced by small businesses looking to get into government contracting and how he's trying to ease them through policy change. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow:

more...

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2006/sb20060726_786902.htm

Edit to clean it up a bit. Also, does anyone happen to get a print copy of Business Week? I'm curious to know if this is in the hardcopy.

[karynnj]

1. Nice interview

[Democrafty]

2. I'll look for a print copy tomorrow n/t

[ProSense]

3. Nice! Kerry, Cummings press conference:

Rep. Cummings, Sen. Kerry to Hold Telephone Press Conference on Minority Entrepreneurship Bill
Wed Jul 26, 4:14 PM ET


To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor, Business Reporter

Contact: Devika Koppikar of the Office of Rep. Elijah Cummings (news, bio, voting record), 202-225-4289, or Kathryn Seck of the Office of Sen. John Kerry, 202-224-9431

News Advisory:

U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.) and Sen. John F. Kerry (news, bio, voting record) (D-Mass.), who have introduced the Minority Entrepreneurship and Innovation Pilot Program of 2006, H.R. 5878 and S. 2586 respectively, will host a telephone press conference on Thursday, July 27 at 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

The legislation would set up a $24 million, two-year pilot competitive grant program to promote small business development in underserved areas, targeting colleges and universities that serve African American, Native American and Latino communities. Through $1 million grants, the institutions would develop an entrepreneurial curriculum to help students in highly-skilled fields such as engineering, manufacturing, technology and science choose entrepreneurship as a career path. The bill would also set up Small Business Development Centers at the institutions to provide counseling, capacity-building and market niche development to students and existing and potential business owners in the community.

Details of the press conference are as follows:

WHO:

-- Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), House sponsor of H.R. 5878

-- Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Senate sponsor of S. 2586

WHAT: Telephone press conference to discuss Minority Entrepreneurship Bill

WHEN: Thursday, July 27, 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern

Logistics: Conference call is for news media only.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20060726/pl_usnw/rep__cummings__sen__kerry_to_hold_telephone_press_conference_on_minority_entrepreneurship_bill146_xml