WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) led a full Committee on Small Business hearing titled “Assisting Entrepreneurs: Examining Private and Public Resources Helping Small Businesses.” Chairman Williams issued the following statement after concluding today’s hearing.

“Today’s hearing allowed us to examine the landscape of public and private resources available to small businesses. The government does not need to create a new taxpayer-funded program or expand government services whenever a new problem arises,” said Chairman Williams. “Our nation’s job creators dedicate their livelihoods to the products and services they bring to the marketplace. It is important for Main Street to understand they have other, oftentimes better, private sector alternatives to help grow their businesses.”

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Watch the full hearing here.

Below are some key excerpts from today’s hearing:

Chairman Williams: “One of the most pressing things we keep hearing when we speak with small businesses is the ability to find qualified workers. Mr. Hodges, my question, can you describe how the Training Center of Central Texas is able to adapt to the needs of the small business community, and how do you ensure that you're able to continue providing value for your customers?” Mr. Hodges, Owner & President, Training Center of Central Texas: “Mr. Chairman, well, first of all, there's a shortage of electricians right now where you have the infrastructure bill, you have the renewable energy that that's going on across the country. Well, 70% of renewable energy jobs are going to be performed by electricians. And right now, we have a shortage of 60,000 electricians in the in the United States. As a matter of fact, the average age of an electrician, licensed electrician is 57 years old. So, what our school decided to do was create a program that was a short six-month program that would address this need. We've partnered with local contractors in the area where approximately 20 of our students have gone on to work at this local contractor. And also, we've been partnering with the KISD (Katy Independent School District) in our area also to bring in newly graduated students to actually come over to the training center...”

Mr. Luetkemeyer :“Mr. Palmer, you were talking about a development program for angel investors to help leverage with the money with the SBA a minute ago. Can you expand that just a little bit?” Mr. Palmer, Managing Director, Launchpad Venture Group: “Thank you for the question. So, for angels, a lot of times what we're looking to do is trying to figure out what kind of risk we are underwriting. Right? The goal is to sort of help these companies grow, reach critical mass, but also, you know, see what their natural exit is. And that typically happens between, let's say, a $ 50 and a $200 million exit. We're not talking about the unicorns, if you know that word. They're rare for a reason. We're trying to get involved to help these companies win. Right? Which means we need to start from if that's the end point, we need to make sure that we're not overly sort of taking our after-tax dollars and putting them into companies and sort of ruining the economics for us and for the founders. So, what we kind of see is for more capital intensive but very worthwhile businesses, let's say robotics, let's say AI, let's say chips, where an angel doesn't have the pocket to do it, or we don't have the time to hold on to that kind of stuff. Working with the SBA specifically through like SBIR grants so that the entrepreneur can hold on to more of their company through the non-dilutive funding, and then we take over at the commercialization stage.”

Mr. Meuser: “So the Navigator program was introduced in the I think it was the Inflation Reduction Act, and it cost $130 million, and it served 422 new businesses or helped start up 422 new businesses, which works out to be about $300,000 per small business startup. Now, they do also do servicing on 16,000 others, but even do the math there, that's like $8,000 per outreach. You think there'd be a better way of spending money, particularly since it may be very duplicative to SBDC?” Ms. Smith, State Director, New York Small Business Development Center: “I mentioned some of what we do and thus the strength of the SBDC program. But Community Navigators, those relationships were already long standing before the Community Navigators pilot. So, some of those spokes in hubs we've already worked with.”

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