WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Nick LaLota (R-NY), Chairman of the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Infrastructure, led a joint hearing with the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity titled “Leveling the Playing Field: Examining the Landscape of Veteran Owned Small Businesses.” Subcommittee Chairman LaLota issued the following statement after today’s hearing.

“Today’s hearing was incredibly important for our nation’s Veterans,” said Subcommittee Chairman LaLota. “Washington’s leaders owe them policies commensurate with their service and I hope the conversation from today’s hearing helps to see meaningful legislation produced for our veteran-owned small businesses.”

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Watch the full hearing here.

Below are some key excerpts from today’s hearing:

Chairman Williams: “Mr. Belknap, there are some programs like Boots to Business within the SBA we've talked about this morning that look to teach servicemembers the basics of running a small business. However, I have noticed that many veterans often turn to their friends and the people they served with for advice as they look to enter the private sector. So can you describe the work you do in helping other veterans navigate small business ownership, and what advice would you have for servicemembers who are considering taking the leap of faith and start their own small business as they embark on their next chapter?” Mr. Belknap: “Thank you Mr. Congressman Williams so, there's a couple of parts about that. Number one is, the veterans got to decide what, what type of business they want to offer. And that comes with what are their experiences, what are the skills they have to offer the customer, in this case, the federal government. Number two, what is the passion they have to wake up every morning and they're excited to do their business. Once they have those two, of course they need to come up with a business plan and, the enormity of opportunities for vetting that business plan for assistance is, needs to be more informed, to veterans. And number three, I would suggest that the mentorship program that I talked about can have an enormous impact. You know, when I was transitioning out of the military, one of the things that, during the TAP program, they said is talk to all your bosses, to ask them to be a reference to help you find a job, especially the ones that liked you.”

Rep. Van Orden: “Ranking Member Levin and I, we’re responsible for the Transition Assistance Program, and that's how I've chosen to try to prevent veterans suicide making, taking people that are productive members of the military, and then immediately transitioning them to productive members of society writ large as civilians. I think we're going to, it's that 24-month window where our men and women decide to take a permanent solution to a temporary problem. And so I really want to know I'm going to ask all three of you this, how do you think that Mike and I can change the Transition Assistance Program using your subject matter expertise?...” Ms. Brown: “… First of all, I've been to TAPs. They do offer an optional one hour, session on entrepreneurship. In my experience, whether it's good or not totally depends on who's teaching it. I've literally been in one, ended up stepping up and teaching the class myself because the person that was assigned to teach it had never started a business and didn't really know what they were talking about. They were regurgitating government, programs that were available. Well, that's great and all well and good, but when you're boots on the ground, you got to make payroll. You need real world answers and solutions. So my suggestion is engage. The government needs to engage with organizations that are doing the work on the ground.”

Chairman Williams: “Small business ownership as we all know, is a family affair. And when veterans are thinking about passing along their family business, there are a few more things they must consider. And when a veteran retires, the business risks losing their veteran designation if they do business with federal government. While some protections exist for spouses who take over a company, allowing a transition phase for the company to find nonveteran business. However, this is not the case when a veteran passes down their business to a child. So, Mr. Hayduk, briefly in the time I've got left, do you think we should look at expanding the surviving spouse designation to include the children of veterans as well?” Mr. Hayduk: “Yes, I think that would be extremely beneficial. And that is actually one of the four points that I made. The transition process. My son sitting behind me, is a licensed professional engineer. And a consulting engineering practice, it's a professional practice only another licensed professional engineer can take over or be an owner, a principal. Although we have built it up to 50 people and he is a partner in the business, a short time after my demise, the business will cease to exist if he doesn't find a different person to take over as SDVOB owner.”

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