Roger Williams

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of my bill, H.R. 1642, the Connecting Small Businesses with Career and Technical Education Graduates Act of 2025. Earlier this year, I introduced this bill alongside the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Olszewski), my friend. Across America, the skilled labor shortage, particularly in trades, is a growing concern. Industries like construction, healthcare, and manufacturing are struggling to find qualified workers. At the same time, thousands of career and technical education graduates are entering the workforce with the hands-on skills employers desperately need. This bipartisan legislation offers a commonsense solution. H.R. 1642 requires the Small Business Administration's resource partners to provide small businesses with vital information on how to hire graduates of career and technical education programs. In addition, it ensures that students and graduates of these programs know about the business counseling resources available through SBA resource partners to help them start and grow their own small businesses. Solving the skilled workforce shortage will take an all-hands-on-deck approach, and I am proud to lead this important step forward. I thank Representative Olszewski for joining me in introducing this bipartisan bill. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1642. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1642 to bring necessary solutions to all small businesses, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1816) to establish requirements relating to certification of small business concerns owned and controlled by women for certain purposes, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1816, the WOSB Accountability Act, introduced by the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaLota). H.R. 1816 prohibits agencies from counting self-certified women-owned small business contractors, otherwise known as WOSBs, toward an agency's women-owned small business contracting goals. The committee has repeatedly found that programs that allow self- certification are far more susceptible to waste, fraud, and abuse. After years of hard work removing self-certification from other contracting goals, this bill is an opportunity to remove it from one of the two remaining statutorily defined small business contracting goals. I am proud of this committee's work to remove self-certification in other programs, such as service-disabled veteran-owned small business contractors. Now, it is time to do the same with the WOSB program to help ensure integrity across SBA programs. While we continue to have conversations on how to better align small businesses' contracting goals with merit-based principles, this bill would reduce the ability of fraudsters to exploit the system that is currently in place. By mitigating the ability to defraud government contracts, we help ensure that taxpayer dollars are used as intended and help create a more level playing field between the WOSB program and other small business set-aside programs. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H.R. 1816, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaLota).

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 787) to require plain language and the inclusion of key words in covered notices that are clear, concise, and accessible to small business concerns, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 787, the Plain Language in Contracting Act, introduced by Representatives LaLota, Thanedar, and Tran. The Plain Language in Contracting Act is a vital piece of legislation designed to limit the cumbersome language used in government contract solicitations. This will empower small businesses to have a greater ability to compete for valuable government contracts. The number of small businesses contracting with the government has been shrinking for years, and over the past few years the Committee on Small Business has heard firsthand that excessive red tape and unclear government-speak have made working and contracting with the government more difficult and costly for small businesses. Currently, government contract solicitations are written in an overly complex way that is difficult to navigate unless someone is an attorney or contract specialist. One study found that only 3 percent of government contracts are written in a way that someone without a college degree could understand. Small businesses often lack the resources to hire an army of attorneys and contract specialists needed to fully understand these contracts, which creates difficulties in submitting successful bids. The wonky nature of this so-called government-speak has contributed to the shocking loss of small businesses in government contracting. H.R. 787 will finally remove this unnecessary barrier facing small businesses by forcing the government to take commonsense action and write contract solicitations using simple, plain language. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 787, the Plain Language in Contracting Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaLota).

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 789) to require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to issue rules for cancelled covered solicitations, to amend the Small Business Act to provide assistance to small business concerns relating to certain cancelled solicitations, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in full support of H.R. 789, the Transparency and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act, introduced by Representatives Latimer, Alford, and Mfume. H.R. 789 seeks to bring clarity to small business owners when solicitations for contracts are canceled. Often, small businesses devote a considerable amount of time and resources in preparing these proposals for solicitations. Unfortunately, these solicitations are often canceled by agencies with no explanation provided to the businesses that have already submitted proposals. H.R. 789 will require agencies to share with the SBA information as to why the solicitation was canceled. Moreover, this bill requires agencies to assist small businesses impacted by the canceled solicitation by identifying similar contracts to bid on. Small businesses deserve to have a full understanding of what opportunities are available to them and to know how agencies will fulfill their buying needs. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 789, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Alford).

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1804) to amend the Small Business Act to require a report on 7(a) agents, and for other purposes.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1804, the 7(a) Loan Agent Oversight Act, introduced by Representatives Meuser and McIver. H.R. 1804 is an important piece of legislation that brings an additional layer of transparency in the fight against fraud in the Small Business Administration's flagship 7(a) loan program. This bill would require the SBA Office of Credit Risk Management to submit annual reports to Congress on the 7(a) loan program. The reports would include the number and dollar value of fraudulent loans associated with loan agents. The SBA already collects this information, and an annual reporting requirement would allow for more effective oversight. Similar versions of this bill have passed on the House floor with bipartisan support in both the 117th and 118th Congresses. I look forward to seeing the Senate take swift action on this bill, which supports President Trump's agenda to root out fraud and abuse. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1804, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from the great State of Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).

Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.