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Miami, FL — U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, released a statement after Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blocked a bipartisan resolution, cosponsored by 38 Senators, recognizing the week of September 20, 2020 as “National Small Business Week.” The bipartisan resolution has passed the Senate every year since 2005. This is the 57th year the designation has been made by the President of the United States and the U.S. Small Business Administration.  

“The National Small Business Week resolution has passed the Senate for more than a decade,” Chairman Rubio said. “Last year, more than half of the Senate co-sponsored the resolution, which honors the spirit of American entrepreneurship and ingenuity. This year, in the face of an unprecedented public health crisis, small businesses deserve more recognition than ever. More importantly, small businesses deserve additional relief and resources in this time of uncertainty. Now, despite Congress having acted unanimously three times to provide relief to our nation’s small businesses, we cannot even agree to a resolution that honors the incredible impact they have had on our nation.” 

“Minority Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats have become so beholden to the radical Left that their temper tantrum has led them to block the passage of a bipartisan resolution honoring National Small Business Week,” Chairman Rubio continued. “The American people are already well aware that Minority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi have made a political calculation that doing nothing to help small businesses before the election is in their political and electoral interests. And this week’s partisan theatrics are just another example that shows they are continuing to put politics ahead of the American people.”

The full text of the resolution can be found below. 

Supporting the designation of the week beginning September 20, 2020, as ‘‘National Small Business Week’’ and commending the entrepreneurial spirit of the small business owners of the United States and their impact on their communities.

Whereas 2020 marks the 57th anniversary of ‘‘National Small Business Week’’;

Whereas every President for more than half a century has proclaimed a week celebrating the significance of small businesses across the United States;

Whereas there are more than 30,000,000 small businesses in the United States;

Whereas small businesses in the United States—

(1) employ nearly half of the workforce of the United States;

(2) make up 99.7 percent of all employers in the United States;

(3) employ veterans;

(4) produce 1⁄3 of the exports of the United States; and

(5) account for nearly half of private sector output;

Whereas, as of 2020, 9.1 percent of all small business owners in the United States are veterans;

Whereas, on July 30, 1953, Congress created the Small Business Administration to aid, counsel, assist, and protect the small business community; and

Whereas 2 out of every 3 new jobs in the United States are created by small businesses: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

(1) supports the designation of the week beginning September 20, 2020, as ‘‘National Small Business Week’’;

(2) celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of the small business owner in the United States;

(3) understands the importance of creating a small business climate that allows for sustained economic recovery;

(4) celebrates the invaluable contribution small businesses make to the United States as the backbone of the economy;

(5) supports increasing consumer awareness of the value and opportunity small businesses bring to their local communities;

(6) understands the importance of providing more access and resources to minority-owned and underserved firms; and

(7) understands the need to provide further assistance and relief to the small businesses of the United States during unprecedented times.