the i want to thank all of you

for being here tonight and a special thanks to my family, some of them could be here. all of you. [cheering] certainly without the efforts of our volunteers i wouldn't be standing here tonight to the three rounds we have to go. i want to thank my opponents.

the connecticut family. [applause] our families always get along and they don't always agree but in the end stand together. whatever our disagreement primary i was one thing here our party, state and country rob simmons and enormous debt of gratitude for his service. [cheering and applauding] we owe a debt to ship economy

and individual rights. [applause] all of the people connecticut. [cheering] day we started this campaign support of the voters of netiquette list out by the establishment for the pendant on the. it is interpreted by. he earned. humbled to have earned your support. [cheering]

[cheering] [chanting] weekend almost 11 months ago today and send them advantage over offense and many of the house and and had the most incredible experiences leading in talking with all the people connecticut.

more cities and more and more of the wonderful people of netiquette. [applause] i want to understand your problems and they want to hear about them first hand. 3000 race to know about it. [cheering] anderson people are hurting because i see it all around our state. i know it feels like because i've been there. people asked me everyday melinda, why did you decide to run the united states senate let's integrate.

the american dream is just jeopardy a suburban our lifetime. for our children and grandchildren, [applause]

is the billion dollars in spending, it's less. [applause] he is or isn't higher taxes on job creators, his lower taxes. [cheering and applauding] little megan had a right. [cheering] with this president and congress had a wrong. [applause] fantasy and the impact higher taxes regulation and continuing

uncertainty small businesses are trying to work within i understand how it is negatively impacting them. we will send it to washington who understands that. [cheering] [cheering] [chanting]

the pledge to you that i will be a voice for change democrats and drive a new direction. this campaign is about you. [applause] hired me and i work for you. [cheering] thank you for everything you've done campaign. our campaign starts tonight in the starts of all of you. [cheering and applauding]

you very much and god bless you. [cheering]

linda mcmahon to head the fda so much for being here we have senators blumenthal and murphy mcmahon. both of these gentlemen happen again. i hope they didn't files.

in my view, i can excellent fit based on an expertise she knows as i do the backbone of our economy most vibrant.

products and opportunities the fda is goal. supporting small businesses financially but also encouraging them expertise linda mcmahon has that kind of experience. we've known our share of differences.

i'm hopeful under leadership administration will continue its focus. for lily and professional flight most recently in pleased to be here to introduce her and recommend for. she recommends that. my jobs and help continue at the

top of her mind forward to working with her and finally will as well. >> the floor is yours. >> it gives me pleasure to introduce linda mcmahon a small business administration. this is going to be amusing and surprising the three of us to get out but politics can't work

is political purchase everett by to find a way. how we approach hundred problem is i have confidence sound shop today is this person just that. small one test operation and hundreds of them throughout the world he cofounded with

organization and successful business leaders. and strong businesses netiquette the fight that linda reference to any endeavor. i urge the members support the nomination today.

noted. we will certainly be announced for everyone else which is

ballistically as much as it can be. in the talk and a couple of endeavors.

the stillness of small business community undertakes level the playing field. we talk with every organization government was the.

and in our dealings, he a is play up there what is the biggest challenge you face day? regulatory structure will find and tell stories about their services the process worked very

well not work for and others there making finding their like virgil together.

the regulation becomes a faith problem. we will work on that as we go forward. >> thank you for holding today's hearing and congratulations. we've had the opportunity to work together in the past and i look forward to working with you to address the need of small businesses i want to recognize the new members of the committee

welcome to the committee, i think you will find the committee that works on a strong bipartisan way to address small businesses file : two doing that small business administration and officiated gently to walk with you i thought on this committee in 2000's are such a strict concern. you are not just important to new hampshire but they are the engine of the economy a lot to

out of the child's they are leaders in this statistics 14 times, i'm not sure they spent unfortunately like big business small businesses cannot get fully recover. according to the business will analysis small business loans have dropped by percent crisis. the programs are so critical. last year alone backing and more

than 1 million. there's more work to be done and that's why you're here support small business economy in the boat hearing your statement they response to questions record may be new members of the nfl as the zero right here.

around the. >> this time, the floor is yours you very much for checking numbers of the committee and i'd like to thank for their education like to express my gratitude for this opportunity is publicly i have shared

experiences of small business owners. our people from a family our national family living in part to the table. save for college retirement values my best to educate other this degraded global enterprise

and now everybody the hard work remember the early days effective family afford i made a difference in our budget and i would like manage cash flow from three jobs report for for the 2000 they met with more than 500 on several offices and factories

ideas in a roundtable discussion because small businesses possible jobs for the past (see you, i wanted to the feathers watching part of scales of businesses and educate competent entrepreneurs with the best ideas by sharing our stories, or text strategies for we can give small business owners the confidence available.

they do not just the office itself. while we are confirmed the fda revitalize the small business getting ridiculous without hearing regulation and unexpected and find to make it affordable. small businesses have closed. i know what it's like to take a hit and a large nontradable child that matters for young and i declared bankruptcy and invested when that company went under, the bank and what part to

pay off the debts until you realize bankruptcy was a hard decision tough time in our lives have a young son and a baby on the way and no choice but work hard and build again to support our family. when our daughter was born babies are full of promise and potential. voted to her and orson would make it okay we did small businesses around the country, i have seen the same saliency over and over again they work hard and get your down for a nap faster but sometimes they most

efficient and effective way possible i believe the leadership by example. i never expected employees i wouldn't do myself posting them to do the job for which they were hired. and he learned their experience. i will listen in their ideas confirmed and recommendation. an otherworldly challenges our commitments out the same responsibility as i did holders. had the pleasure of the.

>> the early part during a back-and-forth thank you for your statement and i we discussed this but it's important to give an opportunity to address in the committee that you are looking their voice in

washington is already not large enough so the wonder keep it verify you in the emerged the opportunity to clarify i was a strong advocate the program. i talked about it every year the program and obama indicated he was looking to merge some of the. illiteracy focused what it was

we can't reduce costs and kevin opposed the half of them girls in government contracting company resource partners veterans business outreach district offices.

i don't have today to know i would want to encourage our outreach in helping us job

growth. as well small business by making archers and small business owners simply represent terms of access to contract very smart older people talk about small

business opportunities i would first like to understand what the projects are if contract sure we have the information for that growth trying to make sure of those right. >> my time is of but not the question on behalf of the ranking member of the house small business committee and how it relates to be ongoing.

i will be submitting that. >> congratulations and welcome small business is are worried about regulation imagine you have 1000 banks or one thank gratitude 1000 bank this goes on as america. ...

what i heard constantly when i was campaigning through connecticut from small businesses was the overregulation environment which is costing time, effort, and money they couldn't focus on your business. we forget sometimes in small businesses especially mom-and-pop companies starting up, i have a special place in my heart for them, that they are the chief cook and bottle washer, the ceo, cfo, janitor come every other thing. when they get a packet of regulations, forms that the fallout to comply with regulations they don't know what to do with. they can't afford to hire lawyers so if the baby, more at fault and not in compliance or they've taken time away from the business to do it. it is really difficult for small businesses to have to suffer under i think that kind of

burden of the regulatory environment. >> one of the of the burdens or cost a small business is taxes. i probably wouldn't discount from regulations. a lot of small businesses pass through their income llcs as individual income so a multi-successful small business might be paying 39.6 income tax within an addition dfo obamacare tax, 43, 44, got a good live in the northeast and have a 12% state income tax on top of that. you won't get the necessary address tax policy directly unless there are ways you can as a small business administration but you will also be a voice in the cabinet. i would like to hear your thoughts on into the same question, are we overtaxed come under taxed? is our tax structure currently an impediment to the formation of small business? >> thank you, and having first started out as some s corp and

then the leadership i started as an llc so i fully understand how the past the aspect of that income works. i do think if we are involved in reform we do need to consider how to also make it a level playing field for those pass-through companies. that would be a strong advocate for that. >> thank you and good luck. >> thank you. >> senator cardin. >> ms. mcmahon, thank you for being willing to serve in this public position and also frank your family because this will be a family sacrifice. if you think you travel before, this is a big country but we thank you for your willingness to serve. you already heard the numbers i could go over half 1 million small businesses in maryland come over a million jobs. i focus on individual companies i visited where were ic al business developing a way to do with student athletes on head injuries or new drugs being

developed and help the quality of life for ac business, small business helping a better way to help of the businesses you with their administrative costs. i see that our national defense some of small companies are figured have better weapon systems are ways we can test for weapons system for efficiency. all that secreted a small business. they all use the services of small business administration. they use for mentoring and developing a business plan is at times it's difficult to know exactly what a bank needs in order to get a loan. they use the services of sba for capital because that's very challenging for for a smalls to get particularly venture capital to be able to take those risks. they use the small business administration as an advocate to make sure they got the the government procurement and particularly in this region it's an important part of opportunities for small business. as you and i taught in the i

thank you very much our personal visit we need an advocate as the small business administrator in dealing with other agencies. we talked about the procurement issues, talked about the 5% for women, also said aside for small business, , minority business, veteran owned businesses. one thing in common, when agency, the agency is doing their procurement they at times -- us evaluate every contract that is there. they tend to bundle into large contracts that make it virtually impossible for small businesses to be a prime contractor. we attempted to pass anti-bundling legislation so that is not done. can you share with me how you intend advocate on behalf of small businesses particularly among the other government agencies to make sure that procurement is fair to help small businesses grow?

>> thank you very much for mentioning that again because we didn't have a good conversation about that. i found the best way to obfuscate what it is you really try to do is to bundle things just stuck things on top of it. i would like to peel back some of the bundling and take a look at it so we have the opportunity for small businesses to have that fair shot. they shouldn't continue to get squeezed out. i would want to be the advocate. i would want to hear from them. i want to find out how did this happen, how can we get around this, whom do we need to speak to come how can i advocate more strongly on your behalf. what avenues have you gone down for what other avenues you need to go down so we can reach in and make this more about you. i would be working very hard to advocate for our small businesses. >> i also appreciate a your response with regards to what you've done for veterans returning warriors. to me that is an extremely important part of our commitment

to help veterans, returning warriors in regards to small business. i shared with you the initiative that was developed by the private sector in my state in montgomery county chamber of commerce, institute a veteran institute for procurement, a national effort to bring returning warriors to help mentor them into starting small businesses and leadership. as result over 700 veteran owned businesses have been helped by this program in maryland. it received help from small business administration to make this a national program. i just wrote you to look at these types of programs because they really do help the entrepreneurial spirit for our returning warriors out when minister and we help them come back to our country. >> thank you very much. one quick comment is i served on the board of a company called american corporate partners and it is a mentoring company for returning veterans to help make

them transition between military and the private sector. the outreach is to companies and corporations that they mentor these many women who are returning and guide them. and often have them come into the company and spend days with different members of the executive or whatever branch and want to be in. it's been very successful. >> the last point i would make is in regards to access to capital, it's particularly difficult for minority businesses. i hope we can work to find ways we can do more outreach to help access to capital particularly for minority businesses. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much and we will go to store an off. >> thank you, mr. chairman. linda, i figured if chairman risk can call you and i can, too. and i will. >> thank you. >> i appreciate you taking the time you did you spend as much sums up one as you did with me, you've been pretty busy.

you are taking this very seriously. >> yes. >> i particularly enjoyed our visit because i've been there. we have similar backgrounds. you are a lot bigger than i was. i didn't get up to 800 employees but i remember spending 20 years didn't beat up by the proxies understand all of it about it and i think the office that you have has the opportunity to do so much more than is that in the past. we have a guy named tom buchanan who's ahead of the oklahoma farm bureau when i talk to him about the problems the farmers are having, not just in my state which is a farm state, but throughout america. he said there's nothing that in agricultural bill. it is the overregulation of the epa. that's his word and my words. we watched this happen. he set of all the problems we

had all the overregulation the one that scared us the most was the water bill. as you know there are a lot of people, a lot of liberals would refer a a trip for ticket jurisdiction away from the states and give it to the federal government. and it was quite an effort there. i bring that up and that is an example because you have as you and i discussed in your department that you're going to be responsible for the office of advocacy. now, the office of advocacy is where it's an independent office and its purpose is to advocate on behalf of small businesses to other agencies and weigh in on the rulemaking. during the last a recession te office have been pretty much ignored. you were going to have to start from a zero-based have given a lot of thought how you have this office and advocacy, that are

available to people who was designed for originally? >> thank you very much. if i have the privilege of being confirmed i would really like to strengthen the office because i've always been at the event of the guy. we need someone who's going to go to bat for our small businesses. i'm just the girl to do that. >> why do think it wasn't done before? why do you think is not done the last administration? i have 300,000 small businesses in my state of oklahoma. i didn't hear from all of them but almost all of them on the problem. how are you going to revive that? >> i think i need to first find out why it didn't work. heard that comment from more than one that the office of advocacy really needs to be strengthened and for people to have teeth when he goes to the other agencies to say you are not complying, and why aren't

you complying? and as of right now those teeth are not there. i need to find out why editor of no one but i will get back to a new look for to work with you on that. >> that's good and i would assume the number of people who are working, a lot of people who have not been as responsible and responsive to small businesses. you will have a chance to determine who they are and if necessary make changes i would assume that would be an understatement. : research program that provides funding for the small businesses to create new innovative technologies. companies receiving the sbir funding steny much better chance bringing ideas to market than those not receiving the funding. in recent years many rural states including oklahoma have underperformed in this funding. can you tell me what the sba

changes they can make to improve the? >> again, thank you. it's a little bit difficult to say exactly what you're going to do when you don't really understand what has been done here today. i do understand sbir, has been so helpful with the research and development aspect in providing that kind of research for startups. and i would like to understand what those startups need, , howe can continue it, sbir -- >> have you been able to get the benefits of sbir and what they're doing in your company or do you know people person who has? >> i do not. >> okay. look forward to working with you. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator. senator heitkamp. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you for attending our committee hearing last week on the subcommittee on regulatory affairs and federal management. it was all about small business and all about the small-business

advocacy role that sba should be playing that we were just pointed that may not have been as aggressive as what they should've been in the last several years and i look forward to continuing to work with senator inhofe on a legislative solution to a lot of our problems. >> i knows what about the subcommittee know what hair was on fire. >> it was, mr. chairman, it was a great discussion and we welcome you at any point, linda come to her subcommittee. it's a great place for gathering of talking about the prospects between small business interest and regulatory reform. i wish for a minute you would been able to turn red when you are speaking about the challenges you had and had seen the pride and affection in your daughters face. it was quite lovely. it's clear you have a great relationship and my mother's heart got a little warmed by that affection. it's what so many small businesses are about.

they are about family and about working together and learning how to overcome struggles. i want to talk about two groups of entrepreneurs that i think are looking for a different level of engagement and involvement. we talk a lot about programs. the first is young entrepreneurs and the second native entrepreneurs. thank you so much for coming to an office. >> wit a great discussion but i'm concern young entrepreneurs frequently may be able to write the best app or write the best program. sma don't know how to translate that into business. i personally believe we are experiencing aal illiteracy in america. that is funny is what into the business i am interested in your thoughts and i will throw in the native piece. native americans have experienced a lot of economic challenges really from the initial engagement in this country.

the challenges sba has in indian country are exacerbated by the challenges we have with jurisdiction and with making sure there's commercial code people can rely on. i think i'm interested in how you can work with both these groups, entrepreneurs, to engage a future for small business in america specially indian country but among young entrepreneurs. ms. mcmahon: obviously i have more experience with young entrepreneurs than indian country and i would look forward to working with you and understanding the situations in your state and how the small business administration can be beneficial to our indian small business developers. i look forward to that so thank you. >> young entrepreneurs i found are great with ideas.

some have a great business savvy. some have no clue. they are in the garage or dorm room and developed there unbelievable app and have stuff but somebody will buy me and i will be a millionaire. i think there's a discipline that needs to be shown more to young entrepreneurs. i sit on the board of trust twos of sacred heart university and we incubate small business development. as we strive to wac them through the steps of business they are creating businesses they have developed tee shirts and hats with logo and all of that and how it is managed so that educational process is like wow, this is how it works. they are making success out of it. we need to continue that not just in the universities but i have kids in high school who

don't know how to balance a checkbook. it is like, really? we need to have that fundamental understanding of basics of economics to develop it next generation of young business people. >> i don't think there's any dispute here that we need to grow the financial literacy in order for people to be successful. i know people with great ideas didn't know how to file even the simplest of tax forms. not that we shouldn't have fewer tax forms but there is a need for some tax forms. i look forward to continuing our discussion especially about the challenges of native americans and entrepreneurship. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chair. thank you for being here. i appreciate the time you took to sit down with me and other

members of the committee. i want to say a special thank you to senators blumenthal and murphy for being here today. so many times we get caught up in partisanship we forget there are many issues we are very passionate about that share bipartisan nature. so i want to thank them as well to support you today and i know that many members of this committee love to work on things together especially with regulatory reform, tax reform, and others. i want to thank them for that. we sat down in my office and talked about a number of issues. one of the issues i brought up as we sat down was a project i have been working on last year. it is legislation that gives small business as stronger voice in the regulatory process.

it is called the prove it act. the legislation did pass out of this committee last year and we worked hard with the folks at sba and obama administration to get their input and feedback because the goal is to make sure the bill is bipartisan and it is a success. we talked about it and the purpose of the prove it act is to strengthen the voice of small business owners and.incentives to agencies to improve the quality of their certifications and analysis when they are writing a rule. simply put, it says if there is a battle of analysis between different agencies on the economic impact of a rule there should be a third party that will step in, review the facts and issue an objective assessment.

the small business office of advocacy testified in front of this committee last year because they were in disagreement about the analysis that e.p.a. and the corps of engineers completed on the wotus rule and believed it would have significant economic impact on small business. with this prove it act there were a number of organizations that supported it. the nfib, the chamber and women impacting public policy, all of those organizations supported it. can i get a commitment from you to work with me on this legislation and help implement it especially given the desire by our president to make sure we are reducing regulatory reform especially on small businesses? ms. mcmahon: senator, thank you very much. i did enjoy our meeting. when you talked to me about there legislation i thought wow,

isn't that just a really common sense thing. i think we need more common sense in government. if you have two says that can't agree you have a referee, a third party. i liked what you were telling me about the bill that it would mick the agencies work together before it had to become like a public event and help with drafting legislation. so i think it is a very good piece of legislation and i would like to learn more about it and look forward to working with you to support our small businesses. >> thank you. i appreciate that so much. on a related topic, what are your goals in the first few months should you be confirmed at the sba? ms. mcmahon: there are so many things to look at. we want to be mentors to entrepreneurs and grow and create jobs. but if i had to walk in the

first day and somebody says what is the first thing you want to look at today i would say i want to look at our disaster relief program. disasters don't become time. they happen. we need to be prepared for those disasters. i don't know how effective they have been. i know that when sandy hit the stkaeufrpgs up the east coast and my state of connecticut and new jersey appear there was a delay in time of response from sba. i don't know if it is because it was a massive storm and resources were not there but we need to get ready for that. two nights ago tornados in georgia killed 19 people. we have to be ready for disaster relief. when our small businesses are put out of business a while the economy suffers because they are out of business. we need it get funds to them.

if they are out of homes make direct loans to them so they can get back and function. that is a really passion that we need to look at. >> that is great. iowa is not immune to those natural disasters. in iowa 97% of jobs are in small businesses. thank you very much. >> senator duckworth. >> thank you for spending so much time with me yesterday. i appreciated your candor and willingness to address my concerns that have to do with wwe's use of 1099 employees pertaining to health of performers as well as the potential as someone who is in the sba promoting small businesses i don't want that to be the standard small businesses use 1099 employees to avoid the health benefits and protections for small business employees.

also i appreciate you addressing my concerns of potential monopolistic practices at wwe. i want to focus on one of the goals of sba. congress created the sba to achieve two goals, help american small businesses and make sure firms win a fair amount of government contracts. i want to focus on the second goal. as a member of congress committed to making government work better i'm confirmed the procurement system is not meeting the needs of small businesses. in illinois 98% of businesses are small businesses employing 46% of the people. there is a significant portion of the economy. i often hear from small businesses who are frustrated by jargon filled federal websites like fed bis ops and sam.gov and they are confusing tools.

they may be fine for large corporations with teams of accountants and last to weave through them but we talked about how a c.e.o. chief cook and pwoplt washer and janitor of the enterprise. but i think that these tools are failing small businesses who want to do business with the government but just don't know where to start. simply put the federal government is falling short in tapping the fell potential of american small businesses who are ready to help agencies achieve the mission. if confirmed will you commit to working with me to streamline and modernize the vital online tools? ms. mcmahon: as someone who is technologically challenged i understand the frustration of many small business owners who

are trying to break through the morass of looking at confusing would be sites. i think it is important we make our tools the simple eups way they can be to make them easy to use. if they are too complicated many give up and they don't have the resources to have it explained so i look forward to working with you if i'm confirmed to sort through this and say let's bring someone else in and hear from the people what they need so when the websites are developed and refined they do become a useful tool. >> once companies is used the tools or tried to get them will you commit to working to improve the small business prime contracting and somebody contracting goals for each agency? we spoke about this yesterday. small businesses have a hard time competing for some of the veteran owned businesses and

women owned businesses i talked about the frustration of major bureaucracy. i hope you have focus the on working to improve those goals and hold agencies accounts believe for provided small businesses with a fair portion of the federal contracts. ms. mcmahon: i'm very happy that we have gotten to 5%. i would like to see that go up. so, yes, i look forward should i be honored to be confirmed to working with you and all the members of the committee. i have been invited to sell of your states to visit with the sba offices and i really look forward to that. as a matter of fact, i would be very happy to sign up to visit many of the states. >> i won't make you come to chicago in the winter. i want to address the prospect of the president's potential trillion dollar potential

program. he seems to be recommitting himself to a much needed investment in infrastructure. there goes back it making sure small businesses have a shot at those contracts. they are operating in or hometowns, not just large cities and they can bring jobs and development to local area. i hope you will commit to working to make sure special attention is paid to provide small businesses with a fair opportunity to compete for work particularly disadvantaged small businesses with the infrastructure program. ms. mcmahon: i would look forward to that and i face some of the same issues when i ran for the senate in connecticut. they were shuttled over and didn't get their fair share. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mrs. mcmahon i appreciated the

time you spent with me in my office as well. a lot of our discussion had to do with the size of the federal government with regard to the amount of regulatory overreach that i personally. has been involved not just over the previous administration but over a series of administrations. as you may have heard since 2008 more than 25,000 new regulations have been issued under the obama administration. some estimates find that the economic impact of the new regulations have reached nearly 727 billion dollars and require 460 million new hours of paperwork on top of compliance cost of nearly $2 trillion for all federal regulations or more than 11% of g.d.p. the sba independent office of advocacy is a truly important voice in standing up for small businesses against regulations. the burdens they would impose on

small businesses. the office of advocacy intervenes in the regulatory process when possible and helps to inform other regulators about the impacts on small businesses. some of the other members have indicated their concern with the capabilities of the particular office of advocacy. i would like to go specifically to what happened in the last year where the office of advocacy stepped in on behalf of many small businesses and in fact many family farms and ranches that would have been impacted by the e.p.a.'s waters of the u.s. rule that senator inwhoever and ernst have both identified earlier. as you may recall from our meeting, the small business administration office of advocacy sent a letter which i

would like, mr. chairman, submit for the record today. they sent this letter on october 1, 2014 to the administrator and major john peabody of the army corps of engineer criticizing the wotus rule and recommended it be withdrawn. that was apparently ignored. it continued forward. i would like to know if you are confirmed as the administrator of the sba would you be willing to write a similar letter recommending this rule be withdrawn once again and rhyming our new administrator of the e.p.a. of the damage it has done to small businesses farmers and ranchers alike? ms. mcmahon: i would look very forward to working with and the other senators who have brought up especially the issue of wotu

s. i think it is senator ernst if a small business in her state want today expand it would have to get approval from the federal government to do that. i think that is overreach and i look forward to working with you and other members to make sure we have the right regulations in place and not overburden some once. >> would you consider if necessary if it is not withdrawn, reissuing that letter once again through the office similar to the way it was done last time but addressing it to the new director or new administrator of the environmental protection agency under the new administration? ms. mcmahon: i would like to find the most effective way to put teeth in the office of advocacy. if that is one way to do it i would like to work with you to make that happen. >> so i can take that as almost

yes? ms. mcmahon: i'm looking forward to working with you on that. >> understood the obama administration fees were waivered for a number of qualifying 7a loans including the up front one-time loan guarantee fees and ongoing servicing for 7a loans of $150,000 or less for fiscal years 2014, 2015 and 2016. if you are confirmed as the administrator, would you consider looking at the continuation of these waivers? ms. mcmahon: eltdz like to make sure we are making it as easy as possible to get these loans and help our small businesses. i would like to take a strong look at what did we accomplish about that, how long is in effect, did we get feedback that it is beneficial so that when i have those answers i would want to see what the merits of that are. >> thank you.

>> thank you for the time we spent together. i want to commend you for the comments you made regarding president trump's comments about women. i ask you to be a strong voice for women and should you be the confirmed administrator will you commit to preserving the programs and funding that exist to promote women and minority entrepreneurship and work with this committee to improve these programs? ms. mcmahon: i definitely want to be a strong advocate for women, for small businesses and, yes, for minoritys in business, veterans. i want to work with the committee and with members of congress to make sure we have the right regulations to help our businesses grow. >> i think you have a, an understanding of the special challenges faced by women entrepreneurs having been one

yourself and minority owned businesses, veterans. so those are groups i particularly am focused on to make sure they have the support from sba they should get. we have heard a lot about access to capital. that is something you mentioned when were running for office. have you identified the specific factors that lead to difficulty in accessing capital? proposal you know what the causes are we can't make the appropriate changes. so since that has been mentioned by you a number of teams have you i.d.'d those causes and what you would do about them as s.b.a. administrator? ms. mcmahon: thank you for your question. let me share a story with you. when i was running for the senate in connecticut there was a company in the rarely area of the northeastern area. we call it quiet accountant. it was an entrepreneur who makes

something that look like springs. he had probably eight to 10 mostly women making these rifts and strings. he built the business from two or three and added people and got honest from the community bank before bridge loans when it was time for him to expand. he knew the community banker. now he had work orders and more business coming in and wanted to hire new workers but needed to add to the national. so he went to see his same community banker. the banker said the problem is you are asset rich but cash poor. he said i totally get that because if i had cash i wouldn't be here to get through. the banker told him in the past i have been able to loan you this money but today under the new regulatory environment we fine ourselves in you no longer

qualify as you did before. you would have it overcollateralize this loan for me to make the loan to you. that meant he had to put up all of his sets, his house and other assets to collateralize a smaller loan. while entrepreneurs are very happy to take managed risks, that was too much. so he did not expand and he didn't grow his business, didn't hire the next people. that is an example of a regulatory environment that does not allow our businesses to grow. >> i have heard those comments also from small businesses in my state. i visit with a lot of them. but some of those resulted from the financial collapse and the underregulation of financial services industry on wall street. so there is usually a cause and

effect and i'm with you in trying to resolve some of those issues but there was a reason the collateral rules changed because there were these uncollateralized loans which led to the economic collapse. we hear a lot about overregulation. when i talk with my small businesses and they say it is easy enough to say we are in an overregulated environment but i ask what is the specific regulation causing you trouble because unless we identify them we can talk about overregulation and not get to the heart of it. i will give you an example. there was an orchid farmer and he could ship the cut flowers but for some reasons he couldn't ship the well flowers and they were all clean flowers. we worked with an agency to change that. i would like to ask you, when we move to improve the regulatory environment that you would ask

those very specific kinds of questions so we get to the heart of whatever the regulation is that is causing them problems as opposed to some kind of oh yeah, we are overregulated. ms. mcmahon: thank you for that comment. i don't know how you change regulations if you can't identify them. we have to know theiring in active and positive impact to change them. >> sba being on the ground when disaster strikes is really important. i was plentily surprised by your response to that. >> thank you. >> senator scott. >> good to see you. thank you for your willingness to serve. according to the 2016 survey of

problems and priorities of small business owners they listed cost of health insurance, unreasonable regulations, federal taxes, tax complexity, economic uncertainty and locating qualified employees as some of their top concerns. as a business owner, i know that you can identify with many of these concerns. if you're confirmed, how will your experience play a role when determining if the sba can alever united states some of the concerns of small business owners? >> thank you very much, senator. having walked in the shoes of small business owners, i understand how difficult it is when you are in a cash flow business and not a bricks and mortar business. it is very difficult to have access to capital and get loans when you really have no collateral against that except your own cash flow.

i know in are a lot of start-ups that face those issues in getting capital. i know how to talk to them a little bit about that. i know how to talk about their cash management and i advise all start-up companies once you start making a little profit put it we get a line of credit because when you need it you can't get it. it is important advice. but to manage your cash very carefully because cash flow is really a great part of the success and undercapitalization is one reason a lot of small companies fail. having walked in those shoes i understand that. >> one of the things you mentioned the cash flow and certainly looking for a qualified local employee i assume you have had some success with local qualified moist like triple l and the rock and other folks. i thought that was funny as well. looking for a way to throw in my

wwe -- i'm enamored with the concept. i grew up in the south and i watched them. that is just my plug. he turned pretty red over there. i think one of the challenges small businesses face is how to align the jobs in the marketplace with the skills in the marketplace. i was a small business owner for 20 years or so and i will tell you finding the right talent to the right market is very difficult task. i think 64% of new jobs are created as small businesses so in places like colorado they need one type of employee with a skill set that matches what is valuable in colorado. in south carolina the number one tourist destination you should visit the reality is our tourism drives a lot of our entrepreneur

ship. how do when align the opportunities and access to jobs with those folks looking for those jobs in that marketplace? >> maybe a little different twist on that as well, i continue to say when i was campaigning -- however that was a four-year period when i really learned about what was going on in my state. what i found out was that in many instances there were not as were a shortage of jobs as there were trained people for those jobs. i think that we have to rfocus how we are looking at the jobs market. sitting on the board of trustees at sacred heart i looked at some educational programs and are we reaching out to corporations and companies that are surrounding our university to understand what kind of shifts or changes we need it make to fulfill that

employment stream. i think we are starting to be a little more successful in that but we have a long way to go. that is one thing i really committed to just even before i was asked to do this. i would like to continue to make sure we are training our folks for the jobs that are there. >> i have about 30 seconds left, mr. chairman. to close a comment i hope as our new head of the sba that you will look for ways it create synergy within government perhaps our technical schools on the local level. doesn't matter what level of government but you will look for ways it create synergy to provide a alignment. i think that is a great place for sba to take a unique perspective on their mission and find ways to improve the outcome of the average person who starts

in very difficult place and finds entrepreneur ship as a path forward. it would be wonderful if that happened under your leadership. >> chamber of commerce back him will be delighted with your line of questions. >> welcome mrs. mcmahon. i thought we had a constructive meeting last week and i appreciate the chance to share stories of entrepreneur ship and job growth and i'm thrilled to have the opportunity to continue that conversation. it is mostly about the key role the sba can play it help small businesses grow. the important of accessibility of capital, value of mentoring programs leak score and other areas of federal government like the manufacturing extension partnership which can help small businesses grow. my own home state of delaware which i invited you to visit not to be outdone by senator scott

we have a freight beach community. there are a number of iconic businesses at the delaware businesses that started with sba loans that helped them throw in early stages. so i think that you will see on both sides of the aisle a knowledge of and enthusiasm for the real impact that sba has had in our home states appear fox who leads sba in delaware have done a terrific job. i love doing small ton visits where we go up and down the main street with 7a or 504 or score the impact s.b.a. programs can have. we talked about your knowledge of intellectual property using trashes an licensing to protect key innovations your business engaged in. i talked about my passion for patents and making sure small businesses know how to protect what they have got. do you agree it is important to educate small businesses about how they can protects what they

invents with patents or trademarks. is that something we could work on together? >> it is something that was such a large part of wwe and from the very beginning we wanted to make sure at wwe when i was there and i started the program sometimes you bring a little bit of knowledge and you can be dangerous or you have enough to know you have to go further and ask somebody with expertise. it was very important that as the company developed intellectual property we copyrighted the television shows or moving programs. it is important to reg stir trademarks to protects. you have invested so much money to grow and develop that product or intellectual property, but if you don't protects it and then someone else takes it bae you don't have a leg to stand on because you condition defend

your own property so it is important it make sure young businesses understand the value of what they create and they need to protect that. and you have to ex-pen some money to do it but in the long run you are protecting your invest. >> as the hero democratic appropriator on the subcommittee that funds the s.b.ba we talk p how it is an agreement in an otherwise contentious subcommittee and fact that were introduced positively by two gentlemen you ran against was a moment of agreement about the skills and value you bring that is worth remarking on. i hope we can work together on the 7a program it find the right balance between phroeting needed loan programs while avoiding a return to subsidy. let me mention two other things before my time runs out.

i have had the joy of working with senators on extending the tax credits to help innovative start-ups that use technology to grow quickly and i would be grateful for any help you could offer in our working together to inform more small businesses that are technology centered about that opportunity. then in the last congress when worked for score program lawfuled in delaware in monthsoring to help small businesses that need to get their first business machine together or need someone with relevant skills. i would be interested it hear whether you could see your way toward supporting score and seeing it as a critical program for year time as s.b.a. administrator. >> statistics show, whether it is women owned businesses or whatever business, you are more successful with monthsors.

because it -- with mentors. because it is somebody that can give you advice especially under score where we had executives they are very accomplished professionals. to have that as a resource is fantastic. i really would like to see more mentoring because we would have more businesses be successful. >> it is a strikingly lecost and high impact program. i would like to work with you more. thank you for a chance to be with you and i'm tpwraeufrpl you are willing to take on this important role in the trump administration. >> senator young. >> thank you, chairman. it is good to be with you, mrs. mcmahon to have someone of your caliber and experience willing to put yourself forward and serve in this capacity. one of the advantages to being lower on the proverbial totem

pole i get it hear the brilliant questions of my colleagues. one of the disadvantages i have to rework my questions when those questions are ones i intended to ask is i will attempt to ask you some things that haven't yet been addressed. i come from a small business family as well. my dad has grown a commercial hvac distributorship over the years and my brother has taken over the business and i understand the unique challenges, unique opportunities, that are associated with small businesses. this town tends to be rigged often times against the little guy or woman as it were on account of regulatory burdens, sometimes foisted with great tkphreub ration by larger businesses to crowd out competition from upstarts. our tax code is another example.

the small business administration and it has been mentioned many times, i think, has an opportunity perhapsen realized with to advocate on behalf of small businesses in each of the different federal agencies across the federal government through the office of advocacy. you indicated that will be a real point of emphasis on your part. the regulatory flexibility act of 1980 tasks this office of advocate si with morning federal agency compliance with the act in assisting as during all stages of rulemaking development to mitigate the potential adverse impacts of rules on small entities, whether, blah, blah. it seems like a lot of work. this is comparatively speaking a small department compared to say the department of defense and

what not. i would be interested, say, 180 days into your service to get feedback to this committee, to my office in particular about with you have learned with respect it the office of advocacy, how its operations might be improved, if there are additional authorities or resources required to advocate on behalf of our nation's small businesses and young firms that would be instructive i think to all of us. do i have your commitment to provide that report should you become our next head of the department? >> i look very forward to reporting back to all of the members of the committee the things i found throughout sba where i have found issues or problems that i need your help and guidance, and i hope that you would not hesitate to reach out to me to say look, these are things i really want you to take a look at. because i'm going to be drinking from a fire hose for a while and

it will be a lot to absorb and i would like to be the most effective at it as i can. >> so you will make i have effort within 180 days to provide report with respect to the office of advocacy? >> i will get back to you as soon as i can. >> that is fair enough. the second question is bake government efficiency and avoiding duplication. can i get a commitment that you would work with me it find efficiencies and ways it stream lin the work of the sba? >> i definitely want to streamline where we need to streamline and add. i look forward to working with you and everyone on the committee to do that. >> lastly, i know back in my great state of indiana we have stumbled upon some unique approaches to assisting our small businesses some which might be replicated by other states, no doubt other states

have their own examples. i think there might be an opportunity for the small business administration to be an effective clearinghouse for best practices emerging from the level or state level, perhaps best practices that we have seen in our countries. with your commitment to work with me on that effort, perhaps we will be able to assist or small businesses. can i get your commitment to explore those opportunities as well? >> yes, i'm a firm believer in best practices and as when look across all of what is going on relative to sba we will identify some areas that need to be shorn you were and others that need to be changed or some that need to be removed. >> thanks so much. >> we will go to senator markeyment >> thank you, mr. chairman.

most mcmahon i raised the issue of net neutrality with you. the reason i did is it is not well understood that 68% of all venture capital goes to software and internet start-ups. they are small businesses just beginning. one of your counterparts at the federal communications commission, the new chairman designate is talking about repealing those rules which does make it possible for new start-ups to reach all 320 million people in america which is the business model of haven't tower capital and ear investment money flows that way and we have the next generation of start kwrufrps. are you familiar with that net neutrality issue and what is your general philosophy toward those areas of economic

development in the small business area in our country? >> thank you very much, senator. i think yesterday when we spoke i said thank you for informing me and educating me more about this. i have not dealt with net neutrality in any of the businesses i have been involved in. i understand your concern from yesterday that we don't want any restrictions on access to the internet because it can impede small businesses. so i would like to continue it learn more about that and to learn more from you and how it can be used most effectively. >> thank you. sbir, some staggering numbers from massachusetts since the program was created in 1982. massachusetts small companies have received 20,000 small business grants and 2300 new

firms were created out of those grants creating tens of thousands of new jobs in our state. we very much rely on sbir grants as part of our long-term business planning. senator shaheen and i and ears have been advocating to make this a permanent program. have you had a chance to look at sbir and what would you think about the prospect of your support for making it a permanent program? >> i have just begun to familiar ize myself with it and talked with many senators on the committee who state how important sbir has been for their constituents especially in the world in small businesses of technology and start-ups and what a large proportion they are now. small businesses especially in your state. so i want to delve more into that and see how we can best utilize sbir to make sure if we need to enhance that, make it

permanent, i want to know why that is beneficial so i would like to continue to learn from you and ranking member shaheen and others about that. >> thank you. climate change. klimt change is real, it is happening, we see it along the coastlines especially of our country. over and over fema and the s.b.a. have had to respond in order to give help to louisiana affected about historic flooding or the northeast with historic storms that hit our coastlines. in each instance fema and the sba have responded to these natural disasters. klimt change is only going to get worse. have you looked at that issue of what that impact is and what planning sba might have to make to deal with these changing conditions especially its impact

on small businesses? >> i have learned from you yesterday about the warming of the waters in massachusetts up to maine and cape cod area. >> the fastest farming body in the world. >> i found that a fascinating stats technique. you indicated how it is driving the cod north, lobsters north so the fishery industry is really being impacted by that claimant change. those are very real statistics that i want to learn more in and not only as it relates to massachusetts but where else in our country where signal business can be affected and we should tack a more active role. >> i will say in conclusion after the attack of boston in 2013 the sba stepped up it help all the small businesses in that area so they could recover.

i think that is another great function of the sba that is not fully understood whether it be natural disaster or man made, the sba has been there and hopefully under your leadership we can see a continuation of that great tradition. thank you. >> thank he very much. >> senator booker. >> mrs. mcmahon i want to thank you for everything here. it means a lot to serve your country and make sacrifices you have to make. i'm grateful for your patriotism. i want to say when your daughter and son-in-law stood up your daughter is far more first nd intimidating than your son-in-law. he and i are about the same age and paul is letting himself slip a little bit so after this maybe we should go to the senate gym so he can give triple h some triple hip.

>> stephanie could give you a main hip toss. >> i believe that. new jersey has had some good years in fiscal year 2015 we received about $750 million in sba hopes with over $500 million to underserved communities. as mayor of newark was blown away by how minority women in particular are doing such extraordinary jobs of starting businesses. i'm proud to support a lot of programs focused on them and i wonder in you support a higher cap for the sba to make additional lens in 2007 and 2018. >> well, what i would first like it say is all of our loans being made effectively. are the lens we're making going where when think they are going and have the results that when want to see. i don't have a handle yet on whether or not that metric is in place for this accountability. i want to make sure we are serving more and more

minorities, small business owners, veterans, our native americans. but i need to know first of all are the loans we are making effective. if they are, then let's increase it. >> i really appreciate that response. the cumorah active effect is more powerful. the traditional indices that banks use to evaluate the loans something i learned from kiva that is using other different cysts untraditional they have low payment rates that beat traditional loans and something the s.b.a. should be looking at to get capital into the system. something else your predecessor did that i think is great is correctored about policy out of the 1990's a lot of folks who were in prison for nonviolent drug use many for doing thrpgs that two of our last three presidents admitted to doing would come out of prison and

paid their debt to society but can't get pell grants or foods stamps or public housing stripped in many which is of their ability to compete economically. what your predecessor did is make changes to help those formerly incarcerated citizens be available to get loans from the sba. it was a remarkable change and some of our great entrepreneurs are people who made mistakes in the past. i want year commitment that is something you will look to continue as a practice. >> well, i certainly would like to know more about it. it sounds like something a that has been effective and i would like to see if it has been. >> i appreciate you looking into. most americans one out of 10 is violating drug laws and unfortunately they are enforced unproceed force nally on minorities and no difference 2010 blacks an whites for using or dealing drugs but you are more likely to be stripped from communities to complete and your

attention it that continuing that program is something that i would be think is helpful. there's a lot of tack of the s.b.a. and transparency. i want to make sure you are committed to helping us have transparency with loans so week have better metrics about how your loans are doing and being directed toward different been legislations. i really appreciate that. really quickly, i have a lot of problems with the regulations as well something i think there's a lot of opportunities for people to work on both sides of the aisle. take for example the fact that the number within employer in america if you include contractors with federal government is the federal government. it creates tremendous jobs but as we have heard in others navigate tag labyrinth is difficult. take for example the people manage our pension funds which has been given it within major,

hands of billions to one major outlet while emerging managers which states use to manage funds often women run businesses and minority businesses outperform the big folks but because of the way the regulation respect it is hard for the smaller businesses to compete. and the technology fields this is really difficult because mall technique firms who often provide greater service can't compete for government grants because the way it promulgate is too difficult to navigate. implement your commitment as you look at small businesses in general looking inward at the way we do our processes is really critical to empowering small businesses and if we can help to lower the regulations and mistake space for smaller business to break down the contracts into smaller bite sized opportunities we will help

to fuel our economy. it is something as a member of the cabinet will push billions of dollars into the private market for you to be a voice to say let's look for a way to empower small businesses could make a major difference and get government better service for their dollars. is that something that you will be focused on? >> i absolutely want to advocate for the small businesses and having that access to compete. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mrs. mcmahon i enjoyed our visit in my office. i appreciate your time. i think you will be a great addition to mr. trump's team. i have a couple of questions. do you understand how hard it is to start or expand a small business in america today? >> yes, sir. i have had that experience. i know very well what it takes.

>> senator booker talked about this. lets start with the regulation. here is what small business people tell me every day. they don't complain about specific rules or paying their fair share. this is what at the tell me. they say when need simpler rules. when need for rules. we need quicker decisions by the bureaucracy. we need government workers who will answer the phone. we need government websites that a normal person can navigate. that is all they are asking for. it is my experience -- and i have been in america longer than i have been in washington. i have been a senator three weeks. you can't be for jobs if you are against business and business women an men need five things. they need low taxes, they need

ream regulation, they need capital, they need decent infrastructure, and they need a skilled workforce. i realize s.b.a. can't provide all of those but tell me how at sba you are going to help small business women and men get those things. >> for one thing, thank you very much, senator kennedy. i too enjoyed our visit. i think that a lot of with you have talked about as when -- if i were fortunate enough to be confirmed -- >> you will be. >> thank you. i think it is really important that we do mentor these small businesses. a lot of times someone has a wonderful idea, this is my business, this is with i want to do, i'm going to come in and show you and they come in with sort of an abstract business plan and even if you help them get the business plan right and all the t.'s crossed and i's

dotted you have to look at them sometimes and say it is not a good idea. it doesn't look like it has legs to succeed. i think often there's not enough of that kind of mentoring. i think that all the other things you have identified like a blueprint for success, lower taxes, fewer regulations, but sometimes you don't have the bake understanding of with -- basic understanding to have a business and there needs to be that aspect. i think that will help us grow more quality businesses that do have the opportunity to succeed. >> well, lots of small businesses, fail, i understand that. but with i think it is happening in our country is that a lot of really smart people are just afraid it try. -- afraid to try. they start looking at the different permits and regulations an rules and on that then you have to have the capital and many people have to

put a second mortgage on their home and it is insr. mountable -- insurrenderable. i think you are very qualified and i think the president has chosen well. but i'm familiar with what sba does and i know you are, too. but i hope you will go beyond just sba, i hope you will be the advocate for small business in this administration. because in my state 90% of our jobs are created about i small business women and men who have taken a risk and it is risky. sometimes they fail. but when they stop trying, at least in my part of american, we are in real trouble. so, i hope you will take on that role. if there's something i can do to help you, let me know. good luck. >> thank you. i don't think that i could be an advocate for sba if i were not

an advocate for small business. i think they are one and the same. >> thank you. i yield become my full 24 seconds. >> senator shaheen. >> thank you, purchase. i only have two questions. i know that when may be waiting on one or two other people. but as you are aware, the small business administration is a relatively small investment in this economy. if you look at how it compares to many other agencies in the federal government their budgets is not one of the largest, let's puts it that which -- let's put it that way. yet as we have her from all the members small businesses are very important to this country agencies economy, to job growth and we need to do what we can to support them. it is particularly true in rural

america, i think, new hampshire doesn't have very many large cities, aware mostly a -- we are mostly a rural state and were of america is also. and when there are cuts to the sba that has an inordinate impact on rarely america because one of the places that they can get support as you have her is from the sba for mentoring, guidance on issues that come up with their businesses, for loans. so, it is very significant. and i want to hear from you that you will be an advocate for the budget of the small business administration, because what we saw in the last republican administration is that they cut sba's budget by about 32%. so, can you reassure me you will do everything you can to advocate for sba in the current

administration? >> absolutely i want to make sure we have the right budget to accomplish what we need to accomplish. and it may be that if i have an opportunity and i'm confirmed if i'm looking at one aspect of expenditure to say we can best take some of these dollars and move it here. i think those are the right ways it look at the budget and make sure aware asking for -- we are asking for the right projection but lay out the programs. here is what we want to accomplish and here is what we want to take. when i was a c.e.o. when you had to justify, your department and expenditures. that is a pretty sobering experience. while i'm not advocating that at sba, there is a peeling back of the budget and where those dollars are spent. my commitment to the committee, i will be an advocate to make

sure sba runs effectively and efficiently. >> i appreciate that, a goal that we all share. with that in mind, i wanted to call your attention to what was reported this week, that the new administration is preparing budget cuts based on a blueprint published by the heritage foundation. you may have seen this. blueprint endorsed cutting funding for several programs i think are very important to small business. one is the sbir program. small business innovation research program. we heard from a variety of members atte importance of the program. we have seen in new hampshire in terms of job creation and providing innovation to the department of defense. in a hearing before the armed services committee, we heard from experts that the most effective existing program to help our military get the innovation they need is the sbir

program. so i would urge you to look at that carefully as there are discussions about cutting that program. the other area the heritage foundation blueprint talks about cutting is sba's role in disaster assistance. given your role, you expressed at the hearings, it has been raised by a number of members. i would have severe reservations about cutting sba's role in disaster assistance. finally, in support for international trade, which, again, for so many small businesses, having access to those international markets can make the difference between growing, succeeding, and failing, especially when times are tough. i would just urge you to take a hard look at some of those issues and advocate what is best for our small businesses. thank you.

>> thank, senator shaheen. finally we will turn to senator rubio. senator rubio will be the last. this is a momentous occasion, because it is not very often you get questioned by every single member. >> i am honored. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. mcmahon and i have known each other for a while. i know a lot about her background. i had some time to talk with her in my office on these issues. in the interest of time, i will focus on one issue of particular importance. in the state of florida, the zika virus had an impact on small business. there have been a number of questions on disaster relief for communities impacted by storms and other events. what i think has become a new disaster is something we had never seen before the impact of , the pandemic, or the designation of a community as being a place that people should avoid. this happened in south florida,

when the cdc was telling people do not visit if you are pregnant, or certain geographic areas in the community. i don't need to tell you that was not good for business. while a lot of people think it impacts the big hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs, it does, but it impacts all sorts of small businesses down the chain from, quite frankly, the uber drivers all the way to the wedding that got canceled. one of the things that we discussed was an effort i made last year that the previous administration was open to , redefining to address hardships that small businesses face during public health crisis. so i would just ask is that something you would be open to exploring and looking at? i know you need to look at what the cost of that would be. obviously there needs to be some , predictability. disaster relief is hard to predict. but i hope that's something i can encourage you to be open

minded about, because while i don't think we'll have many of these, there is nothing to say it couldn't happen again. our ability to help some of these small businesses who are impacted by the outbreak of a pandemic like zika in the future is a new dynamic, particularly in communities involved in a lot of international travel. so i don't know if you have had a chance to explore that issue a little further, but i hope you will be open-minded and work with us on achieving it. i think we could unfortunately see that play out in a number of different places in the future. ms. mcmahon: i have not had an chance to look at it but i look forward to working with you on that. sen. rubio: thank you. last point i would make, i would encourage you to come to florida and visit. ms. mcmahon: would it be during the winter? sen. rubio: yeah. we could schedule it some time between november and march. but there is some real dynamism in our small business community.

in particular, i always pointed people to how dynamic first generation americans are. in terms of entrepreneurship. as i commented to you in our meeting, where i live, people know that ocho's 8th street, it is a traditional area where the cubans have congregated. literally eight out of the 10 the businesses are family-owned , and operated. people say all the time that truly is the backbone of our country and our business class. they do not get the headlines, and a lot of these businesses face challenges. you could have the greatest product in the world, but one of the things that happens, when they decide to expand the road in that area and go to construction, it is great for the future, but for the next year and a half, customers think it is a hassle to get in and out, and it is devastating or

some of these small businesses. not just people focused on the loan programs and the other financial assistance, but to be an advocate for the challenges of small businesses. i believe small business in america needs advocates within the federal government who are constantly watchdogs for any public policy that has a disproportionate impact on a smaller business. i know you are going to be busy, getting around everywhere, but at some point, particularly when it's cold and snowing everywhere else, i encourage you to come. we'll find the right place, whether it is central florida, we have small business success. we would be excited to host you there, we would love to interact with you. again, i thank you for your willingness to serve our country. i am grateful for the opportunity we had to talk. the nomination process is not always a pleasant experience. it sounds like this meeting has gone well. i look forward to working with you.

i anticipate you will be confirmed fairly soon. thank you for being here today. >> i have an equally attractive offer. sen. rubio: hawaii? that is a good one, too. ms. mcmahon: i was also invited to alaska and north dakota. could we do that in the warm months? >> thank you, senator rubio. with that, we will conclude the hearing. ms. mcmahon, thank you so much, and for your willingness to serve. senator shaheen wanted me to express her appreciation. for your willingness to serve and your appearance at this hearing. this has really been a good hearing. as you can see, we have a very diverse group of senators with different ideas about things, but that's what makes america great. senator shaheen and i have been talking about trying to move this as quickly as possible. we feel very good about getting you confirmed. but obviously, it's not over

until it's over. we'll try to move this next week. we are booked up this week, but we will try to keep it open until close of business tomorrow, wednesday, january 25. we will keep the record open for two weeks to edit statements. any other relevant materials. so with that, thank you. thank you to your family for being so supportive. with that, our committee is adjourned. [gavel] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

bar now from lindmchon, president-elect donald trump's pick to be education secretary. in 2017, she spoke with c-span about her person a professional life, childhood in north carolina, marriage to vince mcmahon, and the

washington, d.c. origins of the wwe. >> linda mcmahon, let's begin where your story begins in north carolina. an only child. >> that's right. parents realize they have perfection and stopped. 1 >> what role did they have in shaping your own political views? >> not so much my political views but my parents were honest, hard-working folks who were civilian employees at tree point airbase. we lived about 50 miles from the air base, so my mom and dad working there. i just had a fantastic upbringing and childhood. my paternal grandmother lived with us most of my life so i had that dual advantage of having an older person's perspective as well as having my parents perspective. steve: i read that you were a tomboy? ms. mcmahon: i was a tomboy, yes.

i guess i still am a tomboy. i still like to play sports. i played baseball with the boys at recess. i could never jump rope. it was something i could not do. the girls seemed to be very involved in jumping rope. since i was my father's son and my mother's daughter, i learned how to play baseball and basketball. and yet, i would come into the house, my mom would show me how to set the table and cook and do the things that she did after she came home from her job as a budget analyst. steve: and your mom is still alive? ms. mcmahon: my mom is still alive. she is 90 years old, and she has been one of the greatest role models in my life. steve: can you recall the best advice she has ever given you? ms. mcmahon: my mom always just -- always stressed with me to be yourself. she said just, always, do your best, but be yourself, regardless of what company you are in. because if you try to be somebody you are not, you will be perceived as the phony you are trying to represent. steve: you met your husband when you were in high school, correct? ms. mcmahon: actually, yes.

just barely in high school. i was 13, and he was 16. steve: what did your parents think? ms. mcmahon: well, meeting him was one thing. [laughter] i said hello to him. i met him in church. we did not date for another couple years. but i met him when i was 13 and he was 16. steve: did he come to your house often? ms. mcmahon: sometimes? not a lot. after we started dating, he would come for sunday dinner. that sort of thing to meet my parents. he loved my mom and dad. and they loved him. steve: how did that evolve? ms. mcmahon: it evolved, because, in the summers, primarily, we would see each other. when we first said hello and met, he was at fishburne military school, and so he was just visiting his mother, who lived in my hometown. and then when he started college and i was still in high school, we would see each other every other weekend. and as our relationship got more serious, we would see each other every weekend. he would hitchhike from east carolina university back to new

bern, and we would see each other over the weekend. steve: and you finished college in three years? ms. mcmahon: i did. steve: but before that you got married? ms. mcmahon: right out of high school, i got married. i graduated in june. we got married in august. vince was already at east carolina. i started my freshman year at east carolina. it took him a little longer to graduate. it took me a little less time. so, we finished together. steve: what were you thinking, though, as, i assume 17, 18-years-old, getting married? ms. mcmahon: 17, yes. it was just a time of falling madly in love with someone, having a soul mate, and having confidence that you were just going to make all of that work, never thinking you wouldn't. steve: you have been married how many years now? ms. mcmahon: this august will be 51. steve: what is the secret? ms. mcmahon: a sense of humor. first of all, you have to find the right mate. so i found the right guy. and, you have to be able to laugh at yourself.

and i think the greatest thing is you have to have separate bathrooms. [laughter] steve: why? ms. mcmahon: if you need to ask me "why," you do not understand that whole process. [laughter] but it made you blush. [laughter] steve: you came to the d.c. area after college to do what? ms. mcmahon: well, vince and i moved to washington -- actually, outside washington in gaithersburg, maryland. i was then pregnant with our first child. i found out the day before graduation that we were expecting our first child. very untimely. we certainly had not planned on that. and i just -- vince's parents lived here, his father and his stepmother lived here. and so we moved to be closer to them, and to look at job opportunities, which we felt would be greater than where we were in north carolina. steve: how much was in your checking account at the time? ms. mcmahon: very little. [laughter] very, very little. i think we hardly had enough to rent the u-haul to put our stuff in to move it up to

gaithersburg. steve: so, walk us through how the wrestling enterprise began for you and your husband. ms. mcmahon: well, my husband is third-generation in this particular industry. his grandfather dabbled a bit in professional wrestling. his fatherm then, was much more involved, and actually right here in washington. the name of the company was called capital wrestling corporation. it was located at 1332 i street. the building is not there, the old franklin park hotel. my father-in-law's office was in the franklin park hotel. he pretty much produced television here in washington, d.c., and it was syndicated up to bangor, maine and as far west, i believe, as youngstown, ohio. that was sort of the territory of wrestling at that particular time. vincent loved it. i think it was in his blood. that was all he ever wanted to do, though he did dabble in a couple other things before he

became an on-air personality for capital wrestling. steve: before you met him, had you ever gone or even thought about wrestling or gone to a match? ms. mcmahon: i had been to a match with my father when i was about 10-years-old, because my father was a shriner in north carolina. one of the fundraisers for the shriner organization was a professional wrestling event. and gorgeous george was one of the wrestlers. so i had actually been with my father to a wrestling event. steve: where do they come up with the names? ms. mcmahon: well, they are very creative. they have very creative thoughts. they know how to really live in the character, and it is fun. steve: your son-in-law is known as -- ms. mcmahon: triple h. he started with that name when he was wrestling with another organization. his first characterization was this very, you know, rich aristocrat.

so hunter hearst hemsley was his name. steve: do you call him triple h? ms. mcmahon: no, i call him paul. [laughter] steve: but it is a family business for your son and daughter, correct? ms. mcmahon: yes. my daughter is the chief brand officer for wwe. my son is a performer for wwe. and triple h is the executive vice president in charge of talent development. steve: one of the issues you had to deal with is the use of drugs during some of these matches. was it used? had it been used in your tenure? ms. mcmahon: i will tell you what we did. we put together one of the most comprehensive health and wellness policies at wwe, and i was very involved in getting that done. we had a very stringent drug testing policy. but it is really more about health and wellness. because when you are performing in the ring at wwe, you are literally putting your life in someone else's hands. those moves can be dangerous. you have to learn, you have to be seasoned, you have to be

professional at what you are doing. so we want to make sure that not only are you physically fit, but that you are mentally ready when you get into the ring. steve: it is a sport. so in any sport, how do you advise the athletes, or in your case, the wrestlers, not to indulge in that? ms. mcmahon: while they are athletes, they are also entertainers. so much more goes into a wwe match than an actual sporting event. but our goal has always been to make sure that our performers were healthy and that their well-being was looked after while they were in the ring. steve: how did your work there train you for your job here? ms. mcmahon: well, we grew wwe from its very beginnings up until taking it to a company on the new york stock exchange. so, growing each aspect of that business. and when vince and i first started out, we shared a desk. so when president trump asked me

to serve as the administrator of the small business, he knew i knew what it was like to build a business from the ground up, to scale it, grow it, and even take it globally and then public. steve: when did you first meet donald trump? ms. mcmahon: i can't remember the exact year. i think it was in -- i would really be guessing. i think it was around the early to mid-1980's. and he had invited us to be his guest at a rolling stones concert. so we went and sat outside in the stadium and had a great time. steve: but among the cabinet members, you, i think, have had the longest relationship with the president over the years. ms. mcmahon: i think that is true. we met him early on. we have kept the relationship. he has performed, actually, in a couple of wwe events. and he is -- this is a unique fact -- he is the only president of the united states to ever have been inducted into the wwe hall of fame. steve: how did that all come about?

ms. mcmahon: because we -- always, each year, we typically induct a celebrity who has performed, at some point during the year, as well as for those veteran performers who have been at wwe. so he was one that was selected. steve: is donald trump, the person and the friend to you, different than the donald trump the public sees on television? ms. mcmahon: i have known the president for about 25 years, and i can tell you what he has always been to vince and me. he has always been a loyal and trusted friend. and he is a very smart businessman. i have watched him grow his business. his sense of marketing and promotion is very keen. we always enjoyed working with him. steve: the mission of the sba is what? ms. mcmahon: is to make sure that we are providing the right kind of tools and environment so our entrepreneurs can start businesses or grow their businesses. by doing that, they are creating jobs and adding to the economy.

i certainly appreciate the fact -- i am sure your viewers do as well -- this president has an appreciation for the fact that small businesses are the backbone and the engine of our economy. steve: what are the biggest obstacles for any entrepreneur who wants to start a business? what advice do you give them, and what are some of the pitfalls? ms. mcmahon: i can tell you what i have heard, even before i came to sba. i campaigned for the senate in connecticut in 2010 and 2012. and i toured small businesses all over the state of connecticut. what i heard from them is the same thing i am hearing today. access to capital. the regulatory environment. taxes. and health care. those are the things that, for businesses, especially already in place, those are the things that are being the most difficult still to deal with. entrepreneurs who want to start their businesses, which is one

place where sba is right in the forefront of, to give advice, they need access to capital. you've got to have good capitalization to start a company. but what i have found at sba is that the general public, or small businesses at large, don't really know all the sba has to offer. yes, you think about loans. when you think about sba. we guarantee loans, we don't make the loans ourselves. and we help make loans available to those folks who would not be able to get them under ordinary circumstances by the guarantee that is put behind them. so, we have the opportunity to help entrepreneurs get capital. we also offer them counseling. we have programs through our women's business centers, through our score programs, where retired executives or executives who are not retired will donate their time to meet with young entrepreneurs to help

them with their marketing plans, their web designs, just give them some general overall advice, which sometimes is -- this may not be a great business, and you ought to step back and think about that. when we get them through the capital part counseling part, , another aspect of what sba can do is help young entrepreneurs who have goods and services that they can sell to the government, help them put together those government contracts. uncle sam is the biggest purchaser of goods and services in the world. if we can get young businesses involved in doing that, it helps them be able to grow. data course as to the economy. -- that, of course, adds to the economy. the one aspect of sba i was not aware about until about two days before my confirmation hearing was the whole disaster relief program in the united states

comes under sba. so if we have helped you through cash and counseling and contracts, we also have the ability -- for instance, sandy or katrina or the terminators tornadoes and storms you're hearing about today or other economic impacts -- have the ability to go in and then help those victims of disaster. it is the only time sba gets involved in home mortgages. because disaster victims can only lose their businesses, they can lose their homes. we want to help them get back on their feet. the sooner they can get back on their feet, get their business going again, the sooner they are conjured into the economy. steve: let me go back to your earlier point. what are some of the biggest mistakes someone makes when trying to start a business? what are those pitfalls you mentioned? ms. mcmahon: the biggest mistake i always five young entrepreneurs can make is under capitalization. and the management of cash flow. it is one of the biggest issues when you are starting out. things can be going along in a

rosy fashion. you could be selling what you thought you would sell providing , those services you that you could provide, and suddenly, something happens and it dries up. you have not managed to your cash very well. and i think, too, when young entrepreneurs start a business, often, they are the ceo and the janitor. they are trying to do too many things at the same time. i once counseled a young woman's -- who was starting her business. she said it is so expensive to have someone doing the billing, so i will do the billing at night. i said, no. she was a physical therapist. i said you make your money with your hands. you hire someone else to answer the phones and do the bookkeeping. because in the long run, that money will really come back to you in spades. steve: what were the biggest challenges for you and your husband, going back 35 years ago, when you were starting the wrestling federation?

ms. mcmahon: we were growing a business and growing an industry. it was a great opportunity for us. but the challenge was just how do you scale? where do you go from being in the territory that you are in already? so we then moved across the country to develop markets and grow from just a northeastern regional business to a national and then international business. we were very fortunate. a little lady luck is also part, i think, of what entrepreneurs can often experience to help them grow. so we had a good opportunity with good vision. vince is the creative genius behind wwe, and his creative vision and sense of marketing is really what pushed the company to growth. steve: how big was cable in the

growth of your sport and entertainment? ms. mcmahon: cable was very big. at the time that we first started, the primary way that you saw a wwe program, at the time, wwf programming, was through syndication. for anybody who goes back that far in television, you know we had a show on one week that went to the next market that went to the next market that went to the next market. so, however many television stations you are on, that was the length of that particular run. television cable, though, particularly u.s. television cable, was the first major national reach that we had, and it cut across all of those markets much more efficiently and gave us the opportunity to expand. steve: so, if your husband was the visionary, what were your responsibilities? ms. mcmahon: i originally was the ceo of the company. for a lot of the strategic planning, most of the administrative functions came to me. hr, finance, operational issues,

and then, i often said, you know, i have hitched my wagon to a star. no, someone said did you hitch your wagon to a star? i said, no, i hitched mine to a rocket ship, and it was going full throttle all the time. often, someone who has great vision needs those people who can execute. so my job was to make sure we can execute on those visions. that was through contracts, it was through television negotiations, it was going into the world of licensing, all of the aspects to really make them work and gel together fell under me. steve: so, for your son shane and daughter stephanie, did they come by it naturally? did you tell them this was a good business opportunity? how did that come about with them? ms. mcmahon: they both just really enjoyed watching and seeing how the business developed. and they worked summers at wwe. i think stephanie worked as a receptionist at one time, and

then she worked in other areas. shane was on the road. he became a performer, but he also did referee work. but when he first started, he was traveling. in one of the ring crew trucks, putting up the ring, taking it down. and his very first time in the business, first job, was working in the warehouse, where all of the t-shirts and all of that were stocked, and he had to sweep floors and keep things clean and t-shirts folded. each of them really learned the business from the ground up. steve: early in your career, did your parents ever say what kind of business model is this? ms. mcmahon: no, they were just happy that we were happy end of we were growing. but early on, vince and i went bankrupt. it was not a result of the wrestling industry. it was a result of us investing with a couple of partners who turned out not to be quite what we thought.

we signed them some notes, and then we were the only ones left holding the note. we tried a long time to pay it off, and finally, we could not do it anymore. we declared bankruptcy. our home was auctioned off. my car was repossessed in the driveway, and i was pregnant with our second child. those were tough times. so when i talk to young entrepreneurs, and i talk to them about managing downside risk, managing their cash flow, that is something i have been through. steve: we should point out amtrak is not too far from here in washington. [laughter] ms. mcmahon: also, i know when our commuters are coming in and out to go to work. [laughter] steve: let me turn to your two races for the senate. i think i read that, in total, about $100 million spent in those campaigns. ms. mcmahon: yes. steve: what does that tell you about the state of american politics? ms. mcmahon: i'm not sure it tells you about the state of american politics. i was a total unknown.

so a lot of the money was really spent in introducing me to the public. and in connecticut, you are right on the new york border, where all of the ad time that you are buying is incredibly expensive, because you are buying it from the new york market. not so much for the rest of the state, but in that part of the state. the time buy was very expensive. so we had an all in commitment to the campaign. and that is the way we operated both of them. steve: you lost both races. what did you learn from that? ms. mcmahon: i learned it was very difficult to run as a republican and win in connecticut. i learned a lot about myself, though. i enjoyed listening to people. i enjoyed the campaign trail. i was listening to the issues and problems they were having. i think it prepared me much for this job today, because, as i said, i toured over 300

businesses in connecticut, from just mom-and-pops to manufacturing companies in connecticut, and i learned about lean manufacturing. i learned so many things about the state of different kinds of businesses. and i love business. i just love business. and so, i was able to bring that perspective from the political side to sba, as well as the knowledge of what many small businesses were going through. and large businesses. not just small, but large businesses as well. steve: having been in this town several months now, why is bipartisanship or compromise so hard to come by in today's environment? ms. mcmahon: i think we really just ought to focus more on lack of -- [laughter] let me try that again. we just need to focus on coming together, so we can pass more legislation. the rancor that you hear today,

i think, is unnecessary. the one thing i like and especially appreciate with sba is our agency is the least partisan, i think, of any agency in washington. the small business committee and not only the house and the senate, on both sides, work to get the bills passed relative to small business. everyone wants to see the economy grow. i think there is a real effort to help stimulate the growth of business so we can help the economy grow. steve: how did you personally prepare for the confirmation process? ms. mcmahon: there are things called "murder boards," that there's a panel of questioners who are really presented questions they think will come from the hearing to make sure that you know the government side of things. i'm very confident here at sba, relative to the direction i give on business and on marketing and how we conduct things internally in the organization, but i am

learning about government. that was part of what the hearing prep was about. steve: do you have a chance to talk to the president, either socially or business? ms. mcmahon: primarily when i am at the white house for a cabinet meeting. i go for several of the bill signings that he has done. this particular week, he had signed -- an eeo, not a bill -- an executive order relative to apprenticeships. which is something i am so passionate about as well. because as part of workforce week, which we have been involved in all this week here in the capitol, we have met with business leaders, we have met with educators. everyone has the same message. that is there are jobs here in america. but we do not have the skilled workforce to fill those jobs. so there was a nice dialogue there with president not addressing the cabinet, but i don't go over on a social basis

to have a cup of coffee with him. steve: the president talked about trying to get 3%, 4%, 5% growth in the economy with the sba as a component. how do we get there? ms. mcmahon: we get there absolutely by growing more jobs. the more jobs we can grow, the more businesses we can start and help them succeed, the greater growth we will see in our economy. 99% of the business in this country are small businesses. there are about 29 million of them. two out of three net jobs are created by small business. and even women businesses -- women own, now, about 36% of all small businesses, contribute about $1.4 trillion in sales to the economy each year. so if we can continue to grow those and continue to add to our economy, we're going to see that kind of growth. that kind of growth is only going to come, though, i

believe, if we remove some of the impediments that face small and big business relative to tax reform, health care reform, making sure they have access to capital, and we just have to continue to make sure our companies can grow. steve: so, with you here, how is the family business? ms. mcmahon: i have nothing to do with the family business. i resigned in 2009 when i ran for the senate. i resigned from the board. so i have not been back or had anything to do with wwe since 2009. steve: what do your kids think about your current job? ms. mcmahon: they are proud of me, they tell me. i miss my family. i think they miss me being in connecticut. and my mom is there. i go home every weekend, to visit with my family, see my grandchildren and my mom, and it's really nice to reconnect with vince on the weekends. we talk during the week, but we look forward to the weekend. steve: when you have a weekend, nothing on your schedule, what

do you like to do? ms. mcmahon: my family is such a big part of what i do on the weekend. plus, i have to do those things you know you need time to do, like get your hair done, get your nails done and that kind of thing. so i spend some time doing that but i really like to be involved, primarily in what my family is doing. steve: any thought about what is next? would you consider running for office again? ms. mcmahon: oh, my goodness. i have only been here a blink. hopefully this is the next four years. i'm enjoying what i am doing. i don't have any plans to run for office again. steve: finally, when people ask you about your life here in washington and working with the president, what do you tell them? ms. mcmahon: i tell them it is very exciting. when i leave my condo, coming up rock creek park way, seeing the rowers on the potomac, and suddenly you are looking and you can see the monuments of the city, and you know you are kind

of right in the pulse of government and policy, and it is fascinating and intriguing. and i am enjoying being here very much. steve: having been a receptionist in gaithersburg many years ago -- ms. mcmahon: i actually -- not to cut you off, i was a receptionist in washington. at the law firm of covington and burling. that was my first job out of college. and later, they trained me as a paralegal in the probate division. steve: so do you feel like you have come full circle? ms. mcmahon: yes. but washington is so different then when i was here. it has grown so much. there was no metro when i was here before. and living out in gaithersburg, it was a commute every day in and out of the city, which is pretty tough. but it was really fun and exciting, but incredibly challenging, you know, to be here and have the responsibility of an agency which the president

has said can have one of the most significant impacts on the growth of the economy. when he talked to me about taking this position -- i was in his office at trump tower. and just as i was leaving, he looked at me and walked me to the door, and he said, i just have one request. i said yes. he said do a good job. i told him i was going to do my best. and if my best was not good enough, he would let me know, and i would gladly step aside for someone who can do it better. he said i cannot ask for more than that. steve: by the way, how many people work at the sba? ms. mcmahon: we have -- we are fully staffed. we are about 2100, a little over 2100. but there are people on call for disaster relief. our disaster relief headquarters is in the dallas-fort worth area. so what we have our availability of trained volunteers, often, or contract employees, who come on

board if we have a disaster and have to go immediately to the scene. steve: and finally, we will be following the ignite tour. ms. mcmahon: the ignite tour. if i may digress -- one of the things i found when i came to sba was i did not think the general public was aware of the services sba has. we need to revamp our marketing and our outreach. part of what that is doing is for me to go to our district offices across the country. there are 68 of them. i made a pledge to our district directors i would visit each of their districts. during that time, i will host business roundtables. i will visit small businesses. and really integrate into the community to see what is going on and how sba can impact that community. we will get a lot of local press, hopefully. we will generate that and really spread the word more and more about all of the services and

opportunities there are at sba. so we had our leadership conference last week with all of our district directors that were coming in. i said, "leadership conference" sounds so boring. so i cast our folks here, and they came up with it was the "spark" leadership conference. we were having everyone in at the same time. we were going to spark their interest and enthusiasm, and we would continue with the ignite tour. so, that is where ignite came. now we are just going to set everybody a pace. really generate excitement and enthusiasm with the ignite tour. and i start next week. and we are coming down to the end of june now. so i will be heading to las vegas, salt lake city, back here to washington. the week after that, i am going to washington, oregon, and alaska.

because a lot of the senators and representatives that are on the small business committee have asked please come to my state. i want to show you what we are doing. i want to talk to you about how i think sba can be more effective in the community. i have made that pledge. one of them was to alaska. so i am going there. at the end of the month, i will also be going to puerto rico. steve: so you are learning along the way. ms. mcmahon: i am learning along the way. if i don't learn something every day, it's not a worthwhile day to me. i'm really enthusiastic about being out of the office and meeting with so many people. but then, i like to come back to the office, because this is like the hub that regenerates everything. steve: linda mcmahon, we thank you for your time. ms. mcmahon: thank you. it's a pleasure. [captions pyght national cable satellite corp. 2025] [captiong rformed by the national captioning institute, which is responsleor its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> c-span lookt president trump nominees in their own words continues now with linda mcmahon picked to be the next education secretary. in 2019, she talked about the

small business administration's iorities which she was leading at the time from the national press club. this runs one hour. >> good afternoon, everyone. welcome to the national press club. the world's leading professional organization for journalists. my name is andrea. i'm an editor with bloomberg news, and i am the 111 president of the national press club. [applause] thank you. we are so pleased to welcome today's speaker, the head of the

u.s. small, linda mcmahon. before we begin, i would like to ask you if you have not already, please turn off all cell phones. if you are tweeting, our handle is press club do you see, and the #for today's event is npclive. please hold your applause until everyone has been introduced. starting from your right, we have allison pre-b, owner of queen b designs. hello, allison. we have jonathan's a lot, washington correspondent for new jersey advanced media, former national press club president. we have john, ceo of sayers and associates. we have tamra hinton, senior vice president at story partners, and a member of the national press club headliners

team. we have dan friedman, northeast regional correspondent at hearst newspapers washington bureau. those newspapers include the stanford advocate which you may know. we have the chief of staff for the u.s. small business administration. coming from this end, we have the president of the wharton club of washington, d.c. we have christine, television host of "the next word" on channel 16. and a member of the national press club headliners committee who organized today's luncheon. we have andrea stone, ceo of dynamic growth. we have kevin, retired u.s. navy captain, executive director of the first global. he also helped organize today's event. we have the senior business

reporter. skipping over our speaker for just a moment, we have nancy fisher martin, executive in residence at american university, cochair of the national press club headliners team. thank you all for being here today. [applause] i would also like to think -- acknowledge additional members of the headliners team responsible for organizing today's event. lisa matthews, lori russo, danny selznick, bill lord, and the press club staff, specifically lindsay underwood, laura cooker, executive director bill mccarron. thank you. linda mcmahon, serves as the 20 fifth administrator of the u.s. small business administration. she advocates on behalf of our country's 30 million small businesses, specifically through

access to capital, federal contracting opportunities, counseling, mentorship, and financial assistance. administrator mcmahon is part of what the media reports have dubbed the $14 billion cabinet at the start of donald trump's administration. together with her husband, forbes magazine has placed administrator mcmahon's net worth at over $1 billion. an entrepreneur and business executive, mcmahon is the cofounder and former chief executive officer of world wrestling entertainment of stamford, connecticut. she helped build the business out from a 13-person regional operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees worldwide. so, one could say that linda mcmahon comes to this position with her own experience in small business. administrator mcmahon stepped down as ceo of her company in

2009 to run for u.s. senate and was the republican nominee in connecticut in 2010 and 2012. now she supports president donald trump's agenda for other small businesses which includes backing his ongoing battle with amazon. administrator mcmahon said last month in an interview with fox news that the jury was still out on amazon's effect on small business she said amazon provide small businesses with the opportunity to boost sales but that comes at a price. she also said that the number one concern among small business owners when she began her sba role was tax cuts. with those in place, she says the number one issue is being able to find enough qualified workers. that should be good news for those who are graduating or looking for work. overall, small business optimism remains historically high as measured by the national federation of independent businesses monthly index. in april, that optimism index reached a record high, and april

was also the 17th consecutive month of historically high readings. government is back on the side of business, administrator mcmahon has said. we are so happy to have her here today. please join me in welcoming administrator linda mcmahon to the national press club. [applause] administrator mcmahon. ms. mcmahon: thank you pleasure to be here. what am i going to do with this? >> that was for me to use. we will see what you do with it. ms. mcmahon: thank you so much. what a nice crowd, nice to see everybody this afternoon. i want to thank the national press club for inviting me here today. i do see some familiar faces out

in the audience. i'm very pleased to see some of you that i have not seen in a long time. i want to thank c-span and public radio for covering us, as well. i am just really delighted to be here. you know, those of us in public service have the opportunity to meet such a diversity of people, and hear so many interesting stories on a routine basis. and that is part of public service that i really like the most. whenever i arrive at a business, outdoing my road tours, and the owner or owners of the businesses come up to greet me, they take such pride in telling me about their business, how they started, how they have grown, and what challenges they faced or what ones they are still facing. for those of you in the room, and i know there are several, who own your own business is, you'll understand what i mean when i tell you that an entrepreneur's business is

really personal to them, like an extension of them. when president trump asked me to take on this job, he told me he wanted someone who actually had built a business someone who had experienced the ups and downs and would fully understand the issues facing our small businesses today. i'm happy that he has confidence in my ability to do this job. today, i want to talk to you about the state of small business in america. we talk a lot about the importance of small business because small businesses really do drive our economy. 99 point 7% of businesses in our country are small businesses. nearly two thirds of the net new jobs in the private sector are created by small businesses. because of how vital they are to our economy, and because the small business sector historically has led this nation

out of economic recessions and into periods of growth, i'm always very focused on listening to what small business owners have to say. so here is what they are telling us. the nfib is reporting a 45 year high in small business optimism. a cnbc survey conducted last quarter measured the highest ever served in small business optimism abs poll conducted recently found that nearly half of small businesses will invest more in their business is the upcoming months. a third of small businesses plan to increase hiring. so the question is what has led to all this optimism? i'm here today to tell you this

surgeon small business optimism and everything that flows from that didn't happen by accident. it is not the result of some cyclical realignment, not happening because public policy decisions that were made years ago. it is happening i believe as a direct result of this presidents leadership. both the tone and the policies coming out of washington are different. small businesses see a president who is not only bullish on america but also aggressively driving bold progrowthub policies. and here is what is happening as a result. unemployment claim today are at their lowest level since the early 1970's. the unemployment rate is at 3.9% . african-american employment rates are at the lowest levels ever recorded. unemployment among women is at the lowest level in 18 years.

last month, the federal government took in a record $218 billion surplus. inflation is barely above 2%. and wages are rising. you are right, andrea, those graduating classes today are really at a good time. i have given two commencement speeches over the last couple weeks. i have told all those students, it's a great time for you to be graduating. interestingly, there is a prevailing sentiment among small businesses that government is back on their side. it is reflected in the economic indicators, and it is what i'm hearing on a routine basis from small businesses all across the country. i get asked all the time whether i think the tax cuts have benefited small businesses. i seen that debates on cable television over whether the tax cuts had any positive impact on small businesses or if the only beneficiaries are really large

corporations. if we want the answer to that question, why don't we ask the actual small business owners? now that is something i pledged to do when i began my "ignite tour" last may. my goal is to visit all 68 sba district offices around the country. i made a pledge to do that when i became administrator of the sba because i thought, how better to get to know all of my district offices they had to go there and see how they operate? they are actually the people on the ground, interacting with our lenders, interacting with our customers, they are the boys and the face of sba. so i wanted to see firsthand. i didn't just want to go to the district offices, so the district offices set up for me business roundtables, visits to small businesses in the area. i continue to do a lot of local media because i want to talk about all the opportunities and

the programs that sba has to offer. when i talk to those small businesses and heard firsthand from them, prior to tax cuts being made, the primary thing i heard from them was please help the president with the tax cuts program. that would mean so much to us to pay less taxes. i heard about regulatory rollbacks. now that the tax cuts are in place, and i hear from those small businesses, i'm doing what i said i was going to do. i am hiring more people, growing my business, i'm really grateful for the president. that level of optimism is still staying high because the tax cuts are now iplace. i hear more now about health care reform and i hear a bit more -- not a bit more, but the primary thing i hear primarily from small businesses today is a shortage in our workforce. skilled labor. as i said, it's a good time for

graduates today. bank of america recently conducted a nationwide survey and found 37% of small businesses are planning to invest in their businesses in 2018 as a direct result of the tax cuts. bank of america's head of small described the tax cut as "a game changer" and she is right. they are absolutely changing the game and they are doing that specifically by taxing small business owners at a lower rate and by affording them new rules on expensing. many small businesses will get a deduction of 20% or business income, and before the tax cuts were enacted, income would pass through to the small business owners on their personal taxes where it was taxed at rates as high as 39.6%. businesses now have the ability to immediately deduct the cost of new equipment rather than

having to take depreciation over several years on new equipment. instead of less than memorable savings may be that is spread out over years, the impact now is immediate and unmistakable. as i visited several businesses, one i reference often because it stuck in my mind, it was a bread baker up in massachusetts. i was touring his facility, and i must tell you, if you have ever been into a bread baking facility and the bread is coming warm out of the oven, and all you want is a pound of butter and grabbed the loafs from all over. it was great, family business, built small. he told me, i am so happy with the tax cuts. he said primarily because, you see this big oven over here? that oven cost 1 million and a half dollars. because of the expensing under the new tax cuts, i will buy a new oven and i will bring in new

accounts, hire more people, and i will expand my facility. those are the stories i heard. then i talked to a microbrew or up in pennsylvania. he was walking me through, i was looking at these big mixing vats for the different flavors. did you know they had chocolate-flavored beer? it wasn't my favorite but i did get to taste if you. this brewer told me not only am i going to buy another mixing vat, he said because i have more product and i distribute not just here but i also have a small cafe out front. he said what those customers have more money in their pockets to spend so they're coming. so i've have a double benefit. these are real stories. i think it's important for us to be out and

one of the folks that's on the dais this afternoon, andrea stone, who was recognized before. but stand up again, if you will. she's a small business owner from arlington, virginia. thank you. 12 years ago she launched dynamic pro incorporated. she decided that after accumulating years of experience in the field of business services, the time was right to take a calculated risk, hang out her own shingle and open her own consulting bills. business. she's here today and we appreciate very much you sharing the dais with us and coming in. she says that the tax cuts have allowed her to hire more people, specifically a full-time employee dedicated to marketing. and my advice to small business owners always is, hire that person to do the thing that's not going to bring in revenue if it detracts from what you're having to do.

she hired this person because a lot of her time that needed her attention in the business was spent on marketing and now she can devote her time and energy to things that only she can do to drive her bills. she also told us that on more -- a few of her employees have told her they have more take-home pay as a result of the new tax cuts. john sayers is another small business owner who is here today. 17 years ago he started his own -- as a one-man operation with $1,000 in borrowed capital and a makeshift basement office. toad has about 300 employees and offices in washington, san diego and maine. john is here today and, john, would you stand up again, please, so we can acknowledge you as well. thank you. thank you both. thank you, both. he feels like washington is focused on small business growth. and that he can see the optimism

reflected in the eyes of his employees. like andrea, john told us that his employees are seeing more money in their paychecks and as a result of the tax cuts he was able to hire two additional business development employees. thanks again, john, for your story. small businesses are absolutely benefiting from these tax cuts. they are making investments, they are expanding, and they are creating jobs. but listen to this. there's another way in which small businesses can benefiting from the tax cuts. it may sound a little bit counterintuitive, but many small businesses are benefiting from the fact that bigger corporations are paying lower taxes. what do i mean by that? these tax cuts are not a zero-sum game in which every dollar that corporations save somehow comes at the expense of small business owners. the fact is, as corporations pay a lower rate, they also invest.

they expand their businesses. and wherever large corporations invest, expand and hire, small businesses are the beneficiaries. entire local economies can be formed around small businesses supporting a major corporation. and some of the rhetoric coming from leaders on capitol hill, rhetoric in support of repealing these tax cuts is really troubling. i think it would absolutely have a negative impact on growth that we're experiencing today. tax cuts are one way this administration is helping small businesses. another way is through reductions in time-consuming regulations and compliance costs. compliance costs for small businesses, and this was a shocker for me, averages about $11,700 per year per employee. that's a lot of money to take out of the bottom line of a small bills. and by the way, -- business.

and by the way, that is more on an employee basis than large corporations pay. this president has canceled, delayed or eliminated hundreds of onerous regulations. the administration is also looking at changes that could make health care more affordable and more accessible for small businesses. the result of all this is that business leaders are less likely to see regulations as a threat to businesses and research backs that up. another way in which this administration is helping small businesses is by making capital available for small businesses through various loan guarantee programs offered by the small business administration. i am proud to report the s.b.a. wrapped up a record year for lending. in the last fiscal year, total lending to small billses was in excess of $-- businesses was in excess of $30.5 billion. that helped create more than 650,000 jobs. a significant portion of these

loans were distributed to minority applicants. the community vantage program serving emerging and underserved borrowers grew by more than 11%. and the s.b.a.'s microloan program assisting small entrepreneurs grew to more than $68 million. in addition to access to capital, the s.b.a. plays a key role in providing access to mentoring. the s.b.a. trained or counseled more than $1.4 million clients on starting and growing businesses using our resource partners like score, sbdc's, women business centers. and i have talked to so many small businesses who have utilized and sought access from these resource partners and the advice and the mentoring and the time that these volunteers spend is for free. the consumer or the perspective business owner doesn't pay for that. and often i've been told, if it

weren't for that counseling, even though i have found access to capital, i wouldn't really know how to develop my business plan, my marketing plan and how to grow my business. in 2017, our disaster assistance program responded to three major hurricanes. harvey, irma and maria. our disaster staffing surged to more than 5200 employees to support the economic recovery efforts. they processed more than 300,000 applications, aroving more than $6.7 billion in low interest disaster loans. it's really important after a

disaster that we get small businesses back on their feet and back in their homes and it's the only time that s.b.a. is involved in home mortgages. because it is so important for the communities that small businesses get back up and running. we process these loans in record time. an average of 16 days for homes and 24 days for businesses, which is a major improvement compared to recent large disaster events. in fax, we cut time -- fact, we cut the time in half. i came into this job to advocate on behalf of small businesses, but with a particular interest in advancing women-owned businesses. i mentioned our flagship 7-a loan program which is run by partnerships with nearly 2,000 banks and other financial institutions. that program had a banner year for women last year. 30% of our flagship 7-a loans went to women ondcped businessed businesses. two out of every $5 s.b.a. approves in the microloan

program went to women. we've announced plans for dramatically improving the way in which we help identify women-owned businesses to qualify to bid for government contracts. and since i'm on the topic of s.b.a., imagine that, i want to make a very important point. washington is frequently described as a dysfunctional town where nobody wants to work together. i can tell you it is certainly not the case at s.b.a., it's not the case among the various committees of jurisdiction in both the house and in the senate. there is truly a bipartisan atmosphere focused on improving what this agency does every single day. now, that doesn't mean we agree on everything all the time. but it does mean that the discussions are supportive, civil and constructive and they are most always conducted in good faith. my tenure thus far at the s.b.a.

has restored my hope that we can find broad areas of agreement and work together in a way that benefits small businesses and entrepreneurs. it's really been a remarkable experience. small businesses really are the engine that drives this american economy. they are the innovate, the builders, the people responsible for moving goods and delivering important services. they are not asking washington to hand them success on a silver platter. they just want government to create an environment that allows them to focus on developing an idea, bricking it to market -- bringing it to market, and generating a pro. profit. but let's not forget that in addition to being the backbone of the economy in this country, small businesses are also the glue in our communities and the support system for the families who live there. thank you all very much. [applause]

climb up on the stool. it's always delicate. in front of a room with a skirt on. >> thank you so much for joining us here today. we have a lot of good questions and you've touched on a lot of very important topics. in your comments. one of the things you mentioned was regulation. so the s.b.a., if i'm not mistaken, reviews all regulation effecting small business before it goes into effect. what is the agency doing now to make sure that regulatory burdens don't fall disproportionately on small business? ms. mcmahon: one of the aspects of the s.b.a. is the office of advocacy the office of advocacyh is actually a quasi-independent which is a quasi-independent

agency though it's housed within s.b.a. and the role of advocacy really is to make sure that when rules and regulations are being promulgated, regulations primarily, the individual agency is to make sure that s.b.a. has a seat at the table. a seat at the table. we don't always get to we don't always get to have regulation not go through that we would like to see not go through. but the other side of the advocacy position is to then be out on the road listening to businesses who are then being affected by those regulations so that then the office of advocacy publishes a report to congress to hopefully get those regulations changed regulations changed. >> could you give an example of >> could you give us an example of a regulation you might be working toward changing? >> i'm not a -- ms. mcmahon: i'm not at this point working on any particular regulation. but what i do hear all the time from small businesses is that they have been relieved of the

burden of compliance with regulation and reducing that cost. so while there might be the small business here that has one regulation, one over here that has another, basically what i'm hearing is that the cost of regulation is being reduced and of course that's more money to their bottom line. >> absolutely. studies have noted a lower small business participation rate for millennials than either -- than for either general x'sers or baby boomers at comparable ages. what do you think the s.b.a. can do about that -- sba can do but that? >> part of what sp does and it talked a ms. mcmahon: part of what s.b.a. does and i talked about it in my remarks, having these resource partners like our sbdc's, which are small business development companies, that are primarily affiliated with the universities, and they're on a grant program, we provide part of their operating capital. they raise the other aspect of that. so they have an opportunity to

meet with a lot of me lenials -- millennials and potential business owners to guide them through the maze of how to think about starting their business. you know, i think in our score offices which are -- they are manned by volunteers and a lot of them are retired business executives or active business executives, and it's really difficult sometimes to tell a young entrepreneur who has a great idea, you know, this is going to be the best thing, and i know that i can make this work, i know that this is something that i need to get developed and -- but they don't know how to really go about it. so they can get counseling and mentoring, sometimes being told this is really not a good idea, you need to take it back, you need to polish it a little bit. you need to think about how you're going to grow it or scale it. come back, let's talk about it again and so i think we just need to be available to give that kind of advice and part of what i do when i'm out on my

road tour and visiting these offices, i tell everybody, i'm on fire, i want them to be on fire. and so when i'm out, i do a great deal of local media because i think s.b.a. is the best kept secret in the country. not because there are not many businesses who think about loans with s.b.a. but they really don't know about all of the mentoring aspects of what's available and to be able to get that advice and that counsel and there's a program called emerging leaders which is for businesses that are already up and running in underserved areas and it's almost like a graduate course in business. it's seven months and it's free. so all of these things are so helpful to businesses and i just want to get the word out more that these are available. >> absolutely. that's very important. we have a question here that's specific to the region of appalachia. but i think that this could also apply to some other places in

the country. and that is is there a push to increase small business startups in appalachia to try to give hope to youth who may otherwise be drawn to drugs/opioid abuse? ms. mcmahon: well, we don't have a program that i'm aware of that is specifically focused on appalachia. however, we do have our 68 district offices around the country. so the outreach from those offices, you know, hopefully is into areas where we do have underserved communities. and that's why all of these resource partners that i keep referencing are so important. because they can give guidance and they can show sometimes -- you know stiernlings just needs a little -- sometimes somebody just needs a little wind beneath their wings. they just need a little bit of that support system. and when they get that they can flawrish. and so -- flourish. so i think the education that's necessary in underserved communities, as wellals the support system is vital -- as

well as that support system is vital for that growth. >> ok. i have a question here about farmers specifically. farmers and ranchers are facing a tough farm economy with bankruptcies on the rise. the house is currentdy debating its version of the 2018 farm bill. do you support this legislation? and what else should we consider as it relates to small business in agriculture? ms. mcmahon: about a month ago i spent a day on the road with secretary purdue in his r.v. now, that's an experience in and of itself. it was just a small r.v. we had an opportunity -- and we were in rural ohio. and we visited, we did a town hall, we visited a couple of african americans. farms. and i listened, you know, he's so fluent in the needs and the concerns of the farming community. and i would clearly, you know, defer to him because even though farms, a lot of small farms are

small businesses, i have not really addressed with the farming community per se what their issues are. from the small businesses i deal with which really come across my sphere right now, there's really more access to capital and the mentoring. >> gotcha. what about cybersecurity? i have a question here about cybersecurity. and that one of the biggest challenges to small business and of course other american business is from hacking and other i.t. or cyberissues. so what is the small business administration doing with homeland security and ear agencies to protect -- and other agencies to protect small businesses from these threats? because also it can be sometimes more difficult for a small business to deal with a threat like that. they don't maybe have the same computer department that a fortune 500 company would. the same types of access to that expertise. ms. mcmahon: it's a real issue and part of what s.b.a. is doing

for small businesses is, first of all, making them aware that they can be targets for cybersecurity. many of them don't know that. they don't even think about it. why would they want to hack into me? or utilize that trail to get somewhere else. so we do provide, again, some mentoring and the counseling to make sure that businesses are aware of that. what companies can provide, those services for them at low cost. but i think most importantly it's making sure that they are aware that this is something they need to address. >> do you find that small businesses are often more frequently the target of hacking than large businesses because it's easier to get into a small business? ms. mcmahon: i don't have any stats on that at all. >> sure. ms. mcmahon: i think we can -- sitting here in washington, we know that cyber threats are very real. we've got all kinds of folks addressing that.

>> here's another kind of cyber question. which is cryptocurrency is changing the way business conducts financial transactions. can you comment on this as a trend and how it effects small business? ms. mcmahon: i have not had that question from a single small business that i've met with or dealt with. >> well, that's telling. that's something. ms. mcmahon: and i haven't really discussed it, you know, with our lending partners at this point. but, look, you know, we're constantly in a mode of change. so as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies become more of lending currency that might effect small businesses, we'll have to address that and stay up on it. >> so moving into a more macro picture. how do you feel current u.s. trade policy impacts small business growth and development and do you have concerns about current policies that relates to our relationship with china or the renegotiation of nafta?

ms. mcmahon: that's a whole lot of questions there. [laughter] it goes in so many different aspects. again, small businesses are often exporters. and a lot of the export economy, of the country, is a result of small businesses exporting their goods and services. so we want to make sure the trade policy is favorable towards those businesses. but as we've seen, you know, over decades we've had an unfair trade policy. and so we want to make sure that trade is fair and reciprocal and i certainly support the president's goal that he wants to put america first and american businesses first. >> can you talk a little bit about the specifics of what s.b.a. might be doing to make those trade policies more fair? ms. mcmahon: s.b.a. is -- we have a seat at the table through our international trade office in the negotiations.

but the negotiations are just ongoing at this point. you just hear about what's going on and that's about all we know at this particular point too. the negotiations are in place. we want to make sure that it's very favor to be small businesses and to our country. >> does the s.b.a. work with other federal agencies like the department of commerce or with state agencies? specifically on improving the export atmosphere for small businesses. ms. mcmahon: often the s.b.a.'s international trade person is located around the country and we have -- i forget the number of members that we have. but co-located in the commerce office. so they have access to guiding small businesses, you know, into those areas and s.b.a. has a program called step and they are grants to states to help develop markets outside of the united states for those businesses. sort of provide dollars to

attend trade show, etc., and the money goes to the governors of those states and the governors then distribute that money to businesses within their states. >> one of the biggest obstacles to small business exporting is that they don't have -- always have the resources to protect their intellectual property. is the s.b.a. either on its own or with the department of commerce taking steps to protect small businesses from i.p. abuses? if so, what steps? ms. mcmahon: i think that's a general concern for all businesses. not just small businesses. and clearly i was, in a former life, aware of how important it is to protect trademarks and international property and i think that's -- intellectual property and i think that's something that's ongoing. as we look at trade negotiations, protecting that intellectual property. >> are you happy with the current government tax plan or do you think it could still use some tweaking before this

administration leaves office? ms. mcmahon: i was very happy to see the tax cuts passed and for all of the things that i talked about in my prepared remarks, you know, we are seeing the effects of those tax cuts. i think the president is already talking at this point about perhaps another level of tax cuts but i don't want to get ahead of the administration in commenting on that. >> could you give us hypothetical examples? [laughter] ms. mcmahon: i don't talk about hypotheticals. >> all right. are you looking to give any incentive or tax breaks to brick and mortar small business so that they can compete more effectively with online business? ms. mcmahon: am i looking to? i'm not quite sure i understand the question. >> the small business administration or the administration in general. ms. mcmahon: well, i think what the s.b.a. really is trying to make sure of is that we can help counsel the brick and mortar businesses, you know, main street, u.s.a., is incredibly

important. as i mentioned, they are -- small businesses are glue in the community. so how do we help them compete with other big businesses and one of the things that i like to talk to them about too is to make sure, make sure that you have a unique product in your store and your brick and mortar. how do you get people to come into your store? more often than not, it's being able to provide personalized service and i can give you a personal example. there is a store in my hometown that carries a lot of the same brands that bigger stores do but it's very convenient for me to go that that store and shop -- to go to that store and shop. because we know it's a family business, they know what my schedule is like, they'll often open or stay open later. they'll provide seem stress service for -- seamstress service for getting my clothes fitted and stuff like that. that service makes so much

difference. and you can't do that online. and so i often talk about how personalized service can really make a difference. >> ok. i do have one more question about taxes and competition for small business. small business in high tax states say the tax bill will hurt them, the 2017 tax bill will hurt them because it will make them less competitive with businesses in low tax states. what is your response to that? ms. mcmahon: well, i think you have to look at what the competitive factors always are. if somebody has a break you don't have, you may be at a disadvantage. but there is a company up in buffalo, new york, that i visited and we were talking about tax cuts and etches telling me, he said, you know, i might not get as much of a tax break as someone else is going

to get, he said, but let me tell you what i'm already seeing. he said, i might not have as great a tax break, but i've got more people coming through my door because they got a tax break, they have more money in their pockets. so my customer basis growing. my revenues are increasing. so while my percentage might not be the same as somewhere else, i'm benefiting from the increase in revenues. so he was all for it. >> can you tell us a little bit, you have been meeting with small business owners all over the country. in your conversations with them, i'm sure they're bringing up lots of issues that maybe you hadn't even considered before you became head of the s.b.a. maybe. maybe not. maybe you considered everything. but could you give us some examples perhaps of things that you're hearing that are causing you to consider, you know, policy changes that you could push for or other new

initiatives? ms. mcmahon: i can honestly say that i'm not getting those kinds of issues currently. i may. as we're out and as tax cuts now are in the marketplace more and we're looking at other issues, i think -- let me give you one thing. that i was surprised about and maybe this is not relative to tax. but when the issue about workforce came up, and i'm talking to more and more businesses about workforce, it's not just skilled workers that they need, but they also need workers who basically have a work ethic. and want to come to work. so you've got that type you're dealing with. the other side of the issue, i really was surprised at the opioid issue. and how prevalent it is in preventing many small businesses

from having the workforce that they need. and i know the president is so committed, in fact, his exact words in a meeting were is he wanted to break the back of opioids. >> well, i think the scope of the opioid crisis surprised a lot of people when it came to light. is the s.b.a. coming up with ideas or plans on how to help small businesses specifically in dealing with issues of the opioid crisis? ms. mcmahon: well, you know, there's one thing about regulation and changing laws but what i'm seeing, not necessarily s.b.a., but i think s.b.a. can help foster some of the outreach in local communities. but if you're hearing locally or in the news we're hearing about practical things that are being done, doctors are not prescribing as many opioids.

we're looking at alternative ways to deal with pain. hospital surgeons, after surgery, are not providing as many of the pain relieves that are they did before. again, looking at alternate measures. so as we can continue to educate and help that messaging in our local communities, the practical things that we can do often make the biggest differences. and i think we'll continue to help on that educational level. >> with the mentoring and the counseling that you offer small billss? great -- businesses? great. what changes do you feel that we still need see in our health care rules? there have been a lot. ms. mcmahon: relative to s.b.a. and small businesses, which is kind of where my focus is, basically the -- i've had a couple of meetings with secretary costa. as a matter of fact, i think he will be rolling out in another week or two a version, a new version of associated health plans and i think this is going

to be incredibly beneficial to small businesses who will be able now to be in the marketplace to buy as part of like a large company would through those associations that will be developed either geographic proximity for small businesses, industry associations, industry-specific, and i think one of the biggest benefits for small businesses is that for the first time a sole pro pryer to, an individual can be considered a group. and that has not been the case before. so a sole pro proprietor will be able to go into the marketplace to buy insurance at reduced premiums. >> the s.b.a. recently opened nine new business women centers across the country to help women start and grow their own businesses. why was it so important to you to help women specifically as opposed to the other gender?

ms. mcmahon: we have -- [indiscernible] -- women are often more comfortable going to a women's business center. they just like the atmosphere there and of course men come there too. not as often as women do. but men do come. >> how is the atmosphere different? ms. mcmahon: t.s.a. bit different and women, from what they've told us have greater success when they feel that they have mentoring support group. so coming to the women's business center, not all women, clearly, but some women like to have that support group. so we didn't have as many women's business centers as we do other resource partners that are out there. so we now have i think it's 109 around the country. when you think about it, that's still not a lot. but we're providing mentoring now to thousands of women, which is terrific. so we have the veterans outreach

centers, we have our small business, our score offices that i was talking about. so to have these different points of outreach are very, very helpful. >> what proportion of small billses are currently owned and -- businesses are currently owned and operated by women and how is that changing with your initiative? ms. mcmahon: women actually own about 66% of businesses. do you have that stat? gary? 66% sounds high but businesses are starting businesses plor often than men are. in today's environment. women are getting more higher degrees than men are. and so i think that women businesses clearly are rising and we want to support them in every way we can.

>> fantastic. thank you. so another gender question. you are a woman in a mostly male administration. mostly. right? do you think as a woman that you approach any aspects to business or negotiation, any differently than most men would? and how has your gender worked for you as a net positive over the course of your career? [laughter] ms. mcmahon: i never really ever felt that i was a disadvantage because i was a woman. >> i never did either. [applause] ms. mcmahon: if anything, i'm better off at being a am would. i have six grand children, i have three grandsons and three granddaughters and i really look at the six of them and think that they all have equal opportunity to do what they want to do and i want to encourage each of them to do that. when i talk to small business owners and when i do talk to women who are starting their businesses, and i can tell you, women are incredibly thoughtful.

they're very attentive to detail. they want to make sure that things, you know, are in place to do and they often start businesses with more of a consideration for how that business can benefit the community as well as how they can grow their bottom line. but i have never been in my own company, there clearly was no discrimination, but i always felt, you know, iches never at a disadvantage. i was clearly, as i was concerned, at the top of the ladder, not the bottom of the ladder. >> absolutely. good. what do you think it takes to become a business owner? do you think anyone can do it? ms. mcmahon: i don't think anyone can become a business owner. simply because -- there's a great deal of risk taking that goes into determining to start a

business. and it takes such a commitment of time. you really, if you're going to be an entrepreneur, it's a 24-hour business. you can't just leave it over here. for those who are mothers or parents, you know, raising kids and their family, they have other obligations, there's never any real work-life balance and i've given tons of speeches on that and basically it comes down to there really isn't any balance. it's just balance one way here or one way here and somewhere in the middle maybe you survive. but it's not easy to be a business owner. you have to have certain skills and techniques. you can start a business but can you imagine it? can you imagine your cash know -- manage your cash know? it's one of the reasons businesses fail so often. they're undercapitalize and they don't know how to manage cash know. until you get into that, you really don't know. so i think it does take particular skills to be a business owner. but sometimes you can start off

not knowing how strong you are and not really understanding how much of your survival instinct is there. so if you want to start a business, you may not succeed, give it a shot. take a risk. don't be afraid to fail. >> you said in an interview recently that a bankruptcy that happened earlier -- early in your career, was very instructive for you in going forward even though of course it was painful. so what did you learn from that experience and what would you say to business owners who are on the brink of bankruptcy or whose businesses are leaning toward failing as opposed to succeeding or who have already filed for bankruptcy? ms. mcmahon: bankruptcy's a really tough thing to go through. my husband and i did happen to us early on in our country but literally our house was auctioned off. my car was repossessed in the

driveway. i was pregnant with our second child. so i think when the president asks me to take on this job, as i said in my remarks, he wanted someone who had kind of been there, done that, been through the ups and downs of a business, and i can walk that walk and talk that talk and what i would advise businesses stood you clearly -- you -- businesses to do is you clearly have to protect your down side in any business. what we were talking about before is know how to manage your cash know. don't threat get to the point that that next thing happens, that next shoe fall, you're going to be out of business. you have to have a stronger plan than that. >> what you have found to be the greatest challenges to be so far -- what you have found to be the greatest challenges in working with president donald trump? do you feel he's more pro-big business than he is pro-small business? ms. mcmahon: i don't find any

challenge working with the president as long as you are prepared for what he is expecting of you. and if you have questions, have them well formulated. if you go in to speak with him and sit with him and to get his direction, know your stuff. because he knows his. and he's very -- he's demanding of you because he's put you in a position and given you authority to act within that position and hopefully provided you with the tools that you need. and if you don't have those, shame on you for not coming to get them. and for saying what you need. and if you have those and you're not doing them well, you better be able to justify why not. but he's very fair. he is a good listener. and he gives good direction and he's very straightforward in his direction. >> what would you say is president trump's greatest accomplishment so far? during his presidency. ms. mcmahon: i think he's had

several. certainly getting the tax cut plan through. rolling back regulations. look at where we are with our foreign policy today. i think he's had a lot of successes and more to come. >> how does your experience from world wrestling entertain p help you in this job? ms. mcmahon: my husband and i, we started sharing a, dethis our base -- a desk this our basement and sharing a desk with your husband, let alone a co-partner, and, yes, this marriage did survive, and as a matter of fact, we have our 52nd wedding anniversary this august. >> congratulations. [applause] oh, how wonderful is that. ms. mcmahon: that deserves a round of applause. [laughter] there aren't too many of us who do that. but building a business from the ground up, i mean, really starting with a little capital,

building it market by market, understanding how to manage cash know, understanding how sometimes ideas have to wait but don't let go of them, looking for opportunities and not -- sometimes you have to create opportunities but don't be afraid to take opportunities that might come your way. i can tell you when wwe did its first wrestlemania, which was its kind of big super bowl event in 1985, it had never been done before. by a single company, single entity. to have one event that was literally shown all around the country, in our particular industry. so it was not only the early stages of pay-per-view, but it was also being shown in arenas on closed circuit projection which had happened with boxing. so we had to have a letter of credit in order to put all of

these big projectors in place and i honestly believed we had signed our children away at that point and the about 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning on the night of the event, after having some of the receipts come in from around the country, i finally realized that we had broken even and we were not going to have to draw down on the line of credit which we had been able to establish. so when you look at different, you know, plateaus or aspects in your business that have really made you who you kind of are today in terms of that risk taking, what it took to get that line of credit, all of the aspects of putting a big deal like that together, i'm not sure there's been anything that sort of prepared me to deal with all of the aspects of business, whether it was negotiating with arenas, whether it was negotiating with products, industry, technology, all of that. and as it continued to change, i can't think of any better place i could have had better

grounding than wwe. >> oh, fantastic. so i have one final question for you here. ms. mcmahon: here goes. >> so, have your experiences with professional wrestling come in handy while working in government? you have ever needed -- [laughter] -- or wanted to pull out an over the shoulder body slam? ms. mcmahon: over the shoulder? >> i don't know it. sounded good when we were talking about it. [laughter] something, you know, boom. ms. mcmahon: when i was running for the senate in connecticut, i was asked one time, you know, there's a lot of debate that goes on on the senate floor and how do you think you might pull everyone together at some point, what would be the remedy whether all else had failed? i said, maybe we ought to set up a ring down on the floor of the senate and we just invite everybody in for a royal rumble and the last man standing will

get the bill passed. >> i like that idea. [applause] sod a minute straighter mcmahon, we'd -- administrator mcmahon, we'd like to thank you so very much for joining us here today. i am going to beabout he queeght you with our national -- bequeath you our national press club mug. we give one to each of our esteemed speakers. we hope it's your first and will not be your last and we wish you use it in good health. ms. mcmahon: thank you very, very much. i appreciate very much today. thank you. >> thank you very much. [applause] thank you, thank you. before we adjourn entirely, i'd like to highlight a couple of events that we have coming up at the club. next tuesday we have a luncheon with former mexican president fox. later that evening, after eric burgin from madam secretary is going to be speaking to club members, later in the week we

have a book event with selena and brad about their new book called "the great revolt." we have fox news channel's bret baier coming to talk about his book, "three days in moscow." we have john mechem coming for a book event in june and we have the c.e.o. of delta airlines and the commissioner of the major league baseball. i hope that you will all consider coming to some of these events. look at our website. we have a lot of things there. and with that, our luncheon today is adjourned. thank you for coming. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025]

>> a wll finish our look at linda mcmahon,redent-elect trump's pick to lead the education dartment, with her speech froth year's republican national convention in milwaukee. welcome 20 the administrator of the united states small business administration, linda mcmahon back. [cheering] [cheering] hello, milwaukee. [cheering] america let me take a second to say hello to my delicate from

connecticut ms. mcmahon: my name is lindsa mcmahon and i'm the chair of the america first policy institute. i'm perhaps one of the few people who have been privileged to call donald trump a colleague and a boss. but he's also a friend. let me share a little story that's probably not the typical donald trump story. i had a meeting scheduled with him at mar-a-lago and as he welcomed me, his little 4-year-old granddaughter ran up to him. he scooped her up with delight and asked her, who is the most beautiful girl in the world? ing and she said, me. then he asked, and who do you love the most in the world? and she said, you, grandpa. and he kissed her on both cheeks. then she whisked off his hat and

muffed his hair and he smiled with the love that only a grandfather could have given. i first met donald trump when i was the c.e.o. of the world wrestling entertainment. [applause] for fun, he became part of some of the most compelling and highest rated storylines in the company's history. when he became president i hobbered to serve in his cabinet, running the small business administration. i traveled the country talking to business owners and job creators. they knew they had a president who understood them and fought for them. he knew that small businesses are the engine of the american economy and the trump tax cuts proved to be like rocket fuel for them. almost every business owner i spoke with was using their tax saves to grow their businesses

and, ladies and gentlemen, the u.s. economy was flourishing. but at no moment during my time in the government was more poignant for me than one that happened in 2018. i traveled with the president to view the destruction which hurricane florence had levied on my hometown of new bern, north carolina. i stepped off of air force one and walked side by side with the president of the united states through the hangar where my father had been a shop foreman and my mom had been a budget analyst. i watched donald trump walk through neighborhoods of my childhood, comforting those who had suffered such great damages. because he was a ble he talked to them -- a builder, he talked to them about what it would take to rebuild, what kind of

materials they should use, and he didn't just show a personal interest, he was one of them. but now joe biden and the democrats want to penalize small billses again by hiking their taxes. but when he's re-elected, donald trump will make those tax cuts permanent. [cheers and applause] and he will also offer new tax cuts like no taxes on tips. [applause] instead of taxing american companies, donald trump put tariffs on china that raised billions of dollars and protected american industries. and if re-elected, he'll do it again. president trump is a job creator and the best friend american workers have ever had in the

white house. he's a champion of the forgotten men and women as i have experienced firsthand. but the media doesn't like to acknowledge that very often. donald trump is not only a fighter, ladies and gentlemen, he's a good man. he has the heart of a lion and the soul of a warrior and i believe that if necessary, he would stand at the gates of hell to defend our country. he loves this country. and he would do anything to defend it and to protect us from all harm. i am confident that he will make america great again and why? because he did it before.

so i ask all of you here tonight and those of you who are watching from home to re-elect donald j. trump as the 47th president of the united states. thank you and good night. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] >> ahead of the presidential inauguration on january 20, american history tv on c-span2 presents a four-week series, historic inaugural speeches. each weekend listen to inaugural speeches from franklin roosevelt through barack obama. on saturday, hear inaugural speeches by president jimmy carter in 1977. >> i believe america can be better. we can be even stronger than before. >> president ronald reagan in 1981. >> government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem. >> and president george h.w. bush in 1989. >> to make kinder the face of

the nation and gentler the face of the world. >> watch historic inaugural speeches saturdays at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv, on c-span2. >> book tv every sunday on c-span2 features leading authors discussing their latest nonfiction books. here's a look at what's coming up this weekend. at 4:30 p.m. eastern, human rights advocate with his book "the troublemaker" talks about the life and activist of hong kong media mogul and dissident who is being tried for sedition and other crimes by the chinese government. then at 10:00 p.m. eastern on after words, journalist adam channeledler with his book, a new working history of the american way of life, argues that hard work is not enough to obtain the american dream. he's interviewed by another author. watch book tv every sunday on c-span2 and find a full schedule

on your program guide or watch online any time at booktv.org. >> kentucky senator mitch mcconnell has spent 40 years in the united states senate. 17 of those as leader of his republican colleagues. that's the longest any senator has been at the top of the leadership rung in either political party. senator john thune was elected a few weeks ago to head up the republican majority in the senate in 2025. meanwhile, journalist michael heroes act's book, a profile of senator mcconnell, is called the price of power and sub titled, how mitch mcconnell mastered the senate, changed america and lost his party. the deputy washington bureau chief of the associated press conducted over 50 hours of interviews and was granted access to never before released oral histories.

>> journalist michael tackett with his book. on this episode of book notes plus, with our host, brian lamb. the c-span now free mobile appn or wherever you get your podcasts. >> c-span, democracy unfiltered. we're funded by these television companies and more. including wow! >> the world has changed. today a fast, reliable internet connection is something no one can live without. so wow! is there for our customers with speed, reliability, value and choice. now more than ever, it all starts with great internet. >> wow! >> wow! supports c-span as a public serve, along with these other television providers. giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> scott bessent has been tapped

by trump to be the next treasury secrary. he founded the key square group investment firm previously raised money for democratic presidential candidateal gore, hillary clinton and barack ama. and served as a chief iesent officer for soros fund management. more rently, he raised more than $57 millionor donald trump's 2024 campaign. if confirmed, he would become the second guy person to serve in a presidential cabit after pete buttigieg. nextsct bessent in his own words. we start with his remas a conservative economic policy suiteld on the sidelines of the 2024 republan national convention. he talked about penal economic priorities for a second trump aintration. ond trump administration. >> let me start with you. you are one of the leading financial minds in america. have m