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. >> thank you very much. >> they have within their the small business innovation 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 a complete failure and financial illiteracy in america. that is funny is what into the business community and i'm interested in your thoughts and i'm going to throw in the navy peace and you can have the rest of my time. native americans have experienced a lot of economic challenges, really from initial engagement in this country. the challenges sba has in indian country are exactly dash exacerbated by the challenges with with jurisdiction and with

making sure there's commercial code people can rely on. i'm interested in how you can work with both these groups of entrepreneurs to engage a future for small business in america special in indian country but among young entrepreneurs. >> obviously i have more experience with young entrepreneurs that i do in indian country and i would look forward to working with you and understanding more of the situation that are in your state relative to small business administration could be beneficial to our indian small-business developers. i look forward to that, so thank you. >> young entrepreneurs i have found are great with ideas. some of them have a great business savvy. some of them have no clue of what to do. they're in the garage for their

dorm room or whatever it is that they are, they developed this unbelievable habit, they got all the stuff in sunday someone s going to buy and i'm going to be a millionaire. it doesn't always work that way. there's a discipline to be shown nor to our young entrepreneurs. i sit on the board of trustees at the university of connecticut. one of the things we do incubate small business development there. as we strive to sort of walk the junk entrepreneurs to the steps this is that they're creating businesses that they developed the t-shirts and hats with locals can understand intellectual property of all that and how that is managed. that'll educational process is like wow this without works decision-making success of it and the running successful businesses. we need to continue that not just in our universities but i have kids in high school bit of how to balance the checkbook and it's like really wax we need to have that fundamental understand

the, the basic of economics and move forward to develop this next generation of our young businesspeople. i don't think there's any dispute here that we need to go the financial literacy in order for people to be successful. i thought when i was tax commissioner pete with great ideas great ability didn't know how to file even the simplest of tax forms. not that we shouldn't have fewer tax forms but there's going to be a need for some tax forms to be filed. i look forward to continuing our discussion especially about the challenges of native americans and entrepreneurship. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, senator heitkamp. senator ernst. >> thank you, mr. chair and thank you ms. mcmahon, for being here today to appreciate the time took to sit down with me and many other members of this committee and i want to say a special thank you as well to senator blumenthal and senator

murphy for being here today because i think so many times we get caught up in partisanship that we forget that there are many issues that we are very, very passionate about that share bipartisan nature. so i want to thank them is all for being here to support you today and i know that many members of this committee love to work on things together especially when it comes to regulatory reform, tax reform and others pics i want to thank them for that. now we set out in my office. we talked about the number of issues and one of the issues that i brought up as we sat down was a project i've been working on over the last year and its legislation that gives small businesses a stronger voice in the regulatory process and it's called the prove it act. the legislation did pass out of this committee last year and we

worked really hard with the folks at sba and the obama administration to get their input and feedback because the goal is to make sure the bill is bipartisan and that it is a success. so we did talk about it and the purpose of the prove it act is to strengthen the voice of small-business owners and provide incentives to agencies to improve the quality of their certifications and analysis when they are actually writing a rule. some people, the proof it acts as if there's a battle of analysis between different agencies on the economic impacts of a role in the should be a third-party that will step in, review the facts and then issue an objective assessment. and as you note the small business office of advocacy testified in front of this committee last year because they

were in disagreement about the analysis that epa and the core, the corps of engineers had completed on the wotus rule and believed the rule would have significant economic impact on small business. as well with this prove it act there were of organizations that supported it. the nfib, the chamber and the women impacting public policy all of those organizations supported it. can i get a command 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? >> senator, thank you very much and i did enjoy our meeting. and when you talk to me about this legislation, i thought wow, isn't that just a really common sense thing? i think we just need more common sense in government. if you decide to get a great you

have a referee, a third party that comes in. and i liked also what you told me about the bill, which is actually would make the agencies work together before it had to be, like a public event and help with drafting the legislation. i think that it's a very good piece of legislation that i would like to learn more about and look forward to working with you to make sure we can support our small businesses. >> i appreciate that so much. on a related topic, too, what are your goals just in the first few months should you be confirmed? what are your goals and the first few months at the sba? >> there are so many things to look at and obviously we want to be mentors to entrepreneurs. you want to grow and create jobs. if i had to walk in the first day and some were to say to me, what is the first thing you really want to look at today, i would say i want to take a look

at our disaster relief program because disasters don't pick a time. they happen and we need to be prepared for those disasters and how effective they have been. i know when sand hits a few years ago, hurricane sandy, devastation of the east coast and in my state of connecticut and new jersey, i'm sure others can speak to that. it was a delay in time of response from sba. i don't know if that's because it was a massive storm, it went so far, resources were not there. but we need to get ready for that. we just two nights ago tony evers in georgia killed 19 people. we have to be ready for disaster relief -- tornadoes dash to win our small business are put out of business for a while the economy suffers because they're out of business. we need to get those funds to make those direct loans to them in their homes so they can get back and functioning. that is a real passion we really

need to take a strong look at. >> that's really great. i what is not immune to to those natural disasters and an iowa 97% of our jobs come from small businesses. so thank you very much, mrs. mcmahon. >> senator duckworth. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. mcmahon, thank you sponsors been so much time with me yesterday. i appreciated your candor and willingness to address my concerns that have to do with wwe is a 1099 employees especially as pertains to the health underperformers as well as the potential azimuth is going to be petted thespians motives but this is i don't want that to become the standard that a small business use 1099 employees to avoid paying and providing health benefits and for the protections for small business employees like anyone else. i appreciate you addressing my concerns about potential monopolistic practices at debbie debbie e asbell so thank you for

that time. i want to focus on one of the goals of the sba. congress created the sba to achieve two goals. to up american small business and to make sure these firms with a fair amount of government contract. i want to focus on the second goal. as a member of congress committed to making government work better i'm concerned i'll settle for treatment system is not meeting the needs of american small businesses. in illinois 98% of our businesses are small businesses and they employ 46% of the people living in illinois so there's significant portion of our economy. i often hear from illinois small businesses who are frustrated by jargon filled clunky and complex federal websites come things like fed biz ops and sam.gov and are confusing online tools. these tools may be fine for large corporations with teams of counts in lawyers too weak to

them and figure what they need that you and i talked about how sco at the very beginning you chief, cook, bottle washer and janitor of the enterprise. these federal tools are failing small businesses who want to do business with the government but don't know where to start. simply put, the federal government is falling short in capping the full potential of the full americans -- rated health agencies achieve their mission with the innovative products and services they can provide. if confirmed, we commit to working with me to streamline and modernize these vital online federal contracting tools? >> thanks very much, senator. some of who is technologically challenged i concerning understand the frustration of many small business owners who were trying to break through the morass of looking at confusing websites. it is very important we make our

tools simplest the most direct way they can be so they're easy to use. if you just make things too complicated there are many who will give up before they can even try to get through evident that the resources to have it explained so i would look forward to working with you if i am confirmed so we could sort through this and say okay let's bring someone else income lecher from these people, what is it they really need so when those websites to develop and refine to actual do become a very useful tool. >> once companies that use those tools or try to get some of its contracts with government will you commit to work with me to improve the small business prime contracting and subcontracting goals for each agency? we spoke yesterday about this that small businesses have a hard time competing for some of these veteran owned businesses, women-owned businesses. i spoke about the frustrations at va for capital, major bureaucracy.

i'm hoping you will focus on working to improve those goals across our government and also agencies accountable for providing minority owned women on an veteran owned small businesses with a real fair portion of the federal contracts. >> i'm very happy with cotton to 5%. i'd like to see that go up so yes, i , yes, i would look forward should be honored to be confirmed to working with you and all the members of the committee. i've been invited to several other states to come and visit with the sba offices and everything forward to that. as a matter fact, i would be very happy to visit many of the states that here. >> i will will not make you come to chicago in the winter. finally i want to address the process of the president potential trojan talk of research program which you spoke about on the campaign trail as a candidate. seems to be recommitting itself to significant much good investment in our infrastructure across this country. again this goes back to making

sure small businesses have shot at those contacts. small businesses operating in her home towns all across the country, not just clustered in large cities and they can bring jobs and develop it to the local area. i hope you will commit to working with me to make sure that special attention is paid to providing small businesses with a fair opportunity to compete for work particularly disadvantaged small businesses enterprise when it comes to the infrastructure program. >> i would look very forward to doing that and and i faced f the same issues when i ran for the senate in connecticut. small business often talked about they were huddled over and they didn't get their fair share i look forward to doing the. >> thank thank you so much. i yield back. >> senator rounds. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. mcmahon, i mostly appreciate the time you spent with me in my office as well, and a lot of our discussion have to do with the size of the federal government

with regard to the amount of regulatory overreach that i personally feel has been involved not just over the previous administration but over a series of administrations. you may third since 2008 more than 25,000 new regulations have been issued for american businesses under the obama administration. some estimates find economic impact has reached nearly $727 billion, require 460,000,060,000,000 new hours the paperwork. that's on top of compliance costs of nearly $2 trillion for all federal regulations, or more than 11% of our gdp. the sba independent office of advocacy is i believe a truly important voice in stan f for small businesses against these regulations and the burdens they would impose on small businesses, the office of advocacy intervenes in the regulatory process when possible.

helps to inform other regulators about the impacts of small businesses. some of the other members have indicated their concern with the capabilities of this 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 in the united states. in fact, many family farms and ranches that have been impacted by the epa's waters of use, the wotus rule that store enough and senator ernst have both identified earlier, as you may recall from our meeting in office, the small business administration office of advocacy sent a letter which i i would like to, mr. chairman, submit for the record today. they sent this letter october first 2014 to the epa

administrator gina mccarthy in major to major general john peabody of the army corps of engineers resizing the trend and romance impact on small business. and, in fact, actually recommended the entire rule the withdrawn. now, that was apparently ignored, the rule continued forward. i'd 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 reminding our new administrator of the epa of the damage it has done to small businesses, farmers and ranchers? >> thank you very much for the question. i would look very forward to working with you and the other senators, senator ernst and others who are were broughtp especially the issue of wotus. in fact, i think was senator ernst what i met with her who told me that if a small business in her state wanted to expand it

would have to get approval from the federal government in order to do that. i clearly think that his overreach and i would look for to work with you and other members of the committee to make sure we have the right regulations in place and not overburden someone's. >> to put it more directly. would you consider if necessary if wotus is not withdrawn would you consider reissuing that letter once again through the office come so much the way it was the last time but this time addressing it to the new director or the new administrator of the environmental protection agency under the new administration? >> i would like to find the most effective way to put teeth in the office of advocacy. if that's what other ways to do that i'd like to work with you to see if we could make that happen. >> so i i can take that as an almost yes? >> looking for to working with you on that. >> let me move on. the obama administration fees

were waived for a number of qualifying loans including the upfront one-time loan guarantee fees and ongoing servicing fees for 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? >> i would like to make sure we are making it as easy as possible to get these loans and to help our small businesses. i would like to take a really strong look at what could be accomplished by that, how long was in effect, did we get feedback that this was deficient? what have the answers i would want to see what the merit of that are. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much senator rounds. senator hirono. >> thank you, mr. chairman heres good to see you. thank you for the time that we

spent together. i first of want to commend you for the comment 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 administered we commit to preserving the programs and funding that exist to promote women and minority entrepreneurship and work with this committee to improve these programs? >> i definitely want to be a strong advocate for women, for our small business and just for our minorities in business,, veterans. went 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 an understanding of the special challenges that are faced by women entrepreneurs having been one yourself and minority-owned businesses, veterans. those are groups that i take them also focus on to make sure

they had the kind of support from sba that they should get. we've heard about access to capital. that something you mention hearing about when you were running for office. have you identified the specific factors that lead to difficulty in accessing capital? unless you know what the cause of our we make the appropriate changes. so since access to capital has been mentioned by your number of times have you id to those causes? and what you would deal about them as administered. >> 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 that was in the rural area in the northeastern corner of connecticut we called quiet country. it was in ottawa north who made like springs and the made by hand and in this company he had probably eight to ten, most women who are making these

particular crips and springs. he had built his business from two or three people and added people. he had got loads from his community bank before bridge loans when it's time for them to expand the or he was a little bit cash shy. he knew his community bank are. and now he has work orders and more business come in. he won a tire you workers but he had it but in order to get he added onto sicily. he would to see a same community bank are at the baker told he said the problem is your asset rich but you are cash poor. he said well, i totally get that because if i had the cash i would need to be here to get through this time. what is banker told him was, in the past i've been able to loan you this money but today and new regulatory environment that we find ourselves in, you no longer qualify as you did before. you would have to over collateral eyes this loan and in order for me now to make a loan

to you. that meant he had to put up all of his assets, his house, and other assets in order to collateralize a much smaller loan. while entrepreneurs are very happy to take managed risks, that was just simply too much. so we did not expand and he didn't grow his business. he didn't hire those next people. that's an example of a regulatory private i think that does not allow our -- >> let me know about that. i for this, also from small businesses in my state. visit with a lot of them. some of those resulted from the financial collapse and the and regulation of financial services industry on wall street. so there's usually a cause and effect and i'm with you in trying to resolve some of those issues for our small businesses. there was a reason the collateral rules changed is

because there always on collateralized loans which led to the economic collapse. i want to make the point we hear a lot about overregulation. when i talk with my small business and they say, it's easy enough to say were in an overrated environment but always ask what specific regulation is causing you trouble? and less weight in the five been appropriately we can sit here and talk about overregulation and not get to the heart of it. i'll give an example, , there ws an orchid farmer and he could ship his cut flowers but for some reason he couldn't ship the whole flowers. these are all clean flowers, all of that. we worked with i think -- to change that. i'd like to ask, when we moved to improve the regulatory environment that you would ask those very specific kinds of questions so that we get to the heart of whatever the regulation is that is causing them problems

as opposed to some kind of oh, yeah, we're overregulated. that doesn't take us very far, in my opinion. >> thank you for the comment, too. i don't know how you change regulations if you can't identify them. that's exactly what you said. we have to know, that are negative and positive impacts so we can change them or enhance them. i'm committed to doing that for sure. >> thank you. i know my time is up but i'm really glad you mentioned one of the first things you would do is look at disaster relief. because sba being on the ground in disaster strikes and all of our states have expressed that, that is important. i was pleasantly surprised by your response to that question. >> thank you, senator hirono. senator scott. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good to see again. thank you for being hit and your willingness to serve. according to the 2016 nfib survey of problems and priorities of small business owners listed illicit things like cost of health insurance,

unreasonable regulations, federal taxes, tax complexity, economic uncertainty and locating qualified employees and some of their top concerns. as a business owner i know you can't identify with many of these concerns here if you are confirming how would your experience play a role when determining if the sba could alleviate 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's very difficult to access to capital and get loans when you really have no collateral against that except your own cash flow. i know there are a lot of startups that face this kind of issues in getting capital.

i know how to talk to them a little bit about that. i know how to talk with her cash management this is what you need to do and i advise all started compass once you start making a little profit you can put it away, get a line of credit because when you needed you can't get it. it's important advice to small companies but to manage your cash very, very carefully because cash flow is really a great part of success. under capitalization is one of the reasons about a small companies fail. having walked in those shoes i actually understand that. >> absolutely. one of the things you mentioned, the cash flow and looking for qualified local employees, i assume you've had some success with local qualified employees like the rocking of the folks. i thought that was funny as well. looking for a way to throw in my -- >> good job. >> i'm enamored with the concept.

that's just my plug. turn pretty red over there. he doesn't do that on tv. i do think one of the challenges small businesses face is how to levine 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 the finding, attracting the right talent to the right market is a difficult task, i think a psych cc 4% of new jobs are being created in small businesses. the reality of it is in places like colorado that there's only one type of employee with a skill set that matches what's available in colorado is how to limit the number one tourist destination in a world where you should come visit very soon the reality of it is our tourism drives a lot of our entrepreneurship how to realign the opportunities and access to

jobs with those folks looking for the jobs in that marketplace? >> thank you. and may be a little different on that as well, is i continue to say when i was campaigning. however those a four-year period when i really did learn a lot about what's going on in my state. what i found out was in many instances there weren't as much a shortage of jobs as there were trained people for those jobs. we have to refocus how we're looking at the jobs market city on the board of trustees in sacred heart. i took a look at some of the educational programs we have asked are we reaching out to our corporations and/or companies that are surrounding our university to understand what kind of shifts for changes to we need to make an order to fulfill that employment stream? we are starting to be more

successful in that but we have a long ways to go but that's one of the things 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. i which is close with the comment period i hope as our new head of the sba that you will look for ways to create synergy within government, props are technical schools at the local level. doesn't matter what level of government that you look for ways to create that synergy that will provide an alignment of those jobs with skills and a marketplace where those jobs are available. that's a great place for sba perhaps to take a unique perspective on their mission and find ways to improve the outcome of the average person who starts in a very difficult place to find entrepreneurship as a path forward. it would be wonderful to see that happened on your

leadership. >> thank you, senator scott. the chamber of commerce vacco will be delighted with your line of questions. >> thank you, sir. >> senator coons. >> thank you, chairman risch, ranking member. welcome. i thought we had a informative meeting last week at a really appreciate the chance to share stories of entrepreneurship and job growth and i'm thrilled to have the opportunity to continue that conversation. it was mostly about the key role sba can play in helping small businesses grow great jobs. the import of accessibility of capital, strength of i.t., the value of mentoring programs like score, the value of other areas of federal government like the manufacturing extension partnership which can help small businesses to grow. my own home state of delaware which i've invited you to visit, not to be outdone by senator scott, we have a great beach community which we hope you'll come visit. our number of iconic businesses the delaware beaches that

started with this be a loans that helped them grow in the early stages i should say. you will see on both sides of the island a knowledge of an enthusiasm for the real impact sba has had in her home state and the folks who lead sba delaware have done a terrific job have worked very well with my office. i love doing small town visits were woke up and down the main street and see whether it 7(a) or 504, scored impact sba programs can have. when we met we talked about your notice of an expense with intellectual property. using trademarks in licensing to protect some of the key innovations that your business engaged in at a talked about my passion or patents and making sure small businesses know how to protect what they got what they bring to the market. do you agree it's important to educate small businesses about how they can protect within fit or indicate whether it's through patents or trademarks or other ip? is a something you think we could work on together? >> it is something that is 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 knowledge and you can be dangerous or if you have enough knowledge to know you have to go further and ask somebody with expertise. it was important that as the company developed intellectual property that we protected, we copyrighted the television shows or our music programs or our magazine works. it was very important or registered trademarks in the particular classifications to protect, you've invested so much money to grow and develop the product or the intellectual property, but if you don't protect it, and some else takes away from the, you have a leg to stand on because you didn't defend your own property. it's really important to make sure young physicists understand the value of what they create

and that they need to protect that. you have to spend the some o do it but in the long run you are protecting your investment. >> i look forward to working with you on that. as the lead to democratic appropriate on the subcommittee of the funds sba we also talked about how this is an area of general broad agreement on a bipartisan basis in what is often an otherwise contentious subcommittee. the fact you were introduced positively by two tillman you rant against recently was a moment agreement about the skills and value bring. in appropriations is my hope we will work together on the 7(a) program to make sure we're finding the right balance between promoting needed loan programs while avoiding a return to subsidy. let me mention to make other things before my time runs out. i have joyfully to what senators on extending the tax credit in way that can help innovative startups companies that use

technology and innovation in order to go quickly. i would be grateful for any help you can offer in our working together to inform more small businesses that are technology centered about that opportunity. last, senator risch and i worked together in the last congress to advocate for the score program, something that was in delaware by dupont retirees. >> we talked about that. >> a mentoring program that helps small businesses that really need to get their first business plan together or that need someone with specific skills. i'd be interested in hearing what you could see your way towards supporting score in seeing this as a critical broken for a time as administrator if you're confirmed. >> thank you very much. statistics show whether it's women-owned businesses or whatever business that is, they are more success with mentors because it someone you can talk to who can give you advice and especially underscore when we

had these executives who come in and taken it upon themselves. these are very seasoned and accomplished professionals and to be able to have that as a resource i think is fantastic. i really would like to see more and more mentoring because we have more business of the successful. >> it is a strikingly low cost and the impact federal program. i would love to work with you in the future thank you for a chance to be with you again today and i'm grateful you stepped up and are willing to take on this important role in the trump administration. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> senator young. >> thank you, chairman, ranking member. so good to be with you. to estimate of your caliber and experience. >> thank you. >> willing to put yourself forward and serve in this capacity. one of the advantages being lower on the proverbial toad pulled his iq to all the brilliant questions of my colleagues. one of the disadvantages is i have to rework my questions when those brilliant questions were

ones i intended to ask so i will attempt to ask you some things that haven't yet been addressed. by way back when i come from the small business them as well. my dad has grown a commercial hvac distributorship over the years and now my brother has taken over the business. i understand the unique challenges, unique opportunities that are associate with small businesses. this town tends to be rigged oftentimes against the little guy, or women as it were on account of regulatory burdens. sometimes hoisted with great deliberation 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 as an opportunity perhaps

unrealized full extent advocate on behalf of small businesses. in each of the different federal agencies across the federal government through the office of advocacy. you've indicated that would be a real point of emphasis on your part. the regulatory flexibility act of 1980 tasks this office of advocacy with monitoring federal agency compliance with the act in assisting regulatory agencies during all stages of rulemaking development to mitigate the potential adverse impact of rules on small entities, blah, blah, blah. so that seems like a lot of work. this is comparatively speaking a small department when you compare it to say the department of defense and whatnot. i would be interested, say, 180 days into your service to get

feedback to this committee come to my office in particular, about what you've learned with respect to the office of advocacy, how with operations might be improved, if there are additional authorities or resources required to advocate on behalf of our nation small businesses and young firms. that would be instructive i think to all of us. do 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 the members of committee, things i found i think throughout sba where i found issues or problems that i need your help and guidance. and i hope you would not hesitate to reach out to me to say look, these are some things i really want you to take a look at because i'm going to be drinking from the firehose for a while, continuing to company will be a lot free to absorb and i like to be the most effective ad as against. so you will make every effort

within 180 days to provide a report with respect to the office of advocacy and things of that nature? >> i will get back to us in his account with that. >> that's fair enough, thank you. the second question just pertains to basic efficiency and effectiveness and avoiding duplication, something you indicated earlier is important to you. can i get a commitment you will work with me to find efficiencies and ways to streamline the work at the sba? >> i definitely want to streamline where we need to streamline and what we need to add we need to add and yes, i look forward to working with you and everyone on the committee to do that. >> and lastly, i know back in my great state of indiana we stumbled upon some unique approaches to assessing our small businesses, some which might be replicated by other states. no doubt other states have their own examples to put forward. i think there might be an opportunity for the small business administration to be an

effective clearinghouse for best practices emerging from the local level or state level. perhaps even best practices that we've seen in other countries. so with your commitment to work with me on that effort perhaps we will be able to assist our small businesses. can i get your commitment to explore the opportunities as a pgh yes i'm a a firm believern best practices and if it as a look across all of what is going on world to the sba will identify areas that need to be showing up and others that need to be changed or some that need to be removed. so yes, i like best practices. >> thanks so much. >> thank you very much. we'll go to senator markey. >> thank you, mr. chairman very much. ms. mcmahon, we talked to my office. i raised this issue of net neutrality with you. the reason i did was that it's

not really well understood that 60% of all venture capital goes to software and internet startups. they are small businesses just beginning. one of your counterparts over at the federal communications commission, the new chairman designate his talk about repealing those rules which was just make it possible for new start is to be able to reach all 329 people in america which is the business model, venture, and as investment money flows that way. again, the next generation of startups. our use of may with net neutrality issue? and what is your general philosophy towards those areas of economic development in the small business area in our country? >> thank you very much.

yesterday when you and and e about i said thank you for informing after informing me about this in educating me about this. i have not dealt with net neutrality in any of the businesses i've involved in. i understand your concern from yesterday that we don't want any restrictions on access of the unit because he can impede small physicists thought i would like to continue to learn more about that and to learn more from you about that and how it can be used most effectively. >> i thank you. sbir, some staggering numbers from massachusetts since the program was created in 1982 massachusetts, small companies can 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 upon sbir as

part of our long-term business planning. senator shaheen and i and others we been advocating to make this a permit program. have you had a a chance to lot sbir and what would you think about the prospects of your support for making a permanent program? >> i have just begun to swim -- familiar side-by-side with it now to talk to me senators were on the committee? at home port sbi has been for the constituents especially in the technology and start its of what a proportion they are. now small businesses especially in your state. i want to delve more into that and to see how we can best utilize sbir to make sure we can enhance it. let's do that. we need to make it permanent. i want to know why that's beneficial side like to continue to learn from you and ranking

member casey dean and others about that. >> thank you. and climate change. climate change is real. it's happening. we see it along the coastlines especially of our country and over and over again fema in the sba have had to respond and order to give help to louisiana affected by historic flooding or along the northeast with historic storms that hit our coastlines. ..

a fascinating statistic. lobsters north and the fishing industry there is really impacted. i want to know not only as it relates to massachusetts the world small business can be affected. fpa stepped up to help small businesses and fully will

understood in the leadership. thank you. >> i want to thank you for being here and make the sacrifices you have to make. your daughter is far more fierce and intimidating in your son-in-law. [laughter] we are about the same age. maybe get some triple help getting in shape blackrock. >> new jersey had good years.

we received loans was 500 billion going to communities. i was blown away by party when a woman. a higher cap additional loans. >> for the loans going where we think they are going? minorities, small business owners, veterans native americans but also loans

effective? if they are, let's increase them. >> i really appreciate that response. the banks used to evaluate the loans using other traditional loan repayment rates in traditional roles. trying to correct for bad policy and 90s and many are doing that things. to get food stamps in public housing and compete

economically. many are available to get fda with remarkable change. >> it sounds like a prospective. >> americans one of ten violated laws and they are poor people and minorities. they are almost or times more likely to compete economically.

transparency and make sure you're committed and francie to come to loans and better metrics about how your loan is doing. the lake quickly, i have a lot of problems with the regulation as well. the fact that the number one of employer in america includes contractors with federal government is a tremendous job the rules and regulations are difficult. in hundreds of billions of dollars with one major outlet

and out performed in its hard for small businesses to keep in the technology field it's difficult because from provide creative service can even compete because it's too to to navigate. it is really critical to empower small businesses to lower regulations a larger contract and will help in a significant way and in this difference and

better service. that something you will be focused on? >> absolutely, having that access. >> thank you very much. >> a great addition. you understand how hard it is to start or expand today? >> i know very well. >> i'll start with the regulation.

specific rules, this is what they tell me. bigger decisions by the bureaucracy and government answering the phone government websites that a normal person can navigate. it's been my experience unlike you can't before jobs of your against business. regulation, capital and decent infrastructure and skilled

workforce. tell me how you will help he does things. >> a lot of what you talked about if i were fortunate enough to be confirmed -- >> you will be. [laughter] i think it is really important we enter the small businesses. an abstract's plan and sometimes you have to say is not a good idea.

often there isn't enough but all the other things like a blueprint or taxes and fewer regulations and a basic understanding of what it will take the needs to do that aspect and will help us. in the second mortgage on their home, it is insurmountable.

in this administration. we are in trouble i hope you will of something i can do to help, let me know. good luck. >> i don't think i can be an advocate.

and center, back to within the federal government, it's not one of the largest. job growth and need to do what we can to support the. we are mostly a rules state.

for the loan significant. i want to hear you will be an advocate because what we saw in the last administration is about 32%.

>> the right budget to accomplish what we need to and it may be if you have an opportunity one aspect the site we can he's dollars in literature. to make sure we are asking the let's lay it out and here's what i did take. it is a sobering experience the feeling of my understanding. you will be an advocate to make sure it runs effectively and efficiently.

>> it is a goal we all share. providing innovation to the department of defense and we heard from experts the most effective existing program and help military get the innovation they need in the research program.

there are discussions about cutting that program. it's been raised by a number of members and severe preservation about cutting disaster assistance. in the international markets between growing and succeeding so i urge you to look at those issues and advocate for the best interest of our small business.

>> it will be the last and a momentous occasion because it's not very option. >> i know a lot about her background. i will just focus on one issue is we had to scottsdale, busy cabarrus had an impact. a place that should during the outbreak but i tell people, do not if you're pregnant.

all the way to the wedding canceled so one thing we discussed to redefine small businesses during public health crisis. it is hard to predict but i hope it's something i can encourage you to be reminded about. our ability to help by the

outbreak of the pandemic dynamic and the chance to explore that in the future. >> have not had a chance to look at. >> i'd love to have you come to florida. >> between november and march could have wanted to know how

first-generation americans are in terms of entrepreneurship. a traditional area where they congregate. i think not just people focused on these programs and financial assistance but to be an

advocate, i believe small businesses in america within federal government core watchdogs at any double that impact. i know you will be very busy but i hope to encourage you to come but we have all business success everywhere in our state. you for your willingness and the average. from close and well and i look forward to working with you so thank you for being here today.

>> that's a good one, two. [laughter] >> we do that in the warm months. >> we are going to conclude the hearing and thank you so much. this has been a good hearing. we've been talking about this as quickly as possible and fill good about being able to get you confirmed so we are going to buy

it next week but we are going to leave the record open until close of business tomorrow and keep it open for two weeks so with that, thank you to your family for being so supportive. with that, our committee is adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

the origin of definitively he.

let's begin where your story begins growing up in north carolina, and only child. i have but dual advantage, and older persons perspective as well as length parents perspective. >> i guess i still am a tomboy.

>> can you recall the best advice she's ever given you? >> she always stressed with me to be yourself always do your best to be yourself regardless of what company you are in you are trying to represent. >> what did your parents think?

he was 16. >> you come to your office? >> not a lot. after restarting dating, he left my mom and dad of the summers primarily we would see each other. he started college and started high school as our relationship, more serious, he would hitchhike is carolina university and back and read each other over the weekend. >> finished college in three

years? >> i did. >> when did you get married? >> right out of high school. it took him a little longer to graduate and me a little less time so he graduated together. i was 17. it was just having confidence they did make it work never thinking you wouldn't read this august will be 51 years. i think the greatest thing is you have to have separate bathrooms.

[laughter] if you need to ask me why, you don't understand the whole process. [laughter] we certainly hadn't planned on the so he moved to be closer to them. >> how much was in your checking account? >> very, very little. >> walk us through how the

enterprise began for you and your husband. >> my husband is third-generation. his grandfather dabbled a bit in wrestling. capital wrestling corporation located at 1332 and that was a territory at the time. i think it was in his blood and all he ever wanted to although he did dabble in a couple of things before my father was a

schreiner and one of the shriners was wrestling. >> or did they come up with these things? >> there very creative. they know how to live in the character. >> your son-in-law. >> he started with that name when he was wrestling with a different organization and was this aristocrat. >> you call him to play?

>> i call him paul. >> a family business? >> my daughter and my son physical former for wwe and privilege. >> one issue that you had to deal with his drugs. had it been used in your tenure? >> would put up health and wellness together with stringent drug testing policy but it's really about health and wellness because when you're performing, you're putting your life in somebody else's hands.

we want to make sure you are mentally ready. >> you advised the wrestler? >> they are athletes and entertainers so much more pleasant to match than a sporting event. >> how does it train you for your job here? growing each aspect of the business so when trump asked me to serve, he knew that i knew what it was like to build a business from the ground up,

scale and grow it. >> when did you first meet trump? >> i think it was early to mid 80s. he invited us to be his guest at a rolling stones concert. we went and had a great time will. >> you had the longest relationship the president. >> that's true. we met him early on. he has performed in a couple of wwe events. he's the only president of the united states inducted into the wwe hall of fame. >> how did that come about? >> each year we conduct a celebrity who's performed at

some time as well as better performers so he was once elected. >> is donald trump a person and friend to you different than the donald trump public sees on television? >> i've known him about 25 years and is always been a loyal and trusted friend. he's a very smart businessman who. we've always enjoyed working with him. >> commission is what? >> to make sure we provide the right tools and environment so entrepreneurs can start businesses or growth businesses. they are creating jobs and it's adding to the economy because i appreciate the fact that small

businesses are the engine of our economy. >> one of the biggest obstacles? >> even before i came, i toured small businesses and what i heard from them is the same thing i'm hearing today. the regulatory environment, taxes and healthcare and they are already in place in the most difficult to deal with. they need access to capital but

what i have found is the general public for small businesses a large don't really know what they have to offer. we guarantee loans and make loans available so we help get counsel and give general overall advice so when we get them

through, another aspect young entrepreneurs consulted the government to put together the government contracts. the one aspect was the disaster relief program so sandy or

katrina because they can lose their home so they want to help them get back on their feet. they get their business going the sooner the contribute to the economy. >> what are some of the biggest mistakes when starting a business? will. >> the biggest mistake is undercapitalization and tax global because things go on an erosive fashion and then

something happens and you cannot managed cash very well. often the our ceo and janitor. i canceled the young woman will soldiers going to do the billing at night. you make your money with your hand to answer the phones because in the long run the money will come back to you. >> we were growing a business but it was a great opportunity

with the challenge is, how do you scale? moved across the country to develop markets and grow from a northeastern regional the international business really a good opportunity and good vision and creative vision and push the company to grow. >> cable was very big for

anybody who goes back we had show on one week when the next market in the next market and usa cable was the first national reach we had and get the opportunity to expand. >> what we are responsible this? >> ceo of the company, a lot of strategic planning and hr, finance, operational issues and i would pitch my wagon to a

star. full throttle all the time. someone who has great vision needs people who can execute so make sure we can execute through contracts, television negotiations in the world of licensing and aspects to make them work and chill together. >> did they come by it naturally? >> they both enjoyed seeing how the business developed. i think stephanie worked as the development at one time.

putting up the ring the very first job was working in the warehouse where they were stopped and he had to sweep floors and keep things cleaned so they really learned the business from the ground up. >> early in your career did they ever ask what kind of business career this was? >> no. early on we went bankrupt. it wasn't a result of the wrestling industry investing with partners who turned out and we were the only ones left

holding the note and we just couldn't do it anymore. my car was repossessed so when i talk about risk and managing cash flow, it's something i've been through. >> often when our commuters are coming in and out of work. >> in total 100 million, what does it tell you? >> i was a total unknown and the money was spent in introducing me to the public and you are on

the new york border to buy it from the new york market and the time was very expensive. >> you lost both races, what did you learn from back? >> i learned a lot about myself. i was listening to the issues that i toured so many things

from that perspective from the political blood as well as the knowledge. >> having been on this for several months now, wise, myself on this trillion. focus on coming together the one thing i like and appreciate is

our agency is the least partisan of any agency in washington not only in the house but in the senate, both sides work together. last because everyone wants to see the economy grow and i think is a real effort to stimulate business. >> how did you personally prepare? >> there are things called murder boards, questions they think will come from the hearing. i'm very confident in the direction i give them learning about government find the bill,

his executive order relative to partnership. it's part of the workforce which we've been involved in met with business leaders and educators and everyone has the same message and in the economy.

and succeed in the greater growth and our economy. about 29 million, two out of every three are created by small business and even women businesses, women-owned are about 36% of small businesses.

and making sure they have access. and to visit with my family and it is nice to reconnect.

>> about what's next. and the next four years and suddenly you are in the government and policy and it is

fascinating and intriguing. >> i was a reception in washington commute every day and an agency in this economy.

talk to me about taking this position. and he walked me to the door and just had one request and he said a good job. if my best wasn't good enough, i gladly step aside and let somebody do a better and he said he was glad for that. and they come on board immediately and they are doing

it to go to our district office around the country. in their district. small businesses and integrate into the community and how it can impact the community. we had our leadership conference

last week america will begin with the leadership conference they had everybody and for the first time and continue with the ignite tour. and i'm going to washington, oregon and alaska these come to

my state. i want to show you what we are doing and how they can be more effective. hopefully going to puerto rico. i'm learning along the way. i am enthusiastic but i like to come back to the this runs an hour.

>> good afternoon and welcome to. minute editor with bloomberg news and 111 president of the national press club. [applause] we are pleased to welcome today's speaker, head of the small business administration, linda mcmahon. i'd like to ask you if you haven't, please turn off all

cell phones. # npc live. hold your applause until everyone has been introduced. ... senior vice president at story partners and a member of the national press club headliners team. we have dan friedman wrote these regional correspondent at hearst newspapers washington bureau of

those newspapers include the stamford advocate. we have chief of staff for the u.s. small business administration. coming from this and we have alan, 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 organized today's event. we have andrea stone, ceo of dynamic pro. we have kevin lindsay, retired u.s. navy captain and executive director of first global. he also helped organize today's event. thank you both. with senior business reporter at the epic times. skipping over speaker for just a moment we have betsy martin

executive in residence at american university and cochair of the national press club headliners team. thank you all for being here today. [applause] i would also like to acknowledge additional members of the headliners team responsible for organizing today's event. lisa matthews, laurie russo, danny selig, bill lord and the press club staff specifically lindsay underwood, laura coker and executive director bill mccarron. thank you. linda mcmahon serves as the 25th administrator of the u.s. small business administration. she advocates on behalf of of our country's 30 million small businesses, specifically through access to capital, federal contracting opportunities, counseling, mentorship and financial systems.

she is part of what the media reports have dubbed the 14 billion-dollar cabinet at the star doldrums of administration. together with her husband, for his magazine based administrator mcmahon network over $1 billion. an entrepreneur and business executive mcmahon is a a cofounder 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. one could say linda mcmahon comes to this position with her own experience in small business. administrator mcmahon step down as ceo of a company in 2009 to run for u.s. senate and was the republican nominee in connecticut in 2010 and 2012. she supports president trump's

agenda for other small businesses which include 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 sent amazon provides startups with an opportunity to boost sales but that comes at a price. she also said the number one concern among small-business owners when she began her sba role was tax cuts. with those now in place uses 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 the. >> when 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 headset. we are so happy to have her here today. please join me in welcoming administrative linda mcmahon to the national plus,. [applause] -- national press club. >> administrator mcmahon. >> thank you very much. pleasure to be a. what am i going to do with it? >> hopefully that will -- we will see what you do. >> thank you so, so much. what a nice crowd. as we isis this afternoon. and i want to thank the national press club for money here today at a ducey some familiar faces out in the audience. i'm very pleased to see some of you i have seen in a long time. i want to thank c-span and

public radio for covering us as well. and i'm just really delighted to be here. those of us who are in public service have the opportunity to meet such a diversity of people come and hear so many interesting stories on a routine basis. that's part of public service that i really like the most. whenever i arrived at it this is what i'm doing my road tours and the owner or owners of this 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 one's they are still facing. for those of you in the room and i know there are several, who on your businesses you understand what i mean when i tell you that entrepreneurs business is really personal to them. it's like an extension of them. when president trump asked 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 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. 99.7% of 99.7% of businer country are small businesses. nearly two-thirds of 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's what they're telling us. the nfib is reporting a 45 year high in small business optimism. a cnbc survey conducted last quarter measured the highest ever surge in small business optimism. small business optimism matters. entrepreneurs are risk takers by definition. when they feel confident about the future we see more started and we see more growth. that's exactly what they're telling us. a ubs poll conducted recently found that nearly half of all small businesses will invest more in their businesses in the upcoming months. a third of small business and increase hiring. so the question is what led to all this optimism? i'm here today to tell you this surge in small business optimism and everything that flows from that didn't happen just by accident.

it's not the result of some cyclical realignment. it's not happening because of public policy decisions that were made years ago. it is happening i believe as a direct result of this presidency leadership. both the tone and the policies coming out of washington are different. small businesses see a president who was not only bullish on america but also aggressively driving bold, pro-growth public policies. here's what's happening as result. unemployment claims today they are at their lowest levels since the early 1970s. the unemployment rate is at 3.9%. african-american employment rates are at their 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're right, andrea, those graduating classes today e really at a good time. i have given two commencement speeches over the last couple of weeks and i've told all the students it's a great time for you to be graduating. interestingly there was a prevailing sentiment among small businesses that government is back on their site. it's reflected in economic indicators and it's what i'm hearing on a on a routine m small businesses all across the country. i get asked all the time whether i think the tax cuts have benefited small businesses. i see nightly 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's something i pledge to

do when i began my, quote, ignite to work last may. and 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 than to go there to see how they operate. they are actually people on the ground. they're interacting with our lenders and customers. it are the voice in the face of sba. so i wanted to see firsthand. but i didn't just want to go to this district offices. so the district offices set up for me business roundtables, visits to small businesses in the area. i did a lot of local and continue to do a lot of local media because a lot to talk about all of the opportunities in the programs and sba has to offer. when i talked to the small businesses entered 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 programming. 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 hear from those small businesses, i'm doing what i said it's going to do, i'm hiring more people, i'm going my business, i'm really grateful for the president. that level of optimism is still staying high because the tax cuts are now in place. i hear a bit more now about healthcare reform and that you're a bit more now, not a bit more, the primary thing i hear mostly from small businesses today is there's a a shortagen our workforce in skilled labor. so 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 has had a small business described the tax cuts as a game changer. and she is right. they're absolutely changing the game and they're 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% for business income. and before the tax cuts were enacted, income would pass through to the small business owners on the personal taxes were it was tax at rates as high as 39.6%. businesses have the ability to deduct the costs and equipment, rather than having to take depreciation over several years on new equipment. instead of less than memorable savings, maybe the spread out over years, the impact that is

immediate and unmistakable. as i visited several businesses, one i referenced often because it stuck in my mind, it was a bread baker of massachusetts. i was touring his facility and i must tell you, if you've been into a bread baking facility and the bread is coming warm out of the oven, all you really want to do is have a pound of butter and grab the loaves from all over. it was really great. it was a family business that started small and built, and he told me, he said i'm so happy with the tax cuts. he said, primary because you see this big oven over here? at evan cost 1,000,000 one half dollars. because of expensing under the new tax cuts i'm going to buy a new oven and i'm going to bring on new accounts, hire more people. i'm going to expand my facility. those are the stories i heard. then i talked to a beer brewer,

a micro brew up in pennsylvania. he was walking me through and i was looking at these big mixing vats for the different flavors of -- did you know they have chocolate flavored beer? wasn't my favorite but but t to taste a few as well. but this brewer told me, not only am i going to buy n another mixing that, because i will have more product, and i distribute it not just here but i but i also have a small café out front. and what i'm noticing is i have more and more customers, and 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 listen. one of the folks that's on the dice this afternoon, andrea stone, who was recognized before, but andrea, stand up

again if you will. andrea is a small business owner from arlington, virginia. i do, andrea. 12 discussion launch dynamic pro incorporated. she decided after chelating years of experience in the field of business services the time was right to take a calculated risk, hang out her own shingle at open her own consulting business. andrea is here today and we appreciate very much your sharing the dais with us in coming in. andrea says that tax cuts have allowed her to hire more people, specifically a full-time employee dedicated to marketing. 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 having to do. so andrea said that she hired this full-time marketing person because a lot of our time that needed her attention in the business was spent on marketing,

and now she could devote her time and energies to the things that only she could do to drive for business. she also told us 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 was here today. 17 years ago he started as a asa one-man operation with $1000 in borrowed capital and makeshift basement office. today he's -- he has a three of employees and offices in washington, san diego and maine. john issued today and john, would you stand up again please so we can just acknowledge you as well. thank you both. john told us for the first time you see his 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 into paychecks, and as

result of the tax cuts he was able to hire two additional business development employees. ask again, john, for your story to small businesses are benefiting from these tax cuts. they are making investments, expanding, and creating jobs. listen to this. there's another way in which small businesses are 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. by 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 whatever large corporations

invest, expand and hire, small businesses are the beneficiaries. entire local economies can be formed around small businesses supporting a major corporation. 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 actually have a negative impact on the growth that we are 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, 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 business. by the way, that is more on an employee basis and large corporations pay. this president has canceled, delayed or eliminated hundreds

of onerous regulations. the administration is also looking at changes that could make healthcare 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 ast to businesses, and nfib is 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'm very proud to report the sba wrapped up a record fiscal year for lending in the last fiscal year total lending to small businesses was in excess of $30.5 billion. that helped create that help create more than 650,000 jobs. a significant portion of these loans were distributed to minority applicants. the community advantage program serving emerging and underserved

borrowers grew by more than 11%, and the sba's microphone program assisting small entrepreneurs grew to more than $68 million. in addition to access the capital the sba plays a key role in providing access to mentoring. the sba trained or counseled more than 1.4 billion clients on starting and growing businesses using our resource partners like score, sbdcs, women business centers. i have talked to so many small businesses who have utilized and sought access from these resource partners and advice in the mentoring and the time that the volunteers spend is for free. the consumer or the prospective business owner doesn't pay for that. often i've been told if it weren't for that counseling, even though i found access to capital, i wouldn't really know

how to develop my business plan, my marketing plan, and how to grow my business. from the government contracting perspective, agencies are on track to exceed a small business contracting goal of 23%. additionally, we met key goals as a relates to small disadvantaged businesses and service disabled veteran owned businesses. in 2017 are disastrous assistant 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, proving more proving more than $6.7 billion in low interest disaster loans. it's important after a disaster we get small businesses back on the seat and back in their homes. it's the only time sba is

welcome home mortgages because it is so important for the community that small businesses get back up and running. we processed 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 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 mention our flagship 78 loan program which is run by partnerships with nearly 2000 banks and other financial institutions. that program had a banner year for women last year. 30% of our flagship loans went to women-owned businesses. two out of every five dollars sba approved in the micro loan 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. since i'm on the topic of sba, imagine that, i want to make a very important point. washington is frankly described as a dysfunctional town where nobody wants to work together. i can tell you it is certainly not the case at sba. 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 focus 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 the discussions are supported, civil and constructive and they're almost always conducted in good faith. my tenure thus far at the sba 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 innovators, the builders, the people responsible for moving goods into living 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, bringing it to market, and generating a 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. always delicate. in front of a room with a skirt on. >> administrator mcmahon, 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 sba, if i'm not mistaken, reviews all regulations affecting small pieces before goes into effect. what is agency doing now to make sure regulatory burdens don't fall disproportionately on small business? >> what the aspects of the sba is the office of advocacy, which is actually a quasi-independent agency, though its house within sba. and the role of advocacy really is to make sure that when rules and regulations are being

promulgated, regulations primarily, at the individual agencies to make sure sba has a seat at the table. 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 than the office of advocacy publishes a report to congress to hopefully get those regulations changed. >> could you give an example of something, regulation that you might be working towards changing? >> i'm not at this point working on any particular regulation that what i did all the time from small businesses is that they have had been relievee burden of compliance with regulation and reducing that cost. so while there might be a 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 the bottom line. >> studies have noted a lower small business participation rate for millennials then for either gen xers are baby boomers at comparable ages. what do you think the efforts -- sba can do but that? >> part of what sp does and it talked about in remarks, having these resource partners like our sbdcs which are small business development companies that are primarily affiliated with universities. on a grant program. we provide part of their operating capital. they raise the other aspect of that. they have an opportunity to meet with a lot of millennials and potential business owners to guide them through the maze of how to think about starting their business.

i think in our school offices which are manned by volunteers and a lot of them are retired business executives, or active business executives. it's really difficult sometimes to tell a young entrepreneur who is a great idea, this is going to be the best thing, and i know that i can make this work, i know that this is something i need to get developed. but they don't know how to really go about it. if speaking to 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 going to grow it or scale it. come back, let's talk about again. i think we need to be available to get that kind of advice. part of what i do when it out on my road to her and visiting these offices, the ignite tour, i tell everybody i'm on fireeye want them to be on

fire. when it out i do a great deal of local media because i think sp is best kept secret in the country. not because there are not many businesses who think about loans with sba 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. there's a program called emerging leaders which is for businesses that are already up and running in underserved areas. it's almost like a graduate course in business. it's seven months and it's free. all of these things are so helpful to businesses and a just want to get the word out more that these are available. >> that's very important. we have a question you that specific to the region of appalachia, but i think that this could also apply to some of the places in the country. is there a push to increase small business startups in

appellation to try to give hope to youth who may otherwise be drawn to drugs or opioid abuse? >> we don't have a program i'm aware of that specifically focused on appellation. however, we do have our 60th district offices around the country. so the outreach the most offices hopefully is in areas where we do have underserved communities. that's why all of these resource partners attic keep referencing are so important, because they can give guidance and they can show, sometimes somebody just need a little wind beneath their wings. they just need a little bit of that support system. and when they get that, they can flourish. the education that's necessary in underserved communities as well as the support system is vital for that growth. >> absolutely. i have a question here about farmers specifically. farmers and ranchers are facing

a a tough farm economy with bankruptcies on the rise. the house is truly debating a version of the 2010 farm bill. do do you support this legislation? what else should be considered as a relates to small business in agriculture? >> about a month ago i spent a day on the road with secretary perdue in his rv. well now, that's an experience in and of itself. >> how big was that rv? >> it was just a small rv. we had an opportunity, we were in rural ohio and we did a town hall. we visited a couple of farms and innocent. he is so fluent in the needs and concerns of the farming community. i would clearly defer to him because even though farms, about a small farms are small businesses, i have not really addressed with the farming community per se what their

issues are. from the small businesses that i deal with, what truly come across my sphere right now is really more access to capital and the mentoring. >> what about cybersecurity? i had a question about cybersecurity. one of the biggest challenges to small businesses, and, of course, other american business, is from hacking and other i.t. or cyber issues. what is the small business administration doing on its own and with homeland security and is agencies to protect small businesses from these threats? also it can be sometimes more difficult for a small business to do with a threat like that. they don't maybe have the same computer department that a fortune 500 company would, or the same types of access to that expertise. >> it's a real issue. part of what sba is doing for small business is, first of all, making them aware that they can be targets for cybersecurity.

many of them don't know that. that would even think about it. why would they want to hack into me? or utilize that trail to get somewhere else. we do provide again the mentoring and the counseling to make sure businesses are aware that what companies can provide those services for them at low cost. i think most importantly it's making sure they are aware this is something they need to address. >> do you fine small businesses are often more frequently the target of hacking than large business because it's usually get into a small business? are they under greater threat? >> i don't have any stats on that at all. i think sitting here in washington we know that cyber threatre rea we got all kinds of folks to be able to prevent that. >> here's another kind of cyber question. cryptocurrency is changing the way business conducts financial transactions. can you comment on this as the

trend and how it affects small business? >> i have not had that question from a single small business i've met with or dealt with. >> well, that's telling. that's something. >> and i have discussed it with our lending partners. but look, we're constantly and about a change and so as bitcoin and other cryptocurrency become more of lending currency that might affect 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? do you have concerns about current policy as relates to our relationship with china or the renegotiation of nafta? >> that's a whole lot of question there. they goes and so we different

aspects, but there again, small businesses are often exporters. 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 over decades, we've had an unfair trade policy. we want to make sure that trait is there, it's reciprocal. i sorely 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 sba might be doing to make those trade policies more fair? >> sba, 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 hear about what's going on and that's about all we know at

this particular point. negotiations are in place. want to make sure it's very favorable to small businesses and to our country. >> does the sp work with other federal agencies at the department of commerce or with state agencies specific on improving the export atmosphere for small businesses? >> often the sba's international trade person is located around the country, and we have -- i i forget the numr of members that we have. but co-located in the commerce office. they have access to guiding small businesses into those areas. sba 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 shows, et cetera. and the money goes to the governors of the states and the

governors the distribute that money to businesses within interstate. >> one of the biggest obstacles to small business exporting is they don't always have the resources to protect their intellectual property. he is the sba, either on its own or with the department of commerce, taking steps to protect small businesses from ip ipa abuses? if so, what steps? >> i think that's a general concern for all businesses in the country, not just small businesses. and clearly i was, in a former life, aware of how important it is to protect trademarks and intellectual property. i think that something that is ongoing as a look i think it critical shish and scum et cetera, is to protecting intellectual property. >> are you happy with the current government tax plan? or do you think you could still use some tweaking before this administration of the office? >> i was very happy to see the tax cuts passed, , and for all f

the things that talk but in my prepared remarks. we are seeing the effects of those tax cuts. the president is always talking about perhaps other levels of tax cuts, but but i don't wo get head of the administration in commenting on that. >> could you give us hypothetical examples? >> i don't talk about hypotheticals. >> all right. are you looking to give an incentive or tax breaks to brick-and-mortar small business so they can compete more effectively with online business? >> and my looking to? i'm not quite sure i understand the question. the sba, the administration in general. >> i think what the sba really is trying make sure of is we can help counsel the brick-and-mortar businesses. mainstreet usa is incredibly important. as i mentioned those small businesses are the glue in the

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

difference. >> i do have one more question about taxes and competition for small business. small businesses in high-tech states say that tax bill will hurt them, the 2017 tax bill, because it will make them less competitive with businesses in low tax states. what is your response to that? >> well, i think you have to look at what they competitive factors always are. if somebody else has a break you don't have, you may be at a disadvantage. there's a company up in buffalo, new york, that i visited and we were talking about tax cuts and he was telling me, he said i i might not get as much of a tax break is some else is going to get 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 base is growing. my revenues are increasing. so while my percentage might not be the same us somewhere else, i'm benefiting from the increase in revenues. so he was all for it. >> can you tell us a little bit, you've been meeting with small business owners all over the country. in your conversations with them i'm sure they bring up lots of issues that maybe you hadn't even considered before he became head of the sba. maybe, maybe not, maybe you considered everything. could you give us some examples perhaps of things you are hearing that are causing you to consider policy changes that you could push for or other new initiatives? >> i can honestly say that i'm not getting those kinds of issues currently.

i may as were out and asked tax cuts now or in the marketplace more and we're looking at other issues. let me give you one thing that i was surprised about. 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 side were 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 they need. i know the president is so committed to, in fact, his exact words any meeting worth that he

wanted to break the back of opioids. >> i think the scope of the opioid crisis surprised a lot of people when they came to light. he is the sba come up with ideas or plans on how to help small businesses specifically in heating with issues of the opioid crisis? >> well, there's one thing about regulation and changing laws, what i'm saying, not necessarily sba, but i think sba can help foster some of the outreach in local communities, but your hearing locally or in the news, we're hearing about practical things that are being done. doctors are not prescribing as many opioids. we are looking at alternative ways to deal with pain. hospital surgeons after surgery are not providing as many of the pain relievers that it 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. i think we'll continue to help on that educational level. >> with the ministering of the council that you offer small businesses. >> yes. >> great. what changes do you feel we still need to see if our healthcare rules? there have been a lot. >> relative to sba in small businesses which is kind of where my focus is, basically and that had a couple of meetings with secretary acosta which as a matter fact i think you will be rolling out in another week or two a version, a new version of associated health plans. i think this is going to be incredibly beneficial to small businesses who will be able now to be in a marketplace to buy, like

like a large company would, through these associations that will be developed either geographic proximity for small businesses, industry associations, industry-specific. i think one of the biggest benefits for small businesses is that for the first time a sole proprietor, an individual can be considered a group. that has not been the case before. so a sole proprietor will be able to go into the marketplace to buy insurance at reduced premiums. >> good. i think you alluded to this in your comments but the sba recent open nine new women's is the centers across the country to what women start and grow their own businesses. why was it so important to you to what women specifically as opposed to other gender? >> actually because we have many officers, the score offices, the sbdcs. women are often more comfortable

going to a women's business center. they like the atmosphere there. of course men come there, too, not as often as women do, but women speeded how is at mr. different? >> the atmosphere is a bit different. and women i think what they told us have greater success when they feel that the of mentoring support groups. coming to the women's business centers, not all women clearly, but some women like to have that support group. we didn't have as many women's business centers as we do of the resource partners that are out there, so now we have i think it's 109 around the country. think about it, that's still not a lot but we are providing mentoring that if thousands of women, which is terrific. we have the veterans outreach centers. we have our small business development centers. our score offices i was talking

about. so do have these different points of outreach are very, very helpful. >> intensive small business ownership statistics, what proportion of small businesses are truly owned and operated by women? how is it changing with your initiative? >> women actually own about 66% of businesses -- do you have that stat? 66% sounds high now that i said it. i think that's high but women are starting businesses often than men are in today's environment. women are getting more higher degrees than men are. i think women businesses clearly are rising and we want to support them in every way we can. >> fantastic, thank you. another gender question. failed administration, mostly,

right click you think that as a woman you approached him to do or negotiation any differently than most men would? and how has your ginger worked for you as a net positive over the course of your career? [laughing] >> i never really ever felt that i was disadvantage because i was a woman. >> i never did either applaud the. >> if anything i'm better off that being a woman. i have six grandchildren. i have three grandsons in three granddaughters. i really look at the six of them and think all have equal opportunity to do with it what to do. 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 are very attentive to detail. they want to make sure things are in place to do and 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, i was never at a disadvantage. i was clearly, as far as i was concerned, the top of the ladder, not the bottom of the ladder. >> absolutely, , good. so what do you think it takes to become a business owner? do you think anyone can do it? >> i don't think anyone can become a business owner something because there's a great deal of risk taking that goes into determining to start a business. it takes such a commitment of time. if you're going to be an entrepreneur, it's a 24 hour business. you can't just leave it over here, and for those who are

mothers or parent raising kids and her family, i have other obligations. there's never any real worklife balance. i've given tons of speeches on that. basically it comes down to, there really isn't any ballot. it's just about when we hear or one we hear, and some in the middle maybe you survive. it's not easy to be a business owner. you have that certain skills and techniques. you can start a business, but can you manage it? can you manage your cash flow? it's one of the reasons this is a sales office is because they are undercapitalized and they don't have to manage cash flow. into get into that you really don't know. i think it does take particular skills to be a business owner. sometimes you can start up not knowing how strong you are and not really understanding how much of your survival instinct isn't 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. >> excellent. you said in an interview recently that a bankruptcy that happened early in your career is very instructive for you in going forward, even though of course it was painful. what did you learn from that experience? what would you say to business owners who are on the brink of bankruptcy or whose businesses are leaning towards failing as opposed to succeeding, or who have already filed for bankruptcy? >> bankruptcy is a really tough thing to go through. my husband and i, it did happen to us early on in our career, 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 asked me to take on

this job, and as a sit in my remarks he won a so what he what kind of been there done that, been to the ups and downs of the business, and i can walk the walk and talk the talk. what i would advise businesses to do is, you clearly have to protect your downside in any business. what we were talking about before is no how to manage your cash flow. don't let it get to the point that if the next eight happens, that next shoe falls are going to be out of business. you've got to have a stronger plan than that. >> what he found so far to be the greatest challenges in working with president trump? do you feel he's more pro-big business and he is pro-small-business? >> i don't find any challenge working with the president as long as you're prepared for what he is expecting of you. and if you have questions, , hae them well formulated.

if you go in to speak with him and sit with him and to give his direction, know your stuff. because he knows his. he's demanding of you because he's put you in a position and giving you authority to act within that position and hopefully provided you with the tools that you need. and if you don't have those tools, shame on you for not coming to get them and for saying what you need. and if you have those and you are not doing them well, you would better be able to justify why not. but he's very fair. he is a good listener and he gives good direction, and is very straightforward in his direction. >> what would you say is president trump's greatest accomplishment so far during his presidency? >> i think he's had several. certainly getting a a tax cutn through. rolling back regulations. look at where we are with our

foreign policy today. i think he's had a lot of success, and more to come. >> how does your experience as a former ceo and cofounder of world wrestling entertainment help you in this job? >> my husband and i, we started sharing a desk in our basement. and sharing a desk with your husband, let alone a copartner, and yes, this marriage did survive, matter-of-fact we have 52nd wedding anniversary this august. [applause] >> congratulations. oh, how wonderful is that? >> that deserves a round of applause here there are not too many of us to do that. but building a business from the ground up, i mean really started with a little capital, building get market by market, understand how to manage cash flow, 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 it's kind of big super bowl event in 1985, it had never been done before by a single company, a single entity, to have one even that was literally shown all around the country and our particular industry. and so it was not only the early stages of pay per view, but he was also being shown in arenas on closed-circuit projection, which it happened with boxing. so we had to have a letter of credit in order to put all of these big projectors in place. i honestly believed we get signed our children away at that point. at about 2:30 to three mnemonic

on the night of the pit after having some of the receipts come in from around the country, i finally realized that we had broken even and were not going to have to draw down on the light of credit which we been able to establish. so when you look at different plateaus aspects in your business that of early made you who you kind of our today in terms of that risk taking, what it took to get that lines of credit, all of the aspects the 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 this is, what it was negotiated with arenas, whether was negotiating with products, industry, technology, all that, and as a continue to change it i can't they get any better place i could've had better grounding than at the vw. >> fantastic. i have one final question for you here. >> here it goes.

>> congressman jordan experiences with professional wrestling come in handy while working in government? have you ever needed or wanted to pull out and over the shoulder body slam? [laughing] >> over the shoulder body slam? >> i don't know, is that a good when we were talking about it eric something, you know, boom. [laughing] >> when i i was running for te senate in connecticut, i was asked one time, there's a lot of debate the goes on the senate floor, and how do you think you might pull everyone together at some point, what would be the remedy if all else had failed? i said maybe we just want to set up a ring down on the floor of the senate and we just invite everybody in for a royal rumble in the last man standing will get the bill passed. >> i like that idea. [applause]

>> so administrator mcmahon, we would like to thank you so very much for joining us here today. i'm going to bequeath our national press club mug. we give one to each of our esteemed speakers. we hope that, if it's your first, that it will not be your last. we do wish that use it in good health. >> thank you very, very much. i appreciate very much today. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. >> before we adjourn entirely i would 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 vicente fox. later that evening actor eric bergen from madam secretary is going to be speaking to club members. made in a week we have a book event with selena zito and brad todd about their new book called the great threefold.

we have fox news channels bret baier coming in to talk with his book, three days in moscow. we have jon meacham coming for a book event in june. we also have ceo of delta airlines and the commissioner of major league baseball. i hope you all consider coming to some of these events. take a look at our website. we have a lot of things there. and with that, luncheon today is adjourned. thank you for coming. [applause] ..

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 my name is linda mcmahon and chair of the america first policy institute.

[cheering] he is also a friend. let me share a story. i have little bit him marlo and he welcomed me, is 4-year-old granddaughter ran up to him give him up with delight and asked her, who's the most beautiful girl in the world she said. he asked who you love most in the world? you, grandpa. he kissed her on both grabbed his hat brushed his hair and he smiled with the love only a grandfather. i first met donald trump when i

was the go of entertainment. >> for some became the highest during the company's was honored to serve in his. i travel the country, business owners and job creators and understood them and offer them. broker businesses.

i travel with the president with her cane foreign. encumbering those software. and rebuild and didn't just show personal interest.

and be reelected. and will offer new tax cuts. [cheering] and with china. if reelected, he'll do it again. [cheering] these are job creators and not

very often. and at the gates of hell to defend our.

president of the united states.