IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, March 16, 2009 CONTACT: Brian Lawrence (202) 225-527

Buyer Again Urges Obama Administration to Provide Assistance to Veteran Owned Businesses

Washington , D.C. - Today, Congressman Steve Buyer of Indiana continued his efforts to persuade President Obama to provide $1 billion per year to reauthorize an expired program to help veterans establish and operate small businesses.

Buyer, who serves as Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, has advocated for the funding since December as an economic stimulus measure that would double as a boost to our nation's veterans. Buyer sent a letter this morning urging the President to include it as a focus of any small business initiative he might propose during his press meeting on small business.

"Small business is the backbone of the American economy and it has taken a severe blow during the recent downturn," Buyer said. "The Association of Small Business Development Centers estimates that the loss of jobs in the small business sector since November has exceeded the layoffs in the auto industry. Clearly, invigorating small business is of primary importance to the economy, and no segment of our population is more deserving of such focus than our veterans."

For more news from House Committee on Veterans' Affairs Republicans, please go to:

http://republicans.veterans.house.gov/

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See Rep. Buyer's letter to President Obama

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• The Vendors Information Pages Database is the only Federal controlled database in which a legal verification process is used to determine service disabled or veteran status of a small business. All companies participating in the veterans first program under PL 109-461 are required to submitt evidence of ownership / controll and veteran status before being awarded a VA contract under the set-aside authority.