Schneider Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Help Small Businesses with National Guard and Military Reservists

Today, Congressman Brad Schneider (D-IL) introduced bipartisan legislation to help small businesses when essential employees or small business owners are called up for service as part of their National Guard or Reservist duties. The bill would improve existing, yet underutilized, Small Business Administration programs offering loans and deferrals to help small businesses meet their obligations during an employee's absence due to military service.

"National Guard members and military reservists are an integral part of our armed forces and national defense," said Schneider. "We should do everything we can to support their service. This bill makes current support programs at the SBA more accessible and efficient so more small businesses have support while members of their team fulfill their military service obligations."

Currently, the Small Business Administration runs two programs to help small businesses dealing with the temporary loss of personnel due to National Guard or reservist service:

• Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan (MREIDL), a direct loan program that provides emergency working capital to small businesses to meet their obligations until operations return to normal after the essential employee is released from active duty military, and
• Repayment Deferral for Active Duty Reservists (Repayment Deferral), which authorizes the SBA to work with private lenders to defer interest or loan repayment for small businesses facing similar situations.

However, these important programs are underutilized because their eligibility restrictions do not fully reflect current deployment practices, and because there is a lack of awareness about the programs. There have been fewer than 500 loans approved since 2001.

H.R. 7199, the National Guard and Reserve Entrepreneurship Act, would restructure these programs so that companies are eligible whenever a Guardsman is performing active services for more than 30 days, in contrast to current law which requires the Guardsman to be deployed "during a period of military conflict." The bill would also direct SBA to work with the National Guard and State Adjutant Generals to raise awareness of other SBA programs that would be helpful to Guardsmen or affected businesses, and to develop more targeted outreach.

This is a companion bill to legislation introduced in the Senate by U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and was voted out of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship by voice vote, underscoring its bipartisan support.

The bill has the support of the American Legion and the National Guard Association of the U.S.