Washington (February 5) – Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today released the following statement in response to the committee’s markup in which Republicans advanced legislation that unleashes the fury of debt collectors on struggling small businesses and dismissed requests from Democratic Members to call up amendments and debate legislation:

“Today, the chair of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee jammed through partisan legislation that unleashes debt collectors on struggling small businesses, including those making good faith attempts at repayment. The chair also attempted to advance legislation that tramples worker protections.

“Democratic members of the committee were prepared to offer meaningful amendments to protect small businesses, worker rights, and require adherence to the law. However, Republicans chose to vote out legislation along party lines while denying Democratic Senators their right to call up amendments and debate legislation.

“Instead of a committee operating under long bipartisan tradition of amendments first - passage afterwards, today’s markup saw a dictatorial sentence first, verdict afterwards, a standard worthy of Alice in Wonderland. This is a terrible way to achieve results for the people we serve.

“I hope my Republican colleagues change course, respect the democratic process, and the people who elected each one of us. 

“We were encouraged by unanimous passage of Senator Rosen’s Small Business Child Care Investment Act, which stands as an example of what our committee achieves when we negotiate in good faith towards a common goal.

“The Small Business Committee has long been a bastion of comity and civil debate. I fear we will find that years of goodwill can be done away within a day. I hope we can restore our committee’s proud bipartisan traditions.”

Watch the committee markup here. 

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