{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://finkenauer.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-passes-finkenauer-s-bipartisan-bill-boost-iowa-small-business-trade", "House Passes Finkenauer\u2019s Bipartisan Bill to Boost Iowa Small Business Trade Opportunities", "2020-09-14", "2020", "2020-09", "Democrat", "House", "IA", "Abby Finkenauer", "F000467", "finkenauer.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, DC  The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed with broad bipartisan support Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer's (IA-01) bipartisan State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) Improvement Act to extend and expand foreign trade assistance to small businesses.\nThe bill reauthorizes the Small Business Administration's STEP program through 2024 and makes improvements to the program. Congressman Ross Spano (R-FL) joined Finkenauer as the original co-sponsor, and Congressman Jim Hagedorn (R-MN) also co-sponsored Finkenauer's legislation.\n\"STEP is an important and valuable program allowing states to help small businesses grow their export markets, Congresswoman Abby Finkenauer said. I want to thank my colleagues in the House for their bipartisan support to extend this program into 2024 and provide certainty for our vital small businesses.\"\n\"When we looked at reauthorizing STEP, we found there were hurdles and burdens that made the program less efficient and less user-friendly than it should be, Finkenauer said. I want to thank my colleagues from across the aisle on the House Small Business Committee, Congressmen Spano and Hagedorn, for recognizing these areas for improvement and working together to ensure STEP is serving folks as best as it possibly can.\"\nFinkenauer spoke on the House Floor on Monday prior to passage of the STEP Improvement Act. Her full remarks can be seen here.\nSTEP is key to helping small businesses access new markets, specifically providing financial assistance to states to support small business trade and exports. The program also assists rural, women-owned, and socially disadvantaged small businesses. In 2019, STEP supported $974 million in export sales  a return on investment of $54 for every $1 awarded.\nThe STEP Improvement Act of 2020 would extend the program for four more years at $30 million, enhance communication between the Small Business Administration and states, increase grant spending flexibility, and create a standardized application timeframe to improve program implementation.\nThis legislation is endorsed by State International Development Organizations (SIDO).\nThe Step Improvement Act of 2020 would:\n Establish a standardized timeframe for the STEP grant application period, ensuring states have enough time and predictability to submit their applications.\n\tRequire states to submit a budget plan in their application package but allow them to revise their budget plans post-award to foster more flexibility.\n\tEnsure SBA gives feedback to unsuccessful applicants about how to improve their applications and explain the amount given to successful applicants if it was different from their requested amount.\n\tRequire SBA to conduct an annual survey of STEP grant recipients to get feedback on how the program is serving states.\n\tRequire the SBA Associate Administrator's annual report to include demographic information on small businesses assisted by STEP, detailed information about best practices for states, lessons learned by grants recipients to assist low-performing states, an analysis of the annual survey, and an analysis of new performance metrics.\n Support for the STEP Improvement Act of 2020:\n\"The STEP grant is integral to the Iowa Economic Development Authority's efforts to assist small businesses to expand and compete in a global economy. As an initiative that has garnered bipartisan support and reaped tremendous benefit in the past, we are pleased the U.S. House of Representatives voted today to support and reauthorize this important, job-stimulating program, said Peggy Kerr, Team Leader, International Trade Office, Iowa Economic Development Authority.\n\"Trade is such a vital component to the economic success of our metro area, and we support policies and programs that make it easier for all Iowa companies to access new markets. We particularly appreciate Congresswoman Finkenauer's efforts to reauthorize STEP to help our small business have the same kind of opportunities our large manufacturers do,\"said Barbra Solberg, Public Policy Strategist, Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance.\nPast Work on STEP:\nFinkenauer is Chairwoman of the Small Business Committee's Rural Agriculture, Trade, and Entrepreneurship (RATE) Subcommittee, which has held two hearings on improving STEP with stakeholder input from the federal government, states, and small businesses.\nIn July 2019, Finkenauer also held a listening session in Cedar Rapids with small business owners to find out how best to improve the program and help northeast Iowa small businesses export their products. While learning about the program's positive impacts, Finkenauer has also heard about STEP's administrative challenges, and used that feedback to author the STEP Improvement Act of 2020.\nFor the last two years, Finkenauer has led a bipartisan group of members of Congress in support of robust funding for STEP and succeeded in increasing the program's funding.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://finkenauer.house.gov/media/press-releases/house-passes-finkenauer-s-bipartisan-bill-boost-iowa-small-business-trade"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.4452349860221148, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}