‘That’s Simply Not True’: Roger Williams Slams SBA Admin Over Partisan Voter Registration Program

3 months ago

On Wednesday, Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) questioned Small Business Association officials on get out the vote programming during a House Small Business Association Committee hearing.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript

Stay Connected
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Madam Chair. And let me just say this. We keep hearing the SBA is going to

00:05be implementing this agreement in a nonpartisan way. We just heard that. But that is simply

00:09not true. The Administrator chooses where to go and which event to promote to the American

00:14people. And therefore, if you want to avoid registering Republicans, you don't go where

00:18they are located, as we just saw on the map. You don't do any press on it. You don't invite

00:23the Michigan Secretary of State's office to set up a table to register voters.

00:28There are still a lot of unanswered questions in here, and we aren't going to stop looking

00:32this until we start to receive some real answers, which Representative McClain has tried to

00:37get from you. But with that said, let me yield back the rest of my time to Chairwoman Van

00:42Duyne.

00:43Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me be clear. The reason why we're continuing

00:46to push this investigation is because the SBA has stonewalled us at every turn. You

00:52briefed the committee on May 3rd, but shut down more questions than you provided answers.

00:57The Chief of Staff said he could not recall pertinent information almost 200 times. We

01:02aren't getting answers. We aren't getting documents, and that's a fact. Further, the

01:06House passed my bill, which would create a link on the SBA's website for people to report

01:11COVID fraud at the SBA. We literally needed an act of Congress to get that link created.

01:18And guess what? SBA still hasn't done it. Instead, you're prioritizing creating a link

01:23to register voters. I think the SBA's priorities are pretty crystal clear. They want to register

01:29voters and forget about fraud. Under the NVRA, which we've heard a number of times today,

01:34the states are allowed to request help from agencies, not the other way around. The SBA

01:40has told us, and you, Ms. Kim, told us that the SBA reached out first. Do you stand by

01:45that statement?

01:47I don't think that I said that.

01:49Well, in fact, the legal ground upon which you and the Democrats are attempting to stand

01:53is shaky at best. I mean, you said the SBA heard that Michigan was interested in engaging

01:57with the SBA to register votes, but who told the SBA that Michigan was interested, and

02:02how did you know? This isn't normal. The NVRA has never been used like this in 30 years.

02:09In the SBA's own words, this is a first-of-its-kind agreement, as the SBA stated in a press release.

02:15This hearing has shown the SBA is as ineffective in implementing this project as they are with

02:20anything else, if not—you're at least consistent, if not anything else.

02:25So, Ms. Kim, you couldn't give me or Ms. Galton a viable reason for the lack of implementation

02:31of this MOU, and it's obvious the SBA doesn't seem to have any kind of plan to implement

02:35it at all. But on top of that, you and the Democrats are saying that this voter registration

02:40is so vitally important to small businesses' survival in Michigan that you've got to prioritize

02:45it, and yet now you're saying that small businesses don't even have access to the

02:52URL that you spent time putting together, and how does that make any sense?

02:57So it seems like we started looking into this, and as we started our investigation and asking

03:03questions and having your folks come to our committee and answer those questions and tried

03:07getting documents, basically, you basically stopped implementing the program. At least

03:13that's what it seemed, because we haven't been able to get any answers today on the

03:16time frame, on when the URL is going up. You've had this agreement signed since March. It's

03:22now nearly the end of July, and nothing has happened. So, again, you're just as effective

03:30in this program as some others. But I appreciate your time here today.

03:34Can—

03:35Well, the gentlelady—

03:36Oh, I have—I'm going to yield the rest of my time to Representative McLean.

03:40I have a question for you, Ms. Kim. Did you reach out to the State of Michigan, or did

03:45the State of Michigan reach out to you?

03:48I joined the SBA in 2022, so the conversations with Michigan started in 2021, so I don't

03:54have first-hand knowledge of those.

03:55Do you have second-hand knowledge?

03:57Again, my understanding is that, you know, Michigan was interested in partnering, and

04:02so, you know, the whole—

04:04Can you get that answer?

04:06I'm not honestly sure who would have it, but I can definitely look into it. Again, it happened

04:10before I got here. And I should add—

04:13So I just want to make sure. So you don't know if the State of Michigan reached out

04:19to you to implement this program, or you reached out to the State of Michigan. And I say that

04:25because it's a very critical question that you don't have the answer to. If you don't

04:32have the answer, who would? Perhaps your boss?

04:37Again, all the work with the State of Michigan started before I joined the agency.

04:43But you use that as a common excuse. It started before you joined the agency. Okay? And you

04:49joined the agency when again?

04:51In March of 2022.

04:52In March of 2022. So any work that was done before March of 2022, you have no clue on?

05:00I have some general understanding. And again, when I started, that kind of work was already

05:04happening, and I, you know, tried to—

05:07You just like, okay, wasn't me. Do you think you could get me that answer?

05:11The lady's time has expired.

05:13Let me, let her answer, please. Do you think you could get that answer?

05:17Any specific requests, you know, I'm sure we can follow up. The lady's time has expired.

05:22I'd like to thank our witness for her testimony and for appearing before us today. Without

05:26objection, members have five legislative days to submit additional materials and written

05:29questions for the witnesses to the chair, which will be forwarded to the witness. I

05:32ask the witness to please respond promptly. There's no further business. Without objection,

05:37the committee is adjourned.

‘That’s Simply Not True’: Roger Williams Slams SBA Admin Over Partisan Voter Registration Program

Category

Transcript

Recommended