Friday, February 19, 2010

Sestak helps small businesses in new bill

A Pennsylvania congressman says federal contracting fraud needs better enforcement. Congressman and US Senate Candidate Joe Sestak says big businesses that take advantage of federal contracting intended for small businesses need to be stopped.
“Small businesses created 80 percent of the jobs when we came out of a recession in 2001,” says Sestak. “We can’t have this money going wrongly to large corporations.”
He says 23 percent of all federal contracts are to go to small businesses, and that’s not what’s happening in the state. He says there is a “pass through” effect, where money goes through small businesses but is ultimately given to large corporations. His bill would request information from the businesses to ensure their authenticity.
Sestak says his bill would implement big consequences, too. Offenders face a fine up to $500,000 and/or 10 years in prison. They also risk debarment or suspension from participating in future federal contracts.

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