SPEAKER_01 0:05

From Washington, D.C. to the heart of America, this is Congressman Mark Alford's Capital Recap, the voice of truth with a behind-the-scenes look at what's really going on in the swamp. Defender of conservative values and a man who believes our best days are still ahead of us. Here he is, Congressman Mark Alford.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Well, hi, everybody. Yes, this is Congressman Mark Alford coming to you from 328 Canon in the Swamp on Capitol Hill. Hey, you know, each week we break down what's happening in D.C. from the People's House to the White House, and this week we've got a lot to cover. We're going to talk about the latest on the Democrat shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security as it ebbs on and the action that the House Republicans have taken to end that. We're also going to talk about new leadership at DHS. Quick update on what's happening overseas. We'll talk about National Agriculture Day that we led the way to get started here in America and our efforts to recognize the importance of the farmers and ranchers who keep our great nation running. And then after the break, we're going to talk with small business administrator Kelly Leffler. She was recently in my office here and had a great interview with her. You're going to I think you're really going to like this interview. All that and more, let's get started. Let's talk about the Department of Homeland Security. The shutdown, first off, never have happened. For over a month now, Democrats have kept DHS closed, and we're all feeling the impacts of this. Each and every American. Airports are backed up. The TSA agents are working without pay. Some are sleeping in their cars. People are delivering food to them at the airport. Coast Guard families are struggling to make ends meet. And even some Democrats are admitting this is not working. But you know, instead of ending it, they're continuing the games and the grandstanding and the gaslighting and the downright, outright lies to the American people. Here's the difference. House Republicans, we have acted not just once, but three times. We once again this week we passed funding for the Department of Homeland Security. It was called the Pay or Homeland Defenders Act. It reopens DHS, it guarantees pay for our frontline personnel, it restores stability to our national security operations. It supports the Border Patrol, TSA, Coast Guard, and the Secret Service, the people who keep this country safe each and every day. Folks, it's simple. It's time for Democrats to stop the nonsense to do their job. This week, as soon as I got back to Washington, I led a news conference at Reagan National Airport. We had about, I think, seven other congressional members there and a lot of media. We were calling for action to put the American people first. Listen to a short clip of that. We also took our message to the House floor to call for action and put the American people first and pass the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act. Take a listen. The Democrats know their plan is not working. They know Americans are hurting and they are still doing it anyway. They want to make Americans hurt. They want to make Americans suffer. Airports are backed up. TSA agents are working without pay and are going on a third paycheck that they're going to miss this week. Coast Guard families are wondering how to make ends meet. And Democrats are now floating what they themselves call a hell marry political stunt instead of doing their job. Folks, this is not leadership. It is recklessness. Meantime, Republicans have already passed full funding twice. We've done our job, and it's time for Democrats to do theirs. That's why this week we are bringing forward the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act of 2026. This bill does three simple things. It ends the Democrat shutdown. It guarantees pay for the men and women protecting our homeland, and it restores stability to our borders, our airports, and our national security. I want to be clear. This should not be controversial. You do not play politics with a people who keep America safe. So today I am calling on my Democrat colleagues to drop the games, stop the political theater, and open the Department of Homeland Security. Pass the Pay Our Homeland Defenders Act and pass it now. Because the American people are tired of the chaos. They are tired of the excuses, and they are tired of watching Washington fail, the very people who serve and protect our great nation each and every day. Well, folks, the message is simple. Pay the men and women who protect this great country in the stupidest shutdown in U.S. history. Well, on that same front, we have a new leader in place at the Department of Homeland Security, my friend Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma. He's now the Secretary of Homeland Security sworn in this week. And it really comes as a critical moment in our nation's history, I think. We need strong leadership to support our frontline personnel and restore stability. And I'm confident that he is ready to step in and lead. Let's talk a little bit about what's going on in Iran. It's still serious, but there are some ongoing efforts now to de-escalate. There was a pause this week in bombing some of the sites. We were at a dinner last night for the National Republican Congressional Committee over at Union Station with the President, and he told us that look, the leaders in Iran want to negotiate, but they're just too scared to do that right now. They don't want to lose power. The key to all this right now is opening the Strait of Hormuz. We're getting some help now from other countries and doing that, and President Trump is working with world leaders to restore stability and keep critical trade routes open like the Strait of Hormuz. So we've got to make sure that we're heading in the right direction. Let's talk about National Ag Day. This week, I was proud to introduce a bipartisan resolution recognizing March 24th of each year as National Agriculture Day. Folks, ag is the backbone of this country. Our farmers and ranchers work around the clock to feed, to clothe, to fuel America and much of the world. And in rural areas, it's more than an industry. It's a way of life. If you know, if you've traveled in the rural parts of your community, you know that it's families, it's communities, it's a key part of a national security. Our food security is our national security. When a nation can't feed itself, it's weak. When it can feed itself, it's strong. So today, I just want to say to our producers back home that wherever you may be listening, thank you. From the bottom of our hearts, we will always continue to back you. Still trying to get a farm bill on the House floor. We passed it out of the committee, and once again, much of the farm bill, 80% of it, was passed under the one big, beautiful bill. 20% of the things we wanted to get passed that we couldn't put in the reconciliation are going to go to the House floor at some point before we leave Washington for the election season. All right. Be sure to follow us on our social media at RepMarkawford on all platforms for the latest updates on that. That's at Repmarkawford. And while you're at it, go to our website, that's offered.house.gov. You can sign up for our great newsletter that comes out every two weeks. It's full of in-depth info, what we're working on, what's going on around America and here in Washington. Again, that's offered.house.gov. Hey, before we go to the break, I did have a chance to sit down with a small business administrator, Kelly Leffler. She actually came to my office and we really had a great conversation about Main Street America. How do we keep small businesses vibrant in America? We talked about cutting all the red tape, expanding access to capital and counseling, and making sure American small businesses come first. Conversation you won't want to miss. It's after the break. When we come back, our full interview with Administrator Kelly Leffler, you're listening to Mark Alford's Capital Recap. Stay where you are.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Welcome back to Congressman Mark Alford's Capital Recap. Here he is once again, the voice of truth, Mark Alford.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Welcome back to Mark Alford's Capital Recap. Glad you're with us. You know, each week we break down what's going on here in the swamp. We did that our first segment. And now we have a special guest in our office at 328 Canon, the administrator for the Small Business Administration, former Senator and Administrator Kelly Leffler. Kelly, good to have you with us.

SPEAKER_00 9:12

Well, it's such an honor to be with you, Congressman. I mean, this is a fantastic use of your gifts to be able to talk to the people back home. So thanks for having me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

You got into the SBA, you've been in a year now. You have made, you have really transformed the way the SBA operates. What was your vision a year ago and how much of that have you been able to accomplish so far?

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Well, Mark, I came in, as you know, from the private sector, about three decades of business experience. But the most important experience I came in was the daughter of a small business owner. And I know what's the transformational power that small business has for local communities, for families. And I came in to run this agency like a business, to apply my business experience, but then ensure that we work for America's 36 million small businesses across this country and really contribute to the economic engine because that's what small business does. We're the job creators, we're the innovators, we're the backbone of our local communities in the small business world. And President Trump says it best. He says, Kelly, small business is big business.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

It really is. One of the first things you did was to get people back in the office. We a couple of years ago, we w took a little codel or a little trip by the chairman Roger Williams and I and some other members. And the place was almost empty under the former administrator.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Well, that's right. It was really disappointing to come in on my first day, and I actually did a video that went viral. It had something like 30 million views. I walked the aisles between the cubes and different floors. Everything was empty. 90% of the employees had been working from home for four years. Now that's not what taxpayers were paying for. That's not what small businesses deserved. We got everyone back into the office. And then once we did that, we realized the agency was incredibly overstaffed. We reduced headcount by 54%, but we went on to set all-time lending records because we were able to do more with less, just like a small business does. And we were able to really focus in on small business, not bureaucracy.

SPEAKER_02 11:12

You were also able to get part of the SBA out of Washington and into the heartland of America. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

Aaron Powell Well, that's the most exciting part. That's where small business happens. That's the only way that we're going to be able to connect with those job creators who put it all on the line every day to serve our local communities like back home in Missouri. And so we have about 50 percent of our agency now out in the field. And I just did a call with our all of our regional administrators today, and so many things going on that we would not know about if we weren't in the field. And I think small business communities across America feel like someone is back advocating for them in Washington.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

So when you go out into the field, and hopefully you'll come to the Kansas City area sometime, we'd love to have you. What are some of the things you're hearing out in the heartland of America? The struggles, the challenges uh facing entrepreneurs and small business owners?

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Yeah. So, well, first of all, I have to start by saying under President Trump, small business optimism is now above its 52-year average. So Main Street's coming back, but we have four years of a tough hold to dig out of. Small businesses now, though, are hiring again like never before. Skilled workforce is one of their biggest challenges. Uh that's why I've been visiting trade schools to see how we can share ideas about getting that skilled workforce in. Uh interest rates being high. I think that continues to be a pressure on small businesses, certainly is on farmers. I come from a farming family. And then regulation. And the good news is the SBA fights regul regulation on behalf of small businesses through the Regulatory Flexibility Act and our Office of Advocacy. This year we were able to roll back uh onerous regulations in partnership with EPA around diesel exhaust fluid. I know coming from a farming family that deaf is is a big problem uh from a regulatory perspective. And then things like the right to repair. We worked with USDA and EPA to allow farmers to repair their own equipment. Just the list goes on and on. And all kinds of industries that we're deregulating. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

One of the biggest challenges, and I am on the small business committee, and we're constantly looking at ways to improve capital and counseling for people wanting to start a business or maintain a business. We've done that by increasing, doubling the lending limits from$5 million to$10 million in some of the loan programs, but it's stuck in the Senate. We've got to get this passed.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Well, Mark, thanks for doing it and getting it done in the House. It's vital that we get this done. We're certainly focused on the manufacturing base because 98% of all of America's manufacturers meet the small business definition. And so that access to capital, it would be rocket fuel for our industrial base to rebuild after three, four decades of hollowing it out due to bad trade policy. So President Trump is fighting for American industry and the American worker, and I hope we can get that across the line in the finish.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Under the previous administration, uh during the COVID era, especially, uh, through the PPP loans and the idle loans, there was a lot of waste, abuse, and fraud in those programs. The previous administration did not want to go out and recover this money. They were just going to write it off. We're not doing that any longer. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

Not at all. Not only were they not willing to go out and get it, they were happy to forgive fraudulent loans, known fraudulent loans, billions. So it's an estimated$200 billion out of the$1.2 trillion that came out of the SBA through uh PPP and IDL. Uh so we're now we're going back and we're going state by state. You saw us in California found uh about$8.6 billion in fraudulent COVID-era loans that enabled us to block$111,000 Californians from ever receiving SBA services again. So we're going to be doing that state by state to make sure that our programs are not defrauded. And then we're going to stop criminals at the front door going forward. We're changing our loan application process to prohibit non-citizens from coming in. We're adding birth date and other kinds of verification. There were no guardrails around these programs. And thankfully I have a uh private sector financial services background, so I understand anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, all these protections that we need to put on these programs, and we're doing it. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

I don't think the average person listening right now understood that the SBA, under the previous administration, would give a loan to a non-citizen. Yeah. That seems wack-a-doodle.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Well, not only that, this uh i i in terms of adding guardrails, we did add a citizenship check. What we found is that non-citizens were getting SBA loans still, so under the foreign national guidelines. So we just said no more foreign nationals getting SBA loans. We're putting Americans first. We're putting them at the front of the line, not the back.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

This is about Main Street. And Chairman Williams talks about we've got to look out for Main Street America. Uh and that doesn't mean I think even when President Trump talks about America first, it doesn't mean America only. We've got to be the strongest that we can be so that we can be a uh a beacon of hope and and light for other countries. Let's talk about the SBIR uh issue that's come up. We just passed this in the house. Explain a little bit about what that's about.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Yeah, so the small business innovation research uh program is a vital one, particularly to innovative industries like our defense industrial complex, like pharmaceuticals, agricultural innovation. And so the SBIR program allows innovators like a company like Andoril or Tesla, when they're basically an idea to get some early stage funding to bring them to market and see if they can be commercialized. And so that you know, that test of commercialization is really determining what companies go on, but we're giving them that chance to do that. And so now we have companies building our modern drone technology that were funded by those very early stage type grants. And uh so thank you for uh leading to that success that just got passed in the House and the Senate.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yeah, that's exciting. When both chambers pass something, it's big news in Washington. Certainly. They can go to the president's desk. That's right. You know, we've also been instrumental in the AI for Main Street Act. A lot of people are concerned. I don't know if they're scared, but they're concerned about artificial intelligence. Is it going to take away jobs? And what we're saying is we want to get the SBA involved and the other entities involved in educating uh business owners about the benefits of AI.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah. Well, AI it certainly we're on a new frontier here, and it's unknown in terms of how far the capacity is going to lead, but we do know that it is a force multiplier for small businesses, and we already have plenty of use cases. I see it as I walk factory floors. It's enabling a lot of value engineering, a lot of ability to detect flaws and uh machine breakdowns. Small businesses use it for marketing, accounting, legal uh areas to fill in the gaps and help them compete more effectively against large businesses who might be better capitalized and have more resources. So it's really a force multiplier and it's not something to be feared. I think it's something to be embraced and to be leveraged. And I think there's going to be a lot more to come in terms of seeing those small business success stories, but the SBA is going to be on the front end of helping small business adopt that.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

We're also trying to help veterans. Yes. The CERV Act that we passed that again this year, really encouraging capital and counseling for veterans. After World War II, half the men and women who got out of the service started a small business. Now it's a much smaller percentage. Why is it important to support veterans?

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Well, it's critical. They are the reason for the founding of the Small Business Administration 72 years ago. When they were returning home, it was understood that they possessed a great deal of skill sets that could be valuable in our economy. The SBA was formed back then, and ever since we have added programs to support our veterans. My father was a veteran who started a small trucking company in addition to our farm, thanks to what he learned in the military after high school. And I know the power that it has. So the SBA serves thousands of veterans every year. We have partnerships with the VA to ensure our Vet CERT programs and get them into small business contracting. Under the Biden administration, they had a backlog of 2,700 veterans waiting to be certified for contract, federal contracting. And the Biden administration had put them to the back of the line behind DEI contracting. We vented that. And now we offer about three dozen boot camps every month for boots to business to help them see what small business plans might look like and how to enable that dream of theirs after their service.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Where do you go from here with the SBA? What's next?

SPEAKER_00 20:12

Well, first of all, we're going to continue to serve the great state of Missouri. Last year we put out$800 million in SBA lending in the state. In your district, it was about$120 million in SBA loans nationally,$45 billion to$85,000 small businesses. So we're going to continue to build on that access to capital. That's all through local lenders, empowering local lenders. And it's a zero subsidy to the taxpayer because the lender pays the guarantee fee. So I love our public-private partnership. We're going to continue to deregulate, serve our veterans, and contribute it to President Trump's incredible economic agenda. Make sure Americans have the word about the working family tax cuts that is rocket fuel for Main Street.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Now they're getting their refunds back from the IRS. We had a guy in our district, he's 76 years old, his name's Melbourne. He's from Benton County and deep in the heart of Missouri, and he called almost in tears. He said, You've got to tell the story, Congressman Alford. My daughter, who's a hairstylist, and her husband, who works a lot of overtime in his job, they have not gotten a refund check in years. And this year they already have a check for$12,000. That is real money, not just in Missouri, but anywhere in America.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

It's transformational, and it will be year after year. It's this isn't just a one-year tax bill. This is giving certainty to workers, to job creators, small businesses that want to invest in a new plant or a piece of equipment, farmers that 100% expensing, we're going to have a capex boom that is going to drive employment. And it's a virtuous cycle that's going to go from community to community. And so grateful for the president is fast movement in terms of tax cuts, fair trade, deregulation that is taking the pressure off of Main Street that the Biden administration. Had put their foot on them for four years with rampant cost escalation, rising interest rates, and we're going to see this economy come back stronger than ever.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Administrator, thank you so much for what you're doing, what you have done, and what you will continue to do in the future.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Thank you. It's a great honor to be with you today.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Hey folks, thanks for listening to Mark Alford's Capital Recap. Hey, be sure to follow us on our website, offered.house.gov. You can sign up for our newsletter that's chock full of information, behind-the-scenes info. It comes out every two weeks. And follow us on social media at repmarkawford. That's at repmarkalford. Hey, thank you for sending me here to be your voice in your vote in Washington. Truly an honor. Remember, folks, I will never quit saying this. Administrator, I say this every week. I believe in you. I believe in America, and I believe our greatest days are still ahead of us.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Amen.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Good day, and God bless.