As we mark the recent passing of Veterans Day, our challenge is to remember that for the more than 25 million living American veterans, Veterans Day is their day for remembrance, reflection, and reminiscence about their time serving America , about their fellow comrades in service, and about their own personal sacrifice and the sacrifices of their families.

I hope that you had a little time on Veterans Day, to remember what the day really means, not only to the men and women who have served all of us, but also to those freedoms we all cherish as Americans. It is the willingness of our citizen soldiers to defend America through their personal sacrifice and service to all of us that enables the Dream that is America to prosper and succeed.

It is a pity that this day to honor America 's veterans is limited to just 24 hours. Their sacrifices merit more than that. At the SBA, we feel that the one best way to honor veterans and their families is to continue and to once again renew our efforts on their behalf. As we ensure that veterans receive the special consideration required from all of us, we understand that our opportunity to help enable veteran's entrepreneurial success benefits all of us.

For us at the SBA, Veterans Day is a time to remember that our mandate requires us to give special consideration to veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States and their survivors or dependents as we carry out our small business programs.

The sacrifices made by veterans who are now physically challenged as a result of their service to the Nation are of particular concern to the President, to me and to this agency. SBA, through its Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) is moving expeditiously to implement Executive Order 13360, “Contracting with Service-Disabled Veterans Businesses.”

That's why I have established a task force to clarify SBA's definition of “special consideration” and examine the current means and effectiveness of the agency's regulations, policies and efforts to provide special consideration for veterans and their survivors or dependents. The task force shall also explore more up-to-date means of providing special consideration in SBA programs to veterans and their survivors or dependents. I've also ask that Bill Elmore, our associate administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development to serve as an ombudsman for consideration of veterans in all SBA programs, and I'm requiring all SBA program managers to work with him to assure that veterans receive special consideration in their programs.

We will work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (Veterans Affairs) and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Veterans' Employment and Training (DOL), to help these agencies coordinate “vocational rehabilitation services, technical and managerial assistance, and financial assistance to veterans, including service-disabled veterans seeking to employ themselves by forming or expanding small business concerns.”

I have asked our staff to w ork with our lending partners to facilitate loan-application processing for veterans, and to develop a plan to measure FY 2006 outreach efforts to local veterans' organizations by each SBA resource partner organization: SCORE, Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), and Women Business Centers (WBCs),

I've asked our Office of Government Contracting and Business Development to develop and implement a plan for FY 2006 for a cross-program initiative for service-disabled veterans designed to improve their participation in any SBA contracting program and to work with veterans' organizations to increase awareness of government contracting opportunities and develop the appropriate resources for veterans' groups to compete for prime federal contracting dollars.

In short, every program office of this agency will work to make sure the America 's veterans know about and have access to every one of our agency's programs. Why? Because we owe it to them, in recognition of the sacrifices they have made on our behalf.

To all veterans, I give you a special salute. I hope your special day was peaceful and reverent. For those Americans serving today in uniform, may God bless you and keep you safe. I thank you for your tireless efforts on behalf of our great nation.