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And so first of all before we really get started here i want to start by recognizing the i went in my community and cost the state the wino have gone through so much over the last month, obviously going to spend and make as well but we got it really with a double whammy here in iowa in this district when what was essentially a category four hurricane style wins came to large part of my district. It was 140 Miles Per Hour winds that took down trees that of an 150, 200 years. I know the city of cedar rapids and their surrounding areas have been through a lot. I know the floods back in 2008 and also in 16 even, but businesses this was a different scale. In 2008 there were 14 mi. 2 affected in miles affected in the city of cedar rapids, all effective plus the run areas, marion, hiawatha, all of lane county essentially and surrounding counties as well, you can, poweshiek, came and marshall just to name a few. I have county. And some of her witnesses that are here are actually, the two witnesses from iowa also had to go through that, whether its damaged it own businesses or to their homes, and we are very grateful. I know when you agree to be a part of this is going to talk about candidate economic recovery as we go to the pandemic and that hopefully come out of it and had we keep things going and do things right and make sure were addressing the right challenges. And then on top of it now we have a whole new host the challenges were dealing with an iowa and one of our witnesses i spoke to this morning, mr. Ketelsen told me we are iowans, we get through this, but its still going to be tough. Were just really grateful to have i known jeremy and chad with us to kind of have those discussions and then also our other witnesses here from throughout the country. I know in vermont and ohio as well and you guys have been through a lot with the pandemic. Just very, very grateful and i know obviously we all are still going to this pandemic, and i were in particular for some numbers, we have had 59,000 folks have tested positive with covid19 and we lost over 1100 iowans. We know that there still a long way to go here, but we need to make sure were doing everything we can. I know this has also caused obviously a huge hardship for our Small Businesses due to the downturn in our economies and 7. 5 million Small Businesses are now at risk of closure, and many of them are in our rural areas. It especially what is frustrating is weve also spent nearly a decade recovering from the recession in 2008 only to now have our rural economies take another devastating hit. The recession had a lasting and disproportionate impact on Rural America. Two out of every three world counties experienced a decline in the total number of businesses, and decline in the population as families left to try to seek opportunities. This is something that i saw happen first hand in iowa and i will like the rest of the country recovering takes hard work. I once took very big risk to strengthen businesses and the paid off. In 2016 nearly 1900 new businesses start in iowa creating 7000 new jobs. This didnt happen in iowa the. It is happen across the country. In 2017 american Small Businesses created 8. 4 million new jobs across the country. But not every Community Bounced back from the recession and there are still places especially in rural areas than never been able to bring back the jobs and opportunities that they lost, and now as we deal with the fallout from this pandemic we need to make sure no businesses or communities are left behind. Recently i produced the unlocking opportunities in emerging markets act which would create a new office at Small Business administration to focus entirely on how can we help improve access to capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs like in those rural areas, this is just one of the many bipartisan bills that being put forward to our Small Business owners in the long term which is what we need to continue to be thinking about as well. I know all of my colleagues here today have been working hard to come up with new ideas and solutions to help get our economy back on track. For that i very, very thankful to get to be on this committee with you all. Thats what you want to hold this thing is to hear directly from americas rural Small Business owners and what they need to move forward and what the pandemic has meant for their business. I look forward to hearing from our policy experts about how Rural America can be a catalyst for job creation across the country and how that is opportunities here it we do this right moving to this pandemic to make sure we have the right things in Rural America whether its broadband and create those opportunities so as folks are looking at, if theyre in bigger cities, one to move back home to the small towns they are from, that they have those opportunities but we also to do our job then on the federal level working with our local folks, also the states to ensure we have connectivity and make sure there is a place for hope to go in the first place and have those opportunities. I also before i pass it over to Ranking Member choice i want to say thank you for joining us ranking never, dr. Joyce, its been great work with europes last year and a half and happy to have you here today and would love to pass over you and yield to you for your Opening Statement. [inaudible] i think of unmute, dr. Joyce. There you go. Thank you, chairwoman, thank you for your leadership. I send my greatest of my District Office in somerset pennsylvania where tomorrow we will hold a memorial of flight 93 tragedy which occurred on 9 11. The echoing sentiments for my district that tomorrow will be a somber day and yet we are all in stages of recovery which we will continue. In the subcommittee, this important subcommittee on Rural Development, agriculture, trade and entrepreneurship, we have discussed the importance of Economic Development and have rejuvenation of americas Small Businesses. The Global Pandemic that has only underscore the importance of these Small Businesses. While others little date is truly available on the number Small Business, some estimate theres approximately 5. 5 million rural Small Businesses in the united states. We know particularly on this subcommittee that Small Businesses are a critical component of the world economy. Which makes them a focal point of many federal, rural, Economic Development efforts. World Small Businesses do indeed differ from urban and suburban small forms anyways. Generally rural firms are more likely to be profitable longterm and typically more successful than nonrural farms in getting [inaudible] additionally, world businesses tend to be small in size, small in revenue and often small in growth opportunities. Weve had multiple hearings on the major challenges experienced by rural Small Businesses, including inadequate access to rural broadband. You are methods to access capital, Higher Health care costs with limited access to rural physicians can increase childcare expenses and workforce shortages. We know small towns and Rural Communities struggle with these issues each and every day. But the coronavirus pandemic has continued to bring these issues to the forefront of our nations attention. About 46 million americans live in rural areas, and, unfortunately, some world residents are increased risk of getting covid19. Demographic characteristics and geographic features coupled with reduced healthcare can disrupt the ability of Rural Regions to respond to the pandemic. Slow down in aggregate demand primary sectors and they expect from so that in trade and global trend might continue to negatively impact rural economies. Due to these factors we must be proactive in our goal of helping americans main street to recover. Unfortunately we find ourselves once again discussing the persistent challenges that we in Rural Communities face every single day. As this issue is yet to receive a resolution we have witnessed in real time the destructive lack of access to health care, telehealth and broadband specifically in our Rural Communities. The question is no longer what is the issue, but what can we do. In partnership with private and Nonprofit Organizations, we can increase access to these lifesaving and life providing resources in order to create equitable opportunity for rural Small Businesses. The hilton recently released an article discussing the significant dynamic of americans who are moving in ways the hill in rural and urban areas. Some said the pandemic, social unrest and Economic Uncertainty while the permanency and benefits from this change remains to be seen. We will assess the impact that this will have on our communities as our economics continue to recover and the pandemic continues to slow. Now when we see a great migration from cities to rural and suburban communities we must not only talk about restraint on resources but we must talk how to leverage these resources so we can retain those who have moved into our communities and foster the opportunities for further growth and development. For these pressing issues i am proud to work with you on this committee where we host witnesses on a wealth of nose on the specific and can come up with Bipartisan Solutions that benefit all of our nations Rural Communities. It is imperative that we learn from those who like our panel today know what its like to steer a Small Business through pandemic. I look for to hearing the testimony of eyewitnesses today, and to the continued partnership and bipartisan nature of the subcommittee. Thank you, madam chair, and i yield back. Thank you, dr. Joyce. The gentleman yields back. Committee members have an Opening Statement prepared we would ask it be submitted for the record. I would like to just take a minute now to explain the timing rules. Each witness gets five minutes to testify and then each member gets administered questionnaire. Theres lighting system to assist you. You can kind to of see. Et cetera etc that on the screen where it says five minutes. The green light if you watch that will be on when you begin, and then the yellow light comes on when you have one minute remaining. The red light comes on when youre out of time out as that you stay within the timeframe to the best of your ability. I hope they can everyone can see that little timer. And then now i would like to introduce our witnesses. I would now like to introduce our first witness, mr. Nath, chad. Mr. Chad nath is the director of link grinnell, a Nonprofit Organization that offers day care and afterschool care. Link nurture, aims to provide a safe and Inclusive Learning environment for all children. Mr. Nath holds a ba in education from Buena Vista University and ask held positions at the kindergarten special Education Teacher and also worked in healthcare sector as well get mr. Nath, you have done a lot and youve done it all in our rural areas and in purnell and we are very, very grateful to have you here. Welcome, mr. Nath. And then our second witness is mr. Jeremy ketelsen. Mr. Ketelsen is the Vice President of ketelsen rv located in hiawatha, iowa. Ketelsen rv began as a small rv business on the family farm in 1962 when mr. Ketelsen ends when father wanted a camper. The business opened a storefront in mary and i am and later a service department, Parts Department and eventually a Sales Department and mr. Ketelsen were really happy to have you here. It was great to chat with you and mr. Nath this morning you can really interested to hear kind of how you hang in there with the pandemic and the derecho affects a welcome come mr. Ketelsen. Then our third witnesses mr. Rembert. Mr. Rembert is regional economist and head of the Rural Innovation Network, or at the center on rural innovation in heartland vermont turkey started in this line of work when his hometown of wilmington ohio, i know we have another ojai went with us today as well come faced the loss of 10,000 jobs during the recession. It died identical to the nonprn or just Putnam County in 2008 and later served as executive director of Wilmington Chamber of commerce. Healed a phd in rachel economics from the Ohio State University i watch a lot of football, and then department of agriculture, environmental and development economic. Welcome, mr. Rembert. And that i would now like to you to our Ranking Member dr. Joyce to introduce our final witness. Thank you chairwoman finkenauer. Our final witness is jason duff, founder and ceo of small nations, a company in belltown ohio that revitalizes small towns and helps small dent of the two numbers across the country. Jason ajmer is jason is a fourthgeneration and defend a font of news and group gained firsthand knowledge about entrepreneurship, goods financial practices and hard work can bring great success. After graduating from the Ohio Northern University with a bachelor of science and Business Administration come he founded Community Storage and properties, a local Self Storage Company that allowed jason to invest in the redevelopment of belltown. Even founded and Outdoor MediaCompany Operating over 400 billboards in ohio and indiana. In seven years jason and his business small nation team have helped to revitalize the city of bellefontaine. Using their hustle hard approach, theyve managed to renovate more than 30 the story buildings that had been sitting into for decades and then recruit tenets for 14 new Business Concepts here is created 18 new loft departments adding a crucial residential component back to the citys downtown. The combination of retail, restaurant and residential have brought a smalltown main streets back to life. He is a of the Small Business council for the u. S. Chamber of commerce, the Small Business and entrepreneur council, and serves on the board of trustees of Ohio Northern University. Jason, my sister is also an alum of Ohio Northern University. We welcome you to our subcommittee meeting today. Thanks very much, dr. Joyce. Mr. Nath, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you, chairwoman finkenauer, Ranking Member joyce, and distinguished members of the committee. My name is chad nath. I was born and raised in iowa northwest iowa is where i grew up and settle down in the greenville area. I taught school for soldiers, i was in middle School SpecialEducation Teacher and Kin