GAO report on access to credit

(a) Report on access to credit (1) In general Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit a report on the ability of small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals to access credit to— (A) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of the Senate; and (B) the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives. (2) Contents The report submitted under paragraph (1) shall include, to the extent practicable, an analysis of— (A) the sources of credit used by small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals and the average percentage of the credit obtained from each source by such concerns; (B) the default rate for small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals, disaggregated by each source of credit described in subparagraph (A), as compared to the default rate for the source of credit for small business concerns generally; (C) the Federal lending programs available to provide credit to small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals; (D) gaps, if any, in the availability of credit for small business concerns owned and controlled by covered individuals that are not being filled by the Federal Government or private sources; (E) obstacles faced by covered individuals in trying to access credit; (F) the extent to which deployment and other military responsibilities affect the credit history of veterans and Reservists; and (G) the extent to which covered individuals are aware of Federal programs targeted towards helping covered individuals access credit. (b) Definitions In this Act: (1) Covered individual The term covered individual means— (A) a veteran; (B) a service-disabled veteran; (C) a Reservist; (D) the spouse of an individual described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C); or (E) the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces. (2) Reservist The term Reservist means a member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces, as described in section 10101 of title 10, United States Code. (3) Small Business Act definitions The terms service-disabled veteran, small business concern, and veteran have the meanings given those terms, respectively, under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).