[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 12 (Thursday, January 28, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S346-S347]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CARDIN:
  S. 2967. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
a refundable credit for small business job growth, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I am introducing today the Boosting 
Entrepreneurship and New Jobs Act that I believe is desperately needed. 
I think it is very clear that our economy, which is coming out of the 
worst recession since the Great Depression, has turned a corner. But we 
need to create more jobs in America. We know that. We know that 1 out 
of 10 Americans who wish to work cannot find jobs. Our first 
responsibility must be to help create more jobs so our economy can 
rebound and grow. To do that, we need to invest in small businesses.
  I was pleased to hear the President of the United States last night 
talk about the importance of small business in our recovery. As we 
develop our policies, we need to focus on helping small businesses 
grow. In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we took action and 
increased the loan limits under the Small Business Administration. We 
were able to make it less expensive for businesses to borrow from the 
Small Business Administration. These were good steps we took. I was 
proud of an amendment I offered to increase the surety bond limits so 
small construction companies could, in fact, get work in this economy. 
I was proud of the amendment that passed to increase the SBA's budget 
by about $180 million so they could have the capacity to help small 
companies with technical assistance in order to get government jobs. 
All of that has happened.
  We all know 99.7 percent of all firms in America are small 
businesses. That is the economic engine of America. Just over half of 
the private sector employees work for small companies. We have to pay 
attention to small companies if we are going to grow out of this 
economic problem. Forty-four percent of the total U.S. private payroll 
comes from small employers. Sixty-four percent of the net new jobs over 
the past 15 years came from small businesses. And 97.3 percent of all 
identified exporters came from small companies. On a per-employee 
basis, for those companies that applied for patents, small companies 
have 13 times more patents per employee than larger companies. That is 
where innovation comes from in New Hampshire, and I can tell my 
colleagues that in Maryland, I look at companies every day, small 
companies coming up with the innovations that will lead America into 
the future. They come up with the new ways to deal with our problems. 
It is the small companies that are the most prolific in providing that 
type of innovation to our society, whether it is Maryland, New 
Hampshire, or any of our States. So it is for that reason that I have 
introduced this legislation.
  This legislation would provide some additional tools to help small 
businesses create new jobs. We need new jobs. It establishes a 
temporary 3-year refundable tax credit for new hires by small 
businesses. Businesses with up to 25 employees would be eligible for a 
refundable tax credit equal to 15 percent of the first $20,000 of wages 
for new hires. That is a strong incentive for a company to put on new 
employees. It establishes a credit to help small companies deal with 
providing health benefits for their employees.
  The two issues I hear about most from small businesses is the 
affordability of health insurance and the availability of credit. Both 
are dealt with through this legislation by providing a way in which 
small companies can have more affordable health insurance and by 
providing a way in which small companies can directly access SBA loans.
  Following up on what the President said last night, this legislation 
will set aside $30 billion from the TARP funds so that small companies 
could directly get SBA loans. I think that is the way to do it because 
there is a reluctance among banks to lend money to small businesses 
even though today 90 percent of that loan is guaranteed by the SBA. My 
legislation would use the same standard for SBA to make direct loans--
so basically 100 percent guaranteed by the Federal Government rather 
than 90 percent. Then we know the loans will be made.
  I can't tell my colleagues how many companies I have talked to in 
Maryland who are creditworthy. They are prepared to hire more workers. 
They are prepared to believe in our economy and believe in our future. 
The problem is they don't have a bank to partner with. If they have an 
existing relationship with a community bank, they may be OK. But if 
they don't, to try to establish a relationship today is very difficult.
  The President recognized that last night when he talked about the 
credit crunch affecting small businesses. We haven't eased that. This 
legislation would provide for the SBA, using the same standards it uses 
today for their SBA loans, to make direct loans to small companies in 
order to get our economy back on track by helping small businesses. It 
will create more jobs. It increases the SBA 7(a) program from $2 
million to $5 million. It increases the microloan program from $35,000 
to $50,000. It increases the SBA 504 loan program from $1.5 million to 
$5.5 million. These increases in loan limits are desperately needed if 
we are going to be realistic in today's marketplace as the type of 
loans businesses need in order to expand jobs.

[[Page S347]]

  There are two more things this bill does that I wish to mention that 
are a direct help to small business. One is the sense of the Congress 
that the SBA Administrator should be a Cabinet-level position. I think 
we need to make sure an advocate for small business has the ear of our 
President. We know what happened in 2009. We know we had to bail out 
Wall Street and we had to deal with the large banks in order to save 
our system from going off a cliff. We all understand that. But we also 
know there were certain commitments made to help small businesses. Yet 
it never got into your community banks, into your States or to your 
small businesses. We need the advocate for small businesses to have a 
direct line to the President. For that reason, I urge that the SBA 
Administrator be a part of the Cabinet.
  Another part of the bill expresses a sense of Congress that the 
financial institutions that have benefited from our bailout carry out 
what they said they would do; that is, loan money to small companies. 
They say they are doing it, but the evidence shows the reverse, that 
they are not making these types of loans. I think it would be 
interesting to see exactly what types of loans these banks that relied 
upon the Federal Government are making to help our communities. I think 
we all would be disappointed to see their lack of participation in 
small company financing which could create jobs in our communities.
  The last provision of the bill provides for offsets to make sure it 
is fully paid. I don't believe we should add to the deficit. I think 
this bill will help create jobs, help us deal with the economic growth 
of America, and deal with narrowing the budget deficit through economic 
growth. I think we all have a responsibility to make sure we have 
adequate offsets in the bill so we don't add further to the Federal 
deficit. That is called budget discipline. We talked about that a 
little bit on the floor of the Senate today. This bill is fully paid 
for through offsets.
  I urge my colleagues, as we look in the weeks ahead at what we will 
call a jobs bill, which will help put more Americans to work--and I 
fully support that--that we follow the leadership of our President. The 
first thing he mentioned in the State of the Union Address last night 
was that we ought to pay attention to small businesses. I agree with 
the President. I hope that is a major part of our jobs bill; that it 
will be provisions that will provide tax credits for new job hires, 
help for small businesses dealing with health insurance and that it 
will increase the SBA's capacity to make loans to small businesses and 
will, indeed, provide a new avenue for opening credit to small 
businesses, putting the spotlight on the banking community so they do 
more, as they should, to help small businesses grow so we can create 
new jobs and grow our economy. That should be our first priority. I 
pledge to work with my colleagues in the Senate and work with the 
administration so we can get the job done in the Senate.

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