[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 10, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1364-S1367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE:
  S. 3103. A bill to help small businesses create new jobs and drive 
our Nation's economic recovery; to the Committee on Finance.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise this evening to speak to the urgent 
imperative of job creation in our country

[[Page S1365]]

and impress upon my colleagues that if we are serious about assisting 
our Nation's small businesses--the very catalysts that will lead us out 
of the longest and deepest recession since World War II--we cannot 
devolve once again into more delays. To that end, I filed an amendment 
to the tax extenders legislation before this Chamber which included a 
package of six bipartisan, achievable policy reforms designed to 
facilitate an entrepreneurial environment under which our Nation's 
almost 30 million small business firms can create new jobs. I had hoped 
to offer this amendment, which I am introducing today as a freestanding 
bill called the Small Business Job Creation Act, but after talking with 
the majority leader at length last week, I decided to forgo that 
opportunity, as the leader indicated to me personally--and to the 
entire Senate--that he, too, is anxious to address a small business 
jobs bill in the coming weeks.
  Now that we have cleared the tax extenders package today and are 
taking up the long overdue Federal Aviation Administration 
reauthorization legislation, I hope the Senate as well will consider 
the jobs package that will include small business initiatives that are 
so vital and imperative to the well-being of small businesses 
throughout the country and that we can address this issue before the 
Easter recess.
  As ranking member of the Senate Small Business Committee, I want to 
begin by taking a moment to tout the work our committee has 
accomplished in this Congress.
  As one of the most bipartisan panels in the Congress, I appreciate 
the chair, Senator Landrieu, who has built on the foundation of 22 
hearings and roundtables and reported out a series of bipartisan bills 
on topics ranging from access to capital, to exporting, and, just last 
week, small business contracting reform. I truly appreciate Chair 
Landrieu's approach in building a collaboration in the committee on 
these key issues. Most of the provisions I am championing here tonight 
originated from the work we have accomplished together in the committee 
as well.
  When it comes to this jobs agenda, I would have preferred a different 
approach to advancing it--one that was more comprehensive and robust, 
frankly. This kind of piecemeal strategy is not one I would embrace. It 
is not one the New York Times approves of, either, for that matter. In 
fact, an editorial of theirs this week contained the following 
observation:

       [T]he danger is that with stopgap measures boosting the 
     headline job numbers, Congress and the Administration will 
     avoid the heavy lifting that is required to clear away the 
     wreckage of the recession.

  So it is not enough to say jobs, jobs, jobs are the new mantra. They 
must be the new singular mission of this Congress that deserves 
rigorous action, not just in dribs and drabs but as the full-tilt 
agenda of this institution.
  Make no mistake, time is of the essence if we are to assist our 
Nation's small businesses. Nowhere is the test of meeting that 
challenge more immediate than with our Nation's small businesses, which 
at each turn and in every sector are having to struggle, not only at 
their own expense but at the expense of job creation and reversing our 
dire economic downturn.
  Based on what I have heard firsthand from numerous small business 
forums in Maine that I have held, not only this year but last year, 
throughout the entire year of 2009, business owners are desperate for 
relief, and they want answers to the pervasive uncertainty they are 
confronted with on so many levels.
  For example, as indicated on this chart, in an economic climate 
devoid of continuity on tax policy, skyrocketing health care costs, 
onerous regulations, or volatile energy prices, how can small 
businesses expect to hire a new employee, buy additional equipment, 
expand operations, or accurately forecast their operating costs? The 
regrettable fact is, they cannot as long as they remain not just unsure 
but understandably anxious about whether or when Washington will exact 
another tax, levy a new mandate, promulgate another regulation, or 
create more bureaucracy.
  A solid foundational starting point would be enacting the provisions 
in the amendment I filed, many of which I underscored in a letter I 
sent to both the majority leader and the Republican leader. Frankly, 
there is such wide agreement on so many of these ideas. In fact, the 
Small Business Committee has approved many of these provisions 
unanimously, and the President has called for them to be included in a 
jobs package. So I think most people would be shocked to learn that 
they are not already enacted into law.
  Getting back to the original proposition, it is the fact that there 
is uncertainty with respect to the policies that are emanating from 
Washington that creates a lot of anxiety and disenchantment about the 
direction we are taking but more importantly anxiety about their cost 
of doing business. What is it going to do to increase the cost of doing 
business, whether or not they are prepared to hire a new employee or 
make investments in capital and equipment, if they do not know the 
certainty of the propositions that come from Washington that could add 
to their costs of doing business? For example, if the centerpiece of 
any jobs agenda is assisting the best known job creators we have--our 
small businesses--then bringing some certitude to the expensing 
provisions in the Tax Code is unquestionably the place to begin.
  I know the Senate has already enacted this legislation, extending 
what had been part of the stimulus plan to increase expensing 
immediately for small businesses to write off up to $250,000. That 
expired at the end of last year, and we have extended that proposition 
for the remaining 10 months in this year. But then again, it will 
expire. So at that point, in 2011, then small businesses will only be 
able to write off up to $25,000. So that is a $225,000 decline. Exactly 
how does that contribute to greater confidence for small business 
owners? How are they supposed to look to the future in the face of a 
Draconian measure of that magnitude? So, really, it is important to 
extend the small business expensing level of $250,000 not just for 10 
months but at least for 5 years.
  As we see in this chart I am showing in the Chamber this evening, 
between Republicans and Democrats and the administration, they support 
extending small business expensing, they support enacting a zero-
percent capital gains rate for small businesses. So we have bipartisan 
solutions across the board with respect to these initiatives.
  It is also important to make sure there is continuity in these 
policies, which is really the troubling point because it is so 
important to make sure they can look down the road. They might not be 
making a decision within the next 5 or 6 months or 10 months, but it is 
important for them to be able to see down the road beyond the 10 months 
that there is certitude with respect to the policies we are enacting, 
especially regarding tax relief and tax policy--the types of 
initiatives that, frankly, are going to be instrumental in making a 
difference in job creation.
  So we have two initiatives here; that is, extending the small 
business expensing and enacting a zero-percent capital gains rate for 
small businesses, of which I joined with Senator Kerry in introducing 
that legislation. So it is true we can reach an agreement on some 
issues. That is important. And we are moving forward. But we have to 
give more longevity to these tax policies given the severity of the 
downturn, given the severity of the economic situation we face today, 
that it is a jobless recovery. We need to create jobs. If we are going 
to create jobs, then we have to create more permanent tax relief.
  We have seen that with the credit crisis. Why can we not join forces 
and address this stifling credit crunch that is placing a perilous 
choke hold on our economy across the country? Why can we not agree on 
doing something viable and bold to confront such a universally 
acknowledged problem? It remains an unmitigated outrage, frankly, that 
the Federal Reserve's January Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey found 
the percentage of banks easing credit terms for small businesses was an 
astonishing zero percent--zero percent. The same was true in October, 
the last time they conducted the survey.

  So if you wanted not just to freeze credit but fossilize it, that 
would be the way to do it. This is not a recipe for recovery. After 
all, lending is critical. It is a lifeline to our economy, it is the 
lifeblood, and it is certainly a

[[Page S1366]]

lifeline for small businesses if they are going to be able to have 
jobs, to preserve jobs, or to make investments in the future.
  But here again is another area where we could take immediate action 
right here and now, where we can turn this deplorable trend around 
beginning with boosting the SBA's access to credit. My provisions 
include key lending provisions from the bill I introduced in the Small 
Business Committee with Chair Landrieu which was reported out of our 
committee with a vote of 17 to 1--overwhelmingly bipartisan--to 
increase the maximum limits for the SBA 7(a) program and the 504 loan 
program from $2 million to $5 million, raising the maximum microloan 
limit from $35,000 to $50,000, and allowing for the refinancing of 
conventional small business loans through the SBA 504 program. Now, if 
fully utilized, the loan limit increases would create and retain up to 
an estimated 211,000 jobs.
  I would note that enhancing SBA loans has already paid tremendous 
dividends, as in the stimulus bill, because we included these 
provisions which have been credited with increasing loan volumes by a 
remarkable 86 percent nationwide and in my own State of Maine, 227 
percent. That is all as a result of what we included in the stimulus 
package last year in increasing and expanding the loan volumes under 
these programs. So it obviously is indicative of what can be 
accomplished.
  So with numbers such as these, not to mention the endorsement of 80 
business organizations, it is essential that we give these critical 
programs the ability to grow more small businesses.
  Just as there is much we can do right away domestically, how about 
finally taking action to help our small businesses compete globally? 
Given that fewer than 1 percent of our small businesses export, it is 
all the more vital that we take advantage of this untapped market and 
help those enterprises sell their goods and services to 95 percent of 
the world's customers who live outside our borders.
  In the State of the Union Address, President Obama made clear that we 
must double our exports over the next 5 years, and small businesses are 
a critical component of the administration's strategy and our national 
competitiveness. For this reason, my provisions were included in the 
small business exporting legislation I introduced with Chair Landrieu.
  As this chart reveals, the provisions in the bill--larger SBA export 
loan limits, expanded export technical assistance, and enhanced 
assistance for trade promotion--had bipartisan support. They were 
reported unanimously by our panel and passed unanimously last 
December--unanimously. They have the administration's support. They 
have been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. So we have 
solidarity on this initiative, and for good reason, because it could 
create roughly 36,000 new American jobs in the year after enactment and 
170,000 jobs over the next 5 years. So there is no reason on Earth why 
we cannot move on this bill today.
  Whether we are debating trade or health care, a jobs bill or climate 
change, whatever the issue, it is also time we retool our thinking so 
that in every matter before us we are striving to create a climate in 
which our job creators cannot only survive but thrive. For example, for 
years we have had environmental impact statements. Well, in 2010, it is 
high time we require job impact statements. Consider that in 2009 
alone, there were close to 70,000 pages in the Federal Register, and 
the annual cost of Federal regulations now totals more than $1.1 
trillion, with small firms bearing the brunt.
  There are enough built-in impediments to starting a small business, 
not to mention sustaining one, without the Federal Government 
compounding the problem. That is why I have included language in my 
legislation I introduced last month with Senator Pryor requiring the 
Congressional Budget Office to provide such job impact statements for 
every single major initiative before Congress to evaluate its effect, 
positive and negative, on job creation, job losses, job preservation.
  We didn't stop there. Our bill would also require Federal agencies to 
fully analyze the cost of regulations on small businesses which too 
often undermine and usurp the entrepreneurial spirit that has defined 
every generation of Americans.
  Our bill is strongly supported by groups including the NFIB, the U.S. 
Chamber of Commerce, and the National Small Business Association.
  My provisions include $50 million in funding for the Small Business 
Development Centers which, again, provide critical technical assistance 
and counseling to small businesses at over 1,000 locations nationwide. 
The SBDC program has a proven track record of job creation, and 
according to an annual report by Dr. James Chrisman of Mississippi 
State University, between 2007 and 2008, employment levels of SBDC 
clients have increased 10 percent more than for businesses in general. 
As a result of the additional funding I am pressing for, Dr. Chrisman 
estimates that over 20,000 new jobs would be created, while tens of 
thousands more will be saved.
  Finally, while it is paramount that we move forward with the 
initiatives I have just described, we must simultaneously be mindful of 
their cost. I have also included an offset for this legislation. I do 
happen to think it is important that we provide offsets. I think we 
have to reexamine the stimulus package we enacted last year, much of 
which has been meritorious, much of which has worked, but there are 
other parts of it that have yet to be implemented or expended, and I 
think that is the point.
  The fact is, with a projected $1.6 trillion deficit this year alone, 
it is essential that we look at ways in which we can pay for 
legislation, especially targeted toward job creation, that can be 
accomplished immediately. That is why I am proposing to fully offset 
the cost of my provision with unspent, unobligated funds that we 
appropriated as part of the stimulus.
  I understand some of my colleagues oppose using unobligated stimulus 
funds as an offset, citing Congressional Budget Office data that the 
Recovery Act has added up to 2.1 million jobs and has preserved many 
jobs across this country. At the same time, I also believe it is our 
obligation to continually assess and reassess whether the Recovery Act 
is working because, after all, stimulus is supposed to be timely, 
targeted, and temporary. In two of the three instances it has not met 
those goals. In fact, as we have noted in this following chart, just 
$288 billion of the $787 billion that was enacted last February--only 
37 percent of the total--has actually been spent. When you consider 
just the $275 billion of the stimulus's appropriated funding for 
expenditures such as contracts, grants, and loans, just $81.6 billion, 
or 30 percent, has been paid out.
  That is where I think we need to reassess the three critical criteria 
of timely, targeted, and temporary. Obviously, for timeliness and being 
targeted, we have not met those goals. That is why I think we should 
redirect some of these stimulus funds to other purposes that are more 
effective, more immediate to do the job.
  That is where our small businesses enter the equation, with these 
initiatives I have identified that are absolutely paramount to helping 
small businesses to create jobs across this country. After all, we are 
depending on small businesses to lead us out of this economic downturn. 
They have been the job generators in the past. They have created two-
thirds of all the net new jobs in America.
  We need to create millions and millions of jobs. We have 100,000 new 
entrants in the market every month, so we have to move expeditiously. 
That is the point here tonight.
  I have an array of initiatives that are very critical and vital to 
small business and job generation. One, we have to do it immediately. 
Two, we have to be focused and we have to provide continuity of policy 
and certainty so that small businesses can look down the road and see 
what types of policies are emanating from Washington, DC.
  As I said to the Secretary of the Treasury recently, would you take a 
risk in making investments today? Would you take a risk knowing what 
you are hearing in Washington? Since we will see more costs as a result 
of potential health care legislation, adding more costs to small 
businesses--and there is no question that with the Medicare payroll tax 
that is embedded in that legislation, that really is another hidden 
tax, just as the alternative minimum tax. It will raise taxes

[[Page S1367]]

62 percent, and it is not indexed for inflation. So we know what the 
exponential growth in that tax will become for small businesses. That 
is an example. Ten months does not make a policy of certainty with 
respect to tax relief.
  We need to provide continuity of that policy with respect to tax 
relief, and small business expensing is certainly part of it. We can 
expand the loan limits under the SBA's programs, and 7(a) and 504 
already demonstrated they can work. They did work in the year in which 
we expanded those programs. It has been demonstrated nationwide and 
certainly conclusively in my State. So why not move expeditiously to 
address those issues?
  Finally, we can pay for it. We can redirect the stimulus. I think 
that is the most conservative, effective approach to paying for this 
legislation because, after all, if we have only spent 30 percent of the 
appropriated funds under stimulus and only 37 percent overall of the 
stimulus, we may not even spend $600 billion at the end of this year; 
we need to spend it now. That is the point, is spending it now. What 
are we waiting for?
  There is no question that there is a sense of despair across the 
landscape in looking at the unemployment numbers. We are not creating 
jobs; we are losing jobs every month. Albeit it has improved in terms 
of the number of jobs lost, the fact is, we need to create millions and 
millions of jobs in addition to offsetting the new entrants into the 
market every month. We have a 9.7-percent unemployment rate. That means 
we have to get to work, and the only way we can do that is helping 
small businesses, and the only way we can do that is to put these 
initiatives to work before the Easter recess. Let's not delay and 
defer. We have time to do it now. It has broad unanimous support in the 
Small Business Committee. There is no reason we cannot accomplish this 
goal now.
  I appreciate the majority leader's indication and commitment that he 
will bring a small business package to the floor. I urge the leader and 
I urge all Members of the Senate to support doing that before the 
Easter recess because we need to adopt it now, not months from now, 
because people depend on these jobs. There is uncertainty, and people 
are looking on their Main Streets in their communities, and what are 
they seeing is trouble. They are wondering whether the hardware store 
is going to stay open, or the barbershop. That creates either certainty 
or uncertainty; that is what creates either despair or hope.
  So I hope we would move and that we would move with a sense of 
urgency with respect to small businesses. If we are depending on them, 
then we have to get to work now. There is no reason, no rationale, no 
excuse for not taking action in this Chamber in this Congress that can 
be signed by the President and that we can move forward on. So we 
should strive with every fiber of our beings to help these longtime 
beacons of our economy, which is going to give hope to all Americans. 
What they deserve is to see action that will create the kind of 
certainty, give them the kinds of resources that they deserve, and do 
it in a fiscally responsible manner.

                          ____________________