[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 122 (Monday, September 13, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7003-S7004]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SEPTEMBER WORK PERIOD

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as I said, I welcome back all my colleagues 
from all corners of the country. I am sure every Senator enjoyed 
spending time with their constituents as much as I did. I am sure all 
are eager to get back to the business of legislating.
  The work period we begin today is an important one. Like every work 
period, it represents a new opportunity to move past the partisan 
stalemates of recent months and find common ground on our most pressing 
priority: putting people back to work. I hope the weeks between now and 
Columbus Day will be productive weeks. There really is no reason they 
should not be. The issues we will be dealing with are not partisan or 
ideological. They have the

[[Page S7004]]

support of Democratic, Republican, and Independent Senators. They have 
the support of Democratic, Republican, and Independent constituents. 
All of us have a common obligation and a shared interest in doing all 
we can to get our economy moving again.
  If we were to adopt a slogan to guide us in the coming weeks, I would 
nominate something a colleague of ours said just a few days ago. The 
senior Senator from Ohio, Mr. George Voinovich, a Republican, was 
talking last week about the standoffs that have stalled the Senate--
gridlock that has kept us in recent months from realizing our ability 
and fulfilling our responsibility to help small businesses. He said:

       We don't have time for messaging. We don't have time 
     anymore. This country is really hurting.

  Senator Voinovich is right. Small businesses across Nevada are 
hurting. Small businesses across my friend's State of Ohio are hurting. 
Small businesses across the State of Oregon are hurting. All over this 
country, they are hurt, from coast to coast, because credit and capital 
are too hard to come by. The owners of these businesses are not 
interested in partisan rhetoric, and neither are the people they have 
had to lay off or the unemployed they have had to turn away. People in 
Nevada and throughout the Nation are too busy keeping track of their 
business's books or their family budgets to keep track of who is 
scoring political points. They are not interested in any of that. They 
are simply desperate for us to do our jobs, and that is to help create 
jobs.
  That is what the first vote Senators will cast tomorrow is all about. 
Tomorrow, we will decide whether to move ahead with a bill that helps 
more small businesses be the engine that runs our economy. When most 
Americans go to work in the morning--or whenever they go to work during 
the day--they do not go to big corporations with famous names. They go 
to work at small businesses. But those businesses are also the ones 
that have paid the highest price in Wall Street's recession. Two out of 
every three jobs we have lost came from small businesses.
  Our bill is not a new one, and tomorrow will not be the first time we 
voted on it. But to refresh my colleagues' memories, let me briefly 
remind everyone what is in it.
  One, it cuts small business taxes so they can hire and grow.
  Two, it increases Small Business Administration loan limits, which 
gets money flowing to the entrepreneurs who create jobs.
  Three, it makes it easier for small businesses to export what they 
make.
  Four, among other things, it creates a new lending fund that will 
give small banks, community banks--and, by extension, small 
businesses--more capital to invest.
  Most importantly, this bill will create jobs, up to 500,000--half a 
million jobs. But every day we delay, the opposite happens. Small 
businesses are holding off hiring while they wait for us to act. Banks 
large and small are holding on to their capital while they are waiting 
for us to act. And half a million Americans who want to work, people 
who are ready to get off unemployment and get back to jobs they so 
desperately need, are desperate for us to get our act together.
  We need to go to work. As the Republican Senator from Florida, Mr. 
LeMieux, said when we last debated this bill--remember, Senator LeMieux 
is a Republican. He said it should get the support of more than 80 
Senators. As my friend the Republican Senator from Ohio said: We do not 
have time anymore for political games. Our citizens are hurting too 
much.
  I yield the floor.

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