[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 122 (Monday, September 13, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7017-S7022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              JOB CREATION

  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, last Wednesday, September 8, was 
a great day for Youngstown, OH, for my State, and for our country. On 
that day, the Chevy Cruze, a new car by General Motors--a high-mileage, 
medium-priced, lower priced car from Chevrolet--came off the line at 
the General Motors plant in Lordstown, OH.
  To understand the significance of that and to understand how the news 
is so good, in spite of what the naysayers have said, let's turn the 
calendar back a little more than a year. Auto sales were down, about a 
year and a half ago, 40 percent. One million jobs were at risk of being 
lost on top of the 8 million jobs that had already been lost before 
President Obama took office. We remember that we were losing 800,000 
jobs a month when President Obama took office. The auto industry was 
similar to the financial industry--about to collapse, including GM, 
Chrysler especially, and Ford was in some trouble. General Motors and 
Chrysler were especially in trouble.
  Conservative politicians--many in this body and many in the House--
said: Let the market work. Let the free marketplace work. If General 
Motors and Chrysler declare bankruptcy and go under, so be it--so be it 
for the car dealerships in North Dakota, Louisiana, Washington, Nevada, 
and Ohio; so be it for all the supply chain that feeds into the auto 
industry throughout the Midwest and the South and all over the country; 
and so be it for GM, Ford, and Chrysler and the hundreds of thousands 
of people who work for those companies--not to mention the retirees who 
depended on the viability of these companies.
  In spite of the naysayers, the conservative politicians who said just 
let it collapse, let the market work, and let the auto industry 
collapse, President Obama and the Democrats in the House and Senate 
stood firm and invested billions of dollars in Chrysler and General 
Motors and some into the tier 1, the top suppliers--the level 1 
suppliers that supply these industries.
  Look what happened last Tuesday. Last Wednesday, on September 8, in 
Lordstown, OH, some 1,300 people were hired for the third shift. They 
are now working three shifts. Auto plants and the component 
manufacturers all over the Midwest are now beginning to hire and 
beginning to put people back to work.
  If we were to let this industry collapse, if we didn't do the right 
thing and help and invest in these companies, we would have been in a 
depression. I don't think any serious economist would dispute that. 
Because we did the right thing--the government--GM is starting to pay 
back the government for the investment so taxpayers will get most or 
all of their money back. People are going back to work, retirees are 
getting mostly what they are entitled to, and the suppliers at tier 1, 
2, and others are being made whole.
  The week before I was at the Chrysler plant in Toledo. Jeep Wranglers 
were coming off the line. Jeep Wranglers, 2 years ago, were only 65 
percent domestic content. That meant only 65 percent of the components 
in the Jeep Wrangler were American made. Today, 79 percent--almost 
four-fifths--of Jeep Wranglers assembled in Toledo are coming from 
U.S.-made auto parts. That is what our recommitment to manufacturing 
means.
  Thirty years ago, 30 percent of our GDP was in manufacturing, and 
only 11 percent in financial services. Today, that is almost flipped. 
We know what that led to--the financial collapse. Senator Dorgan has 
been on the Senate floor warning us about it for 10 years. It meant a 
decline in the middle class and in wages because manufacturing creates 
wealth, and manufacturing pays better wages. When we make the contrast 
on policies where we care about manufacturing and policies where we 
care about the middle class versus policies where we simply give tax 
cuts to the wealthy, we know what happens.
  In the 8 years of President Clinton's Presidency, 22 million jobs 
were created--new jobs--and incomes went up. We had the largest surplus 
in the history of our country at the end of the Clinton Presidency.
  President Bush left us, in 2009, with the largest budget deficit in 
American history. Some in this body say let the auto industry die and 
let the market work. Let's give more tax cuts to the wealthy and go 
back to the Bush philosophy, which got us into this situation.
  In closing, I will read two letters from people in that part of Ohio. 
Brandon, from Poland, OH, wrote:

       I am one of hundreds of thousands of autoworkers. But there 
     are millions more Americans among suppliers, dealers, 
     retirees and communities that depend on my industry for their 
     livelihood and well-being.
       Our industry is the real economy that runs through Main 
     Street. When we emerged stronger and more competitive, we 
     will have a stronger economy and a more competitive America.

  We stood up for Randall, from Warren, OH, who wrote when Congress and 
the administration were first considering how to save the auto 
industry:

       I have been employed at General Motors Lordstown for over 
     31 years. My father, brothers, brother in law and father in 
     law have all been employed by General Motors. My son is 
     pursuing a degree in engineering partly financed by GM.
       So many lost jobs would be a huge drain on the resources of 
     government agencies, not to mention how bad it will make our 
     country look in the eyes of the rest of the world.

  Randall wrote this while the naysayers were saying let the market 
work and let GM and Ford collapse. He said:

       My father said 30 years ago that ``if GM ever goes under, 
     America goes under.'' My greatest fear is that I will see 
     this come true. Please support the auto industry. Our future 
     [the future of our workers] is in your hands.

  It is easy to say no, let the market work and don't do anything. When 
the cost of inaction is even more job losses than was brought on by the 
years of deregulation of Wall Street and cutting taxes for the rich and 
not paying for any of this--a political strategy built on saying no is 
more than just unproductive, it is unconscionable and simply wrong.
  Mr. DORGAN. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Yes.
  Mr. DORGAN. It is interesting to me that nobody--or very few--would 
know the statistics and the new jobs that the Senator from Ohio has 
described, largely because of the old adage that bad news travels 
halfway around the world before good news gets its shoes on. Nobody 
talks about the jobs being created, but the Senator from Ohio talks 
about the consequences of a country that would have lost its automobile 
industry.
  I ask this question: Does anybody here believe we will long remain a 
world economic power without world-class manufacturing? Isn't that what 
the Senator is talking about when he talks about the tough decision to 
try to save this auto industry, when a number of people here said let 
them go, we don't need them, it is fine if they go under. Does the 
Senator believe--and I think I know the answer--that we would remain a 
world economic power if we decided that we didn't need an auto 
manufacturing capability in America?
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. There is no question if the auto industry had 
failed and gone under--and it was close to that happening, as we all 
know--and if the conservative politicians in this body and down the 
hall had their way, it would have collapsed and it would have meant 
disaster to our future way of life in terms of manufacturing.
  Manufacturing creates wealth more than any other segment of our 
economy. It is the $20- and $30-an-hour jobs. It is the supply 
component, the suppliers and all the people who serve the industries, 
including the restaurants and the hardware stores around these 
companies. It is the truckers bringing

[[Page S7018]]

materials in and taking materials out. It is the building trade--the 
carpenters, pipe fitters, plumbers, and sheet metal workers who 
modernize the plant and get it ready for a new line of production. It 
is all of those things. All of that would have suffered job loss if we 
had followed the naysayers who said just let the market work.
  Mr. DORGAN. Isn't it interesting, when the Senator talks about a 
plant that is hiring new people that will produce a new automobile, 
which is putting people back to work, there is no social work in this 
country as a good job that pays well. That makes everything else 
possible. That is good news, but I haven't heard it. I haven't heard 
about the new plant in Ohio.
  What have I heard in the last week or two? About some nut in Florida 
wanting to burn the Koran. All the news organizations in America 
decided that is the big news--a minister with a congregation of 50 who 
decides he wants to burn the Koran. That is bad news, I guess, but it 
is sensational news of dysfunctional behavior. If you hold it up to the 
light, would you say this is ugly? Yes, but it is not America; it is 
just a nut.
  The good news somehow never gets covered. When a new plant is created 
to produce an automobile in this country from a company that probably 
would not exist today unless the people had the courage to say we need 
it, it seems to me that is good news. We seldom ever see it covered.
  I thank the Senator from Ohio. We have both written books about trade 
and are trying to stop the movement of jobs overseas and trying to 
invest in and create good jobs at home, make things that say ``made in 
America'' on the label.
  I appreciate the Senator from Ohio talking today about some progress 
and some good news because not enough people have decided good news is 
worth trumpeting.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I thank the Senator from North 
Dakota.
  I will close. I wish Senator Dorgan had said there would have been 
more attention to the fact that the Lordstown plant, which has been 
there for 30 years, has added a shift of more than 1,000 workers and 
all that means for the supply chain and all the other jobs created.
  But I wish more than that they could have heard the stories of 
individual workers and what it meant to be called back to work, what it 
meant to get this new job, what it meant so their house would not be 
foreclosed on, that they now have health insurance, that they now are 
able to send their kid to college. Those are the stories that matter--
1,100 people in good-paying industrial jobs, plus thousands of other 
supporting jobs, and those peoples' lives are a whole lot better 
because people in this body had courage to stand up to the naysayers 
and say: We need to invest in this industry, invest in American 
manufacturing and make this country strong.
  I thank the Presiding Officer. I thank especially Senator Landrieu, 
who will take the floor in a moment, for her leadership on this small 
business bill. We know that two out of three jobs are created by small 
business. No one has worked harder on that than the senior Senator from 
Louisiana, Ms. Landrieu.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I thank both Senators from Ohio and 
from North Dakota who have been two of the most effective and 
passionate leaders for ending this recession, creating jobs for the 
middle class, jobs focused on Main Street as opposed to Wall Street, 
and because of their leadership, it is starting to happen.
  The Senator from North Dakota is so right. I do not know what it 
takes to get some of this good news being heralded by either news 
reporters or through the many channels open on the Internet for people 
to understand that actions taken by this Congress, led by Democrats but 
joined by a few--not many, only a few--Republicans helped to save the 
domestic auto industry.
  While those are big businesses--and I am going to talk about small 
businesses in a minute--the Senator from Ohio is exactly correct when 
he says the help to save the domestic auto industry was not just about 
saving big auto, it was about saving the thousands of small suppliers 
and small businesses that are part of this manufacturing chain. That 
would have been lost.
  Everything we have tried has not worked as well, but the things we 
have put into place are starting to have some benefit and some 
evidence-based data to support the efforts that have been made.
  The Senator from Ohio raises one very good example. I would like to 
talk about something complementary to this issue today.
  Access to capital equals job creation. The Democratic Congress is 
leading the effort to pass a bill targeted to the small businesses of 
America that are truly the engines of economic growth. We know big 
companies supply many jobs around the world and in our country, whether 
it is big oil, big insurance, big finance or big auto.
  Right beneath that surface of all those big names we hear all the 
time, whether it is General Motors or Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, there 
are millions of small businesses. To be exact, 27 million small 
businesses in America; 20 million people are self-employed and 7 to 8 
million small businesses that hire fewer than 500 people, many of them 
hiring less than 250 and the majority of them hiring less than 50.
  Madam President, you are on the Small Business Committee. We do not 
hear those names the way we should, whether it is Casey Tubing or 
whether it is Big Al's Sandwich Shop or whether it is Mandina's 
restaurant in New Orleans, where I just ate last week. That is one of 
the best restaurants in the world, and I had the privilege of eating 
there in my hometown. Whether it is the restaurants, small 
manufacturers or entrepreneurs building different technologies to 
support the big businesses of the world, now is the time to focus on 
them.
  We have done some things--tax cuts, tax credits, and support--over 
the last year and a half, but the small business bill that is on the 
floor today, tomorrow, and this week, will, if we can get 60 votes to 
pass this bill, send a real shot of hope and optimism across the 
country to build on the successes of the strengthening of the auto 
industry, to build on the successes of the stabilization of the 
financial markets, if we can take that next step--investment in 
infrastructure from the stimulus fund--and now take the next step to 
provide access to capital, through a very strategic, well-thought-out, 
and fully funded bill, I might add--which equals job creation.
  The Members have heard me speak about a particular business. I 
continue to speak about them because they are a great example of what 
we are talking about when we say that small businesses with great 
promise, a great product, and very strong leadership are having 
difficulty getting access to the capital they need to hire workers and 
expand.
  I again use the example of Georgetown Cupcake. I should have brought 
a box with me to the floor because they are very recognizable. Not only 
is this a growing, popular, exciting business in the DC area, it also 
has its own reality television show called DC Cupcakes. The real name 
of the business is Georgetown Cupcake.
  It was founded by two sisters who leveraged their entire savings, 
borrowed here and there to try to start a very interesting and 
counterintuitive concept to start a cupcake company in the middle of a 
recession. Who would think it would work? Lines out the door early in 
the morning, late at night in the sticky heat or the cold of winter. 
You can go by Georgetown Cupcake and there is a long line. One of the 
more popular gifts to give when you go to a dinner party now or when 
you want to acknowledge the good work of a friend is to send them a 
dozen cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.
  Do you know they went to bank after bank--with lines out the door, 
with a product that was obviously popular to even the casual observer--
and they were turned down until finally a community bank, Eagle Bank, 
one of the largest lenders to small business in this region, stepped up 
and said yes. We need others to start saying yes to small business and 
that is what our bill does.
  We need to start saying yes to Main Street. We have done enough 
saying yes to Wall Street. That is what our

[[Page S7019]]

bill does. It says yes to Main Street. This bill establishes a $30 
billion strategic partnership with healthy community banks, not 
troubled banks. This bill is not for banks. It is for small businesses. 
But this bill, in its principle, trusts community banks with their 
know-how and their understanding of their neighborhoods. This bill 
recognizes rural communities in America that are starving for capital 
and says: We want to work in partnership with you. We think that $30 
billion, according to the experts who have looked at this bill, will 
leverage $300 billion in affordable loans and credit to businesses just 
like Georgetown Cupcake.
  Today they are hiring--not just the two owners who started it--125 
people now work for Georgetown Cupcake, from 2 to 125, with a future 
without limit based on the product and their model of service.
  I know in Louisiana and Texas and Mississippi, along the gulf coast, 
in New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Ohio, there are thousands of small 
businesses that with just the right partnership with a community bank 
to get more capital out to Main Street--not Wall Street--combined with 
$12 billion of tax cuts in this bill--not for big business, not for 
businesses that take their jobs and their products overseas but for 
small businesses right here on the main streets in our communities, $12 
billion of targeted tax cuts, and, in addition, some strengthening of 
the core SBA programs that eliminate borrower's fees, increase the 
guarantee from 75 percent to 95 percent, and also strengthens some of 
the export provisions, both in the SBA and in the Commerce Department, 
so we can encourage our small businesses to look other places for their 
markets, not just in the United States, not just down the street or 
downtown but look to Beijing, look to other countries around the world 
for markets.

  I just had a life-altering trip to Ethiopia, one of the poorer 
countries in the world, and spent time in the capital and a small town, 
Batu. Their future also lies in their ability to create the beautiful 
products we saw and their ability to export to other parts of the 
world.
  There are beautiful products and services produced right here in 
America that could be absolutely used around the world. The opportunity 
for trade builds friendship but also builds prosperity. It is very 
difficult for small businesses to go through all the maturations and 
gyrations of figuring out how to trade in some of these markets. But 
the Commerce Department and many States have set up technical centers 
for consultation to small businesses at many of our universities. Our 
bill funds and supports those efforts. I am very excited about that.
  I wish to show the export chart. This is where we have the potential 
for growth. If a consultant came in and looked at America, where are 
our weak points and where are our strong points, I promise this would 
be a strength, this would be growth potential. Less than 1 percent of 
small businesses are exporting. The market is overseas. Yes, we have a 
strong market in America, but the majority of the market of the world, 
the purchasing power is not in America, it is outside America.
  A lot of small businesses want to grow. They not only have to sell 
their products around their neighborhoods, cities, and in our country, 
but they have to export. Our bill lays down a marker for exporting.
  Overall, I have to say it is quite a balanced, well-put-together, 
well-thought-through bill that has been built with excellent 
contributions from Republican Senators and from Democratic Senators. We 
tried to take a lot of people's views as we have shaped this bill. We 
are now this week very close to passage.
  Over the break, there were a lot of wonderful articles and editorials 
written about the bill. I wish to add to the Record an updated letter, 
dated September 13, from the Independent Community Bankers of America, 
to say again to the leadership:

       On behalf of the nearly 5,000 members of the Independent 
     Community Bankers of America, I write to express our strong 
     support for the Small Business Jobs Act (H.R. 5297). . . .

  And the addition of the small business lending fund in the Senate.
  I have a list of additional endorsers. One can see, it is hundreds 
and hundreds of very powerful organizations that absolutely know this 
is the step we must take now if we want this recovery to reach Main 
Street, if we want this recovery to be about jobs--which is the whole 
point. That is why I am so proud of the Senator from Ohio. All you have 
to do is look into the face of someone who has been offered a job where 
they know they can save their home, they can send their children to 
college, they do not have to literally go live with a relative or 
inquire about a homeless shelter. Middle-class families are shocked 
with some of the options that are presented to them when they have no 
hope for a job.
  A job, that is what the Democratic leadership has been focused on--
jobs for middle-class Americans, jobs for Main Street. We are making 
our way slowly but surely, and this bill will move us a great distance 
down that road.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the list of 
endorsers and the updated letter from the Independent Community Bankers 
of America. Also, I have another endorsement letter from the executive 
vice president of congressional relations and public policy for the 
American Bankers Association, another strong organization. They wanted 
to reiterate that while many of them cannot support TARP--this 
organization did not support TARP--they do support this because this is 
a program for healthy banks, not for troubled banks. This is a 
strategic partnership with community bankers who know the businesses in 
their community.

  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                           List of Endorsers

       Agricultural Retailers Association (as part of the Small 
     Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); American 
     Apparel & Footwear Association; American Bankers Association
       American Farm Bureau Federation (as part of the Small 
     Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); American 
     Foundry Society--California Chapter; American Hotel & Lodging 
     Association (as part of the Small Business Coalition for 
     Affordable Healthcare); American Institute of Architects (as 
     part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare); American International Automobile Dealers 
     Association; American Veterinary Medical Association (as part 
     of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); 
     Arkansas Community Bankers; Associated Builders & Contractors 
     California; Associated Builders and Contractors (as part of 
     the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); 
     Associated General Contractors; Association of Ship Brokers & 
     Agents (as part of the Small Business Coalition for 
     Affordable Healthcare); Association of Small Business 
     Development Centers; Association of Women's Business Centers; 
     Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association; Automotive 
     Recyclers Association (as part of the Small Business 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); Bowling Proprietors' 
     Association of America (as part of the Small Business 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); California Association 
     for Micro Enterprise Opportunity.
       California Association of Competitive Telecommunications 
     Companies; California Bankers Association; California Cast 
     Metals Association; California Chapter of the American Fence 
     Contractors Association; California Employers Association; 
     California Fence Contractors Association; California Hispanic 
     Chamber of Commerce; California Independent Bankers; 
     California Metals Coalition; California Public Arts 
     Association, Inc.; Commercial Photographers International (as 
     part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare); Communicating for America Inc.; Community 
     Bankers Association of Alabama; Community Bankers Association 
     of Georgia; Community Bankers Association of Illinois; 
     Community Bankers Association of Kansas; Community Bankers 
     Association of Ohio; Community Bankers of Iowa; Community 
     Bankers of Washington.
       Community Bankers of West Virginia; Community Bankers of 
     Wisconsin; Conference of State Bank Supervisors; Consumer 
     Bankers Association; Council of Smaller Enterprises (Ohio); 
     CTIA-The Wireless Association; Engineering Contractors 
     Association; Entrepreneurs Organization Los Angeles; Fashion 
     Accessories Shippers Association; Flasher/Barricade 
     Association; Florida Bankers Association; Florida Minority 
     Community Reinvestment Coalition; Florida Small Business 
     Development Centers; Golden Gate Restaurant Association; 
     Greater Providence (RI) Chamber of Commerce; Healthcare 
     Leadership Council; Heating, Airconditioning & Refrigeration 
     Distributors International; Heavy Duty Manufacturers 
     Association; Hispanic Bankers Association of Texas; 
     Independent Bankers Association of Texas.
       Independent Bankers of Colorado; Independent Community 
     Bankers Association of

[[Page S7020]]

     New Mexico; Independent Community Bankers of America; 
     Independent Community Bankers of Minnesota; Independent 
     Community Bankers of South Dakota; Independent Electrical 
     Contractors, Inc (as part of the Small Business Coalition 
     for Affordable Healthcare); Independent Waste Oil 
     Collectors and Transporters; Indiana Bankers Association; 
     International Council of Shopping Centers; International 
     Franchise Association; International Housewares 
     Association (as part of the Small Business Coalition for 
     Affordable Healthcare); International Sign Association; 
     Kansas Bankers Association; Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers 
     Association; Louisiana Bankers Association; Louisiana 
     Marine and Motorcycle Trade Association; Main Street 
     Alliance; Maine Association of Community Banks; Marin 
     Builders' Association; Marine Retailers Association of 
     America; Maryland Bankers Association.
       Massachusetts Bankers Association; Michigan Association of 
     Community Bankers; Missouri Independent Bankers Association; 
     Montana Bankers Association; Monterey County Business 
     Council; Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association; Napa 
     Chamber of Commerce; National Association for the Self-
     Employed; National Association of Development Companies; 
     National Association of Federal Credit Unions; National 
     Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders; National 
     Association of Health Underwriters; National Association of 
     Manufacturers; National Association of REALTORS; National 
     Association of Theatre Owners (as part of the Small Business 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); National Association of 
     Wholesaler-Distributors (as part of the Small Business; 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); National Association of 
     Women Business Owners--Inland Empire; National Association of 
     Women Business Owners--Los Angeles.
       National Automobile Dealers Association; National Bankers 
     Association; National Community Pharmacists Association (as 
     part of the Small Business; Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare); National Congress of American Indians; National 
     Cooperative Business Association; National Council of Chain 
     Restaurants; National Council of Textile Organizations; 
     National Federation of Filipino American Associations; 
     National Federation of Independent Business; National Gay & 
     Lesbian Chamber of Commerce; National Marine Manufacturers 
     Association; National Ready Mixed Concrete Association; 
     National Restaurant Association; National Retail Federation 
     (as part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare); National Roofing Contractors Association (as 
     part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare); National Small Business Association; National 
     Tooling and Machining Association (as part of the Small 
     Business; Coalition for Affordable Healthcare).
       Nebraska Independent Community Bankers; Nevada Bankers 
     Association; New Jersey Bankers Association; North American 
     Die Casting Association--California Chapter; North Carolina 
     Bankers Association; Northeastern Retail Lumber Association 
     (as part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare); Northern California Independent Booksellers 
     Association; Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce; 
     NPES--The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing 
     and Converting Technologies; Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of 
     Commerce; Oregon Small Business for Responsible Leadership; 
     Original Equipment Suppliers Association; Peninsula Builders 
     Exchange of California; Pennsylvania Association of 
     Community Bankers; Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors of 
     California; Precision Machined Products Association (as 
     part of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare); Precision Metalforming Association (as part 
     of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable 
     Healthcare).
       Printing Industries of America (as part of the Small 
     Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); Professional 
     Golfers Association of America (as part of the Small Business 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); Professional 
     Photographers of America; Publishing and Converting 
     Technologies; Recreation Vehicle Industry Association; 
     Recreational Vehicle Dealers Association; Rhode Island Small 
     Business Summit Committee; Sacramento Asian Chamber of 
     Commerce; San Francisco Builders Exchange; San Francisco 
     Chamber of Commerce; San Francisco Small Business Advocates; 
     San Francisco Small Business Network; Service Station Dealers 
     of America and Allied Trades (as part of the Small Business 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); Small Business and 
     Entrepreneurship Council (as part of the Small Business 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); Small Business 
     Association of Michigan (SBAM); Small Business Association of 
     New England (SBANE); Small Business California.
       Small Business Majority; Small Manufacturers Association of 
     California; Society of American Florists; Society of Sport 
     and Event Photographers (as part of the Small Business 
     Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); South Carolina Small 
     Business Chamber; Spa and Pool Industry Education Council of 
     California; Specialty Equipment Market Association (as part 
     of the Small Business Coalition for Affordable Healthcare); 
     SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association; Stock Artists 
     Alliance (as part of the Small Business Coalition for 
     Affordable Healthcare); Tennessee Bankers Association; The 
     Financial Services Roundtable; The Hosiery Association; Tire 
     Industry Association (as part of the Small Business Coalition 
     for Affordable Healthcare); Travel Goods Association; Tree 
     Care Industry Association Urban Solutions--San Francisco; 
     U.S. Chamber of Commerce; U.S. Conference of Mayors; U.S. 
     Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
       Virginia Association of Community Banks; Western Growers 
     Association (as part of the Small Business Coalition for 
     Affordable Healthcare); Women Impacting Public Policy; 
     Wyoming Bankers Association; Bankers Association for Finance 
     and Trade; Chamber Southwest Louisiana; City of New Orleans; 
     Council of State Governments; Greater New Orleans Inc.; 
     Lafayette Economic Development Authority; Louisiana Business 
     Incubation Association; Louisiana Small Business Development 
     Centers; Small Business Exporters Association; State 
     International Development Organization Mid Tier Alliance; 
     National Associations of Small Disadvantaged Businesses; 
     National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development; 
     The ARC of Northern Virginia; United States Black Chamber of 
     Commerce.
       Association for Enterprise Opportunity; Associated Builders 
     and Contractors; Business and Professional Women's 
     Foundation; El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Latin 
     American Management Association; Minority Business 
     RoundTable; Morris County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; 
     National Association of Hispanic Contractors; National 
     Association of Small Business Contractors; National Black 
     Chamber of Commerce; Native American Contractors Association; 
     Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council; Small Business 
     Legislative Council; Small Business Television; U.S. Pan 
     Asian American Chamber of Commerce; U.S. Women's Chamber of 
     Commerce; Women Presidents' Organization; Women's Business 
     Enterprise National Council.
                                  ____

                                             Independent Community


                              Bankers of America ',

                               Washington, DC, September 13, 2010.
     Hon. Harry Reid,
     Senate Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Mitch McConnell,
     Senate Minority Leader, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Mary L. Landrieu,
     Chairwoman, Committee on Small Business and and 
         Entrepreneurship, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Olympia J. Snowe,
     Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Small Business and 
         Entrepreneurship, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Majority Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell, 
     Chairwoman Landrieu, and Ranking Member Snowe: On behalf of 
     the nearly 5,000 members of the Independent Community Bankers 
     of America, I write to express our strong support for the 
     Small Business Jobs Act (HR 5297), and its core component, 
     the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF). ICBA believes that 
     the SBLF will spur the flow of additional small business 
     credit. The Tier I capital banks receive can be leveraged to 
     provide as much as $300 billion of new credit to small 
     business. The legislation's Small Business Administration 
     loan program incentives will also allow community banks to 
     expand lending to deserving small business borrowers.
       The nation's nearly 8,000 community banks are prolific 
     small business lenders with the community contacts and 
     underwriting expertise to get credit flowing to the small 
     business sector. The SBLF is a bold, fresh proposal that 
     would provide another option for community banks to leverage 
     capital and expand small business credit.
       Thank you for your consideration.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Camden R. Fine,
     President and CEO.
                                  ____

                                               September 13, 2010.
     To: Members of the United States Senate.
     From: Floyd E. Stoner, Executive Vice President, 
         Congressional Relations & Public Policy.
     Re H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act
       On behalf of the members of the American Bankers 
     Association (ABA), I am writing to express our support for 
     H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act As proposed, 
     Treasury would invest in community banks through a new 
     program that would be separate and apart from the Troubled 
     Assets Relief Program (TARP). This legislation would 
     authorize another tool for community banks to meet the needs 
     of small businesses in their communities, and we urge the 
     Senate to pass this legislation.
       There are many areas of the United States that struggle 
     under the weight of the severe downturn the economy has 
     experienced. Since banks are a reflection of their 
     communities, they are suffering with the communities they 
     serve. Yet even in areas beset by poor economic conditions 
     there are strong borrowers.
       Meeting the needs of these borrowers has been made more 
     difficult as regulators pressure many banks to increase their 
     capital-to-asset ratios. Given the slow recovery and the 
     severity of the downturn, it is difficult if not impossible 
     for community banks to find new sources of capital. Thus, the 
     only option for many banks is to shrink, which can mean 
     making fewer loans. H.R. 5297 provides an option for banks to 
     avoid that result and continue meeting the needs of their 
     communities. With an improving economy and public 
     investments, such as those proposed in H.R. 5297, lending can 
     increase faster in some

[[Page S7021]]

     of the hardest hit areas of the country. Community banks, 
     which are the life blood of many communities, can provide the 
     needed capital.
       ABA also supports language in the Senate bill that would 
     increase the maximum loan sizes for the 7(a) small business 
     loan program from $2 million to $5 million, with a temporary 
     90-percent guarantee through December 31, 2010. The 7(a) 
     program has historically been a critical lending tool for 
     traditional banks to help meet the credit needs of small 
     businesses. The enhancements provided in this legislation are 
     critically important and will help lenders provide loans so 
     that small businesses can create jobs in their communities.
       We encourage the Senate to support community banks by 
     supporting H.R. 5297.

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Let me respond to one point. I realize that part of the 
problem is the way the regulators are coming down a little harder than 
they probably need to in some instances with our community banks in an 
effort to prevent the banking system from reaching the excesses reached 
to cause all of us very serious financial loss and worldwide financial 
panic. I realize there have to be some adjustments to those 
regulations. This bill recognizes that. It doesn't address it because 
we don't have the jurisdiction in our Small Business Committee. That 
comes out of the Banking Committee. But I believe the members of our 
committee will very soon send to the Banking Committee a very strongly 
worded letter based on some of the testimony we have received--and the 
Presiding Officer has been in many of those meetings--from our bankers, 
who want to do more, who want to lend to credible, reputable 
businesspeople, but they say the regulators are coming down too hard on 
them. So we have to fix that.
  We also have to focus on the balloon notes coming due on commercial 
real estate lending in this country, because we have to handle that 
very deftly or we could see a setback. This bill will not solve all 
problems, but I promise it will get us on the right road and headed in 
the right direction. Then with some appropriate modifications on the 
regulatory side for the community banks, to make sure they are 
operating with full integrity but that they are also being given the 
latitude to do what they are supposed to be doing, which is lending 
affordable credit to businesses, and with some additional other steps, 
I believe we can have this recession on the run. That is my goal, and I 
know that is a goal that is shared not only by the President of the 
United States but by Members of Congress as well, and I hope of many 
people in the world. We are all working on that as hard as we can.
  I know some of my other colleagues are going to come and speak about 
this bill. We will be taking up one amendment on this bill, and it is a 
very important amendment that needs to get a resolution on the 1099 
section of the small business reporting obligations. We need to have 
some significant changes. I hope we can get that done this week. There 
are plans underway to have it addressed, and we will be debating that 
this week on the floor. But whatever the outcome of the arguments about 
that amendment--because that provision doesn't go into effect until 
2012, and it is September 2010 right now--we have some time to work 
that out. We may work it out this week. We may get the 60 votes on 
either the Nelson or the Johanns amendment, and the issue will be 
addressed either completely or partially. But if not, we have time to 
work that out, and the business community has my commitment to do so.
  It is very important that this bill be passed this week. I see 
Senator Merkley and Senator Cantwell on the floor, and I am going to 
yield time to both of them. They have been leaders on this issue. I 
will mention that Senator Boxer talked to me a minute ago on the floor. 
She said to me: Senator, please, let people know that as I traveled 
through California that was the main topic of conversation; and that 
she herself went to 15 or 20 small businesses that couldn't wait for 
this bill to pass because they know there is real help for them.
  This bill was built for them. It wasn't built for business and small 
businesses just to get the crumbs that fall from the table. This bill 
has been built with them in mind. We know they are the engines to get 
this economy started again. We can't wait to get it passed. We can't 
wait to get it to the President's desk. We believe it will have an 
immediate and substantial impact on their ability to hire new workers 
and to create the kind of economic activity that will lead this country 
and, frankly, the world out of this very troubling economic time.
  I yield for the Senator from Oregon, who has not only been a lead 
supporter but a designer of many of the pieces of this bill, and I 
can't thank him enough for his tireless efforts on behalf of small 
business, not just in Oregon but around the country.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. MERKLEY. I thank Senator Landrieu very much for her leadership as 
chair of the Small Business Committee. She has put in countless hours 
working with the national small business community and asking what the 
key obstacles are and how can we help to address them. The result is a 
list of endorsements from I would say about every organization in the 
United States.
  This list has grown as we have been debating this bill. This list has 
grown while we were out talking to our small businesses back home. I 
was astounded when my staff put it into my hands today because it is no 
longer one page, as it was earlier in our conversations, it is no 
longer two pages, but page after page of fine print of every 
organization from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Women's 
Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, the Hotel and 
Lodging Association, the American Farm Bureau, the National Association 
of Realtors, the National Federation of Independent Business, the 
National Restaurant Association, to the Independent Community Bankers 
of America. If you know of an organization that works with small 
businesses in America, it is on this list. It is phenomenal.
  Why have all these groups--more than I have ever seen on any bill--
said they support this small business jobs bill? Well, I will tell you 
why. Because this bill is targeted at putting small business back in 
gear as the job factories of America.
  I was just back home, and I completed my annual set of townhalls in 
36 counties, so I have been all over the State of Oregon. I have heard 
from independent businesses, small businesses on the coast, I have 
heard from businesses in central Oregon and southern Oregon and the 
valley, and everywhere people said: We need access to credit. We can't 
seize a business opportunity that is right in front of us because we 
can't get the credit necessary to seize that opportunity. And they want 
to know what is going on.
  In some cases, perhaps a bank is a little bit nervous, having gone 
through and weathered this national economic meltdown. But in many 
cases our Main Street banks are at the limit they are allowed to lend 
based on their current capitalization, and so they will say: Well, the 
FDIC is enforcing the rules on leverage and we can't do additional 
lending.
  Well, this bill addresses that. This bill, through the Small Business 
Lending Fund, increases the capitalization of Main Street banks. Those 
are healthy Main Street banks. It allows them to basically increase 
lending to small business on a 10-to-1 ratio. So that means that $30 
billion in recapitalization for Main Street America can climb to $300 
billion of lending to small businesses and they can then seize those 
opportunities and put America back to work. That is the power of the 
Small Business Lending Fund that is in this bill.
  But that is not all that is in this bill. There is in this bill the 
ability to have 100 percent of capital gains written off so you can 
basically move your assets to seize another opportunity without having 
to pay a tax on the sale of the assets you have right now. This has a 
5-year carryback on business credit so that if you can't use those 
credits this year because your business is down, you can use them 
against earlier profits, and that means a reduced tax bill. This has an 
extension of bonus depreciation, which is very helpful. This bill has 
the Jumpstart Act, which says if you are a small business, just getting 
started, then your original startup cost deduction is doubled.
  Taken together, this bill is about putting small business to work in 
America. I can't imagine why we wouldn't have 100 votes on the floor of 
this Chamber, 100 votes to put small

[[Page S7022]]

business back on track. Sometimes legislation is regional--we will do a 
little bit that affects an industry in the Northwest or in the South or 
maybe it is for the west coast--but there is nothing regional about 
this bill. Last I checked, small businesses are the heart of every 
town, city, and rural area of the United States. So this puts people 
back to work and strengthens the economy in every part of America. That 
is why the list of endorsements goes on page after page after page.
  My colleague from Washington State is going to continue to share her 
observations, so I will yield, but I want to conclude by saying this is 
the type of problem-solving legislation that is needed in America, 
where rather than looking to an election down the road and political 
positioning, we do the hard work of investigating the obstacles and 
then we proceed to design legislation to remove those obstacles, and 
that puts a job back in every community in America. That puts a lot of 
jobs back in every community in America, and every job is the 
foundation for a family.
  I can tell you that the unemployment rate in Oregon is absolutely 
unacceptable. Families are hurting, with the loss of a job on top of a 
loss to the value of their house and often the loss of their retirement 
savings. This starts to turn America around. It is time to pass this 
act, and I encourage all my colleagues to vote early, vote yes, and 
let's put America back to work.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Madam President, I rise to join my colleague, the 
Senator from Louisiana, the Chair of the Small Business Committee, and 
my colleague from Oregon, Senator Merkley, to talk about the very 
important issue that, frankly, you could say you probably heard a lot 
about from us before we left. But along with my colleague, Senator 
Murray, and I am sure others, such as Senator Boxer, we all went home 
and heard from our constituents about this issue and we heard about how 
critical it is that we pass this legislation.
  I find it interesting that the pundits are all debating whether this 
will have a political effect on the election. I can guarantee you the 
focus of this legislation has not been, for any of us, about the 
election but about helping small business. When Wall Street imploded 
nearly 2 years ago--2 years ago--is when small business needed our help 
and support, and many of us have been arguing literally this entire 
legislative calendar year to pass this legislation, only to have hurdle 
after hurdle put in front of us or naysayers who say it can't be done. 
So I truly hope we are on the precipice of passing this legislation 
because it is so critical for job creation in America.
  I know my colleagues have gone over these numbers, but to be specific 
about it again one more time, because this is from the Department of 
Commerce, small businesses account for 60 to 75 percent of new job 
creation. So we can talk about all the ideas we want to have about how 
to get out of this economic nightmare, and we can talk about various 
policies that are going to help us stimulate the economy, but the 
bottom line is that job growth by the private sector is going to help 
our economy, and that has to have a focus on small business.
  What has happened to us instead, as you can see by this chart, which 
shows small business lending basically from 2008 to 2009, is that we 
had an economic crisis. We know that lending in general went down, but 
we see that small business lending went down even more dramatically. 
The consequence of that has been our engine of economic growth for job 
creation--small business--has been cut off. We have seen lending from 
large banks to large institutions, and some of those institutions are 
doing the hiring, but they are not the basic driver of job growth in 
America. So this is what we are trying to right. We are trying to 
correct the fact that these small businesses have not had access to 
capital.
  I know my colleague Senator Murray and I went to a restaurant in 
Seattle, a pizzeria that is very popular, and met with many small 
business people there. But this particular owner, Joe Fugere, who has a 
wonderful business, basically had opened four restaurants and then went 
to get more capital during this downturn and basically was told no, it 
is too big of a risk. He said:

       Honestly, I was shocked and deeply offended. I had a 
     healthy profitable business, a blemish-free history of paying 
     all my loans on time, in full. And now I was being told that 
     I was risky. . . .

  After the decisions that were made on Wall Street and their risky 
activity.
  In the end, Joe did everything he could with personal appeals. He 
worked with community bankers, and finally got his loan and then opened 
his new restaurant which now employs 75 people.
  Joe was not the risk. Joe did not participate in risky derivative 
activities on Wall Street. He did not cook up this scheme. Yet here we 
are, 2 years later, finally coming to the aid and support of small 
businesses.
  I heard many stories of this when I was at home, many small 
businesses that basically said I hope people on the other side of the 
aisle can set aside their differences and help get this legislation 
passed; that we need to do more. I know many of you may have seen today 
the report that was put out by the Joint Economic Committee, ``Small 
Business Employment: Bank Lending Restrains Job Creation.'' Basically 
the summation of this, and I will read from the report, is that it 
found that as a result of ``tight lending standards facing small 
businesses, hiring at small firms continued to decline in 2009 and the 
early part of 2010, while hiring by largest establishments, which had 
wider access to credit, began to pick up. . . .''
  It is clear that small business hiring still remains flat. The 
question is what are we going to do about it? It is not about November 
2, it is about whether you support giving access to capital to small 
businesses that had capital choked off from them because of the 
activities of Wall Street.
  I clearly support and respect the engine of our economy that small 
businesses represent. I hope people will put their differences aside. I 
appreciate my colleague from Ohio, Senator Voinovich, for his 
leadership, for his advocacy, for listening to the facts on this issue 
and understanding that these are the people who will help us out of 
this situation and certainly were not the ones who got us into it.
  I hope we will move forward on this legislation and this week we will 
pass it. I do not expect things to change overnight but I do expect 
this: for this Congress--for the Senate, for the House--to say where 
our priorities are and to say where leveraged access to capital can 
stimulate job growth in our economy.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INOUYE. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________