[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.
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