[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 170 (Sunday, December 19, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10725-S10726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--S. 2919

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I want to clarify this for my colleagues. 
There are a couple of items, and they will be done quickly in 
legislative session by unanimous consent. Then we will come right back 
to the procedure we had talked about previously. For the purpose of 
that consent, in legislative session, I yield to the Senator from 
Colorado.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado is recognized.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. In legislative session, I wish to make a 
unanimous consent request.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Banking Committee be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 2919, the Small Business Lending 
Enhancement Act, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; 
that a Udall of Colorado substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be 
agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time and passed, and 
the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening 
action or debate.

[[Page S10726]]

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. SHELBY. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, if I might, for the record, I 
will talk briefly about the legislation I referred to. This is a 
bipartisan bill. I filed it----
  Mr. INHOFE. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection has already been heard.
  Mr. INHOFE. Well, there are two motions. I am objecting to the 
discussion of the amendment at this time, until we find out how long it 
will be.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator 
from Colorado have 3 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. President, the reason I have offered this 
consent agreement today is that this would help literally hundreds of 
small businesses to create hundreds of thousands of jobs at no cost to 
the American taxpayer.
  I did want to, in the spirit of bipartisanship, mention the 
cosponsors of the bill: Majority Leader Reid from Nevada, and Senators 
Snowe, Collins, Schumer, Boxer, Brown, Gillibrand, Inouye, Lieberman, 
Nelson of Florida, Bennet of Colorado, Sanders, and Wyden.
  The bill addresses a problem that everybody in the Chamber agrees 
needs to be addressed, and that is the trouble small businesses are 
having accessing capital so they can grow and create jobs.
  We saw that our unemployment rate inched up to 9.8 percent in 
November. That is indicative of the fact that our economy is having 
trouble gaining traction. We all know that if small businesses expand 
and grow, our economy will be getting back on track.
  If I might, let me tell you how this bill would help small 
businesses. Under current law, credit unions are doing what they can to 
help business interests and meet the demands of particularly family 
businesses. But they are constrained by an arbitrary cap on the size 
and amount of the loans they can issue. In every State, there are 
credit unions that would like to lend more, responsibly. But the 
Federal Government gets in the way.
  This legislation would get the Federal Government out of the way and 
allow credit unions help jumpstart the economy. Under current statute, 
credit unions are constrained to dedicating no more than 12.25 percent 
of their total assets to small business lending. Many credit unions 
have run up against that cap. What this legislation would do is take 
the most experienced and well-run credit unions and allow them to meet 
the rising demand for small business loans.
  The National Credit Union Administration, the Federal regulator, 
would have the authority to allow the small business lending cap to 
slowly increase from the current 12.25 percent limit to a maximum of 
27.5 percent of total assets.
  Lest you think this has been pulled out of thin air, the proposal has 
the backing of the Banking Committee, the Treasury Department, and 
National Credit Union Association. It also has the support of the 
National Small Business Association, the National Association of 
Realtors, and even the Conservative Americans for Tax Reform thinks 
this is a good idea.
  The Credit Union National Association projects that these reforms are 
sensible reforms and would increase small business lending by $10 
billion within the first year, with an increase of nearly $200 million 
in my State, and I am sure it would be similar in all States. It is 
expected to also increase 100,000 jobs nationwide.
  This is disappointing. It is a shame we can't move this legislation 
forward. We should be helping our economy, but we are embroiled in 
other things here. I will continue to fight for this, and I hope other 
Senators here today will join me in helping unleash the power of credit 
unions and get Americans back to work.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.
  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I will yield for a moment for an 
announcement from the Senator from Montana.
  (The remarks of Mr. TESTER are printed in today's Record under 
``Morning Business.'')

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