[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 34 (Monday, March 11, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S1594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU:
  S. 511. A bill to amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to 
enhance the Small Business Investment Company Program, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to introduce 
the Expanding Access to Capital for Entrepreneurial Leaders Act, or the 
EXCEL Act. This legislation will enhance the already successful Small 
Business Investment Company, SBIC, program at the Small Business 
Administration, SBA, that has helped over 100,000 small businesses. The 
best part of this bill is that the EXCEL Act should not cost the 
taxpayer anything.
  The SBA runs a venture capital program by guaranteeing money borrowed 
by qualified investment funds who invest in small businesses. The 
qualified funds, or Small Business Investment Companies, SBICs, are 
privately owned and operated, but licensed and regulated by the SBA. 
Using a combination of private investments and the loans guaranteed by 
the SBA, typically at a ratio of $2 in guaranteed funds for every $1 of 
private capital, SBICs make longterm investments in American small 
businesses. In order to participate in the program, funds pay licensing 
fees which serve to cover all SBIC program costs. As a result, the core 
SBIC program, Debenture SBICs, not only boasts a strong success rate, 
but also incurs no cost to the U.S. government. Since the program's 
inception, over $50 billion has been invested in over 100,000 small 
businesses.
  In the last Congress, the former Ranking Member of the Small Business 
Committee, Senator Olympia Snowe, and I conducted a roundtable with 14 
participants from the SBA, SBICs, SBIC investors, and small businesses 
to elicit suggestions on enhancing the program. Out of that was born 
the EXCEL Act.
  The EXCEL Act is a bipartisan effort encompassing much-needed changes 
that will allow the SBIC program to meet growing demand and will make 
improvements so that more small businesses can access capital.
  First, the EXCEL Act raises the SBIC program authorization level from 
$3 billion to $4 billion and pegs it to inflation. This change is long 
overdue--the ceiling has been at $3 billion for some time, despite 
inflation and the impressive growth in the SBIC program. To illustrate: 
the program grew 50 percent in fiscal year 2011 alone. In order to meet 
demand, we need to give the program room to grow.
  Secondly, the EXCEL Act will encourage successful investors by 
raising the limit on ``families of funds.'' Family of funds refers to a 
team of SBIC fund managers who operate several funds. These are 
currently limited to $225 million of SBA-guaranteed debt. However, SBIC 
fund managers who manage more than one fund generally see better 
investment results. The EXCEL Act will encourage that kind of success 
by giving families of funds a higher limit of $350 million, which will 
be indexed to inflation.
  Next, the EXCEL Act improves transparency and accountability in the 
program. The legislation requires that the SBA make public how 
effective individual SBICs are in their small business investments, 
guaranteeing that SBA-backed money is being used responsibly.
  Finally, the EXCEL Act promotes outreach, thereby ensuring that the 
maximum possible number of small businesses can benefit from the SBIC 
program. The legislation encourages outreach to community banks and 
other lenders, states and municipalities, and asks the SBA to make 
their SBIC website more user-friendly.
  The EXCEL Act contains a number of commonsense provisions that have 
had support across the aisle. It enhances a program with proven success 
in providing capital to small businesses, and does so with the 
expectation that it will not add a dime to the deficit. Let us get this 
bill passed. Let us help small businesses excel.
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