[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1711-S1713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. BAUCUS (for himself and Mr. Hatch):
S. 526. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make
permanent the special rule for contributions of qualified conservation
contributions, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Rural
Heritage Conservation Extension Act of 2013.
As we continue to find ways to tackle the important issues of this
nation's long-term future, we begin this new congress with an
opportunity to take responsibility. This includes the ways we look to
safeguard our land. Today, I am introducing the Rural Heritage
Conservation Extension Act as part of our collective mission to ensure
a prosperous nation for future generations.
We all know our land has a deeper worth than the goods we have
cultivated or extracted from beneath the earth. It is our heritage. And
when a piece of our heritage is lost, we do not simply lose its future
value in dollars. We also lose the wildlife habitat and the open areas
that may be enjoyed by people from around the world, on top of the very
personal value it has held for generations of landowners. It is our job
in government, as stewards of the land, to safeguard this precious gift
for our grandchildren and to provide support to the farmers, ranchers
and other hard-working landowners who rely on it to make a living.
For this reason we have decided to provide targeted income tax relief
to small farmers and ranchers who donate their land under a qualified
conservation easement. The provision increases the deduction amount
eligible farmers and ranchers may receive for charitable contributions
of qualified conservation easements by raising the adjusted gross
income limitation from 50 percent to 100 percent and extending the
carryover period from 5 years to 15 years. For all other landowners,
the AGI limitation was raised from 30 percent to 50 percent. This
provision was included in the fiscal cliff package and will expire at
the end of this year. The bill before you, the Rural Heritage
Conservation Extension Act of 2013, will make this valuable incentive
permanent.
Conversation easements have been established as an effective land
preservation method across the country. In Montana, we currently have
over 2.1 million acres covered by conservation easements. To some, that
may seem like a large amount, but this is Montana, and those easements
are only 2.2 percent of the total state land area. But we leverage far
more value out of these easements because they are often located within
or next to large tracts of public lands. In Montana, we fully recognize
the importance of using these easements to protect our lands. Now is
the time to help my country and my State to do all they can.
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This legislative body, the individual States, and the Nation together
should stand up for future generations and declare that the time for
land preservation is now. I believe that we should do all we can to
help landowners afford to choose conservation and preservation, and
this bill is a step in the right direction. Let us get rid of the
uncertainty that comes with temporary provisions and build on the
success of what we have already begun to do. Let us pass the Rural
Heritage Conservation Extension Act.
______
By Mr. REED (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Cardin, Ms.
Klobuchar, Mr. Franken, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Cowan):
S. 527. A bill to provide for the adjustment of status of certain
nationals of Liberia to that of lawful permanent residents; to the
Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I introduce the Liberian Refugee
Immigration Fairness Act along with Senators Whitehouse, Cardin,
Klobuchar, Franken, Warren, and Cowan.
In December 1989, Liberia became engulfed in a devastating 7-year
civil war, which killed over 150,000 people, displaced more than half
the population, and destroyed the country's infrastructure. Thousands
of Liberians who were forced from their homes sought refuge in the
United States and in 1991, were granted Temporary Protected Status,
TPS. Since that time, the status of many of these refugees, as well as
many of those who fled to the United States during Liberia's second
civil war, 1999-2003, has been extended through renewals of both TPS
and Deferred Enforced Departure, DED.
America is now home to these law-abiding and tax-paying Liberians.
They came here to escape violence and are strengthening our
communities. Many now have children of their own who are U.S. citizens,
some of whom serve in the U.S. military. They are here legally, and
they continue to work hard and play by the rules.
We are currently less than 20 days away from the expiration of DED on
March 31, 2013. In the short term, I have been joined by several
colleagues in urging the Administration to extend DED so Liberians who
have lived here legally do not face deportation.
The Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act, which I have
introduced every Congress since 1999, offers a more long-term solution.
It seeks to provide a path to citizenship for qualifying Liberian
refugees. After decades of perennial uncertainty about whether they
will be able to stay in their communities or whether their families
will be split up, this bill would give eligible Liberians the
opportunity to apply for legal permanent residency, and begin the
process of finally becoming citizens.
Currently, a bipartisan group of my Senate colleagues is working
towards a comprehensive immigration reform bill. I look forward to
working with them and others to include the Liberian Refugee
Immigration Fairness Act in immigration reform. I thank Senators
Whitehouse, Cardin, Klobuchar, Franken, Warren, and Cowan for
cosponsoring this bill and urge our colleagues to join us in taking the
next steps to finally provide a path to citizenship for qualifying
Liberians.
______
By Ms. LANDRIEU:
S. 537. A bill to require the Small Business Administration to make
information relating to lenders making covered loans publicly
available, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, as Chair of the Senate Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I remain focused on the needs of
small businesses. Much of what we do on the committee involves
overseeing the Small Business Administration's contracting, counseling,
and capital programs, and we are always looking for ways to improve
them. As our country slowly recovers the economic downturn, one of the
most pressing issues facing small business owners is access to capital.
In the past two fiscal years alone, the Small Business
Administration, SBA, supported over $30 billion in loans to
approximately 60,000 small businesses each year through its 7(a) and
504/CDC lending programs. As of September 2012, there were over 2,400
SBA lenders nationwide. While the SBA currently releases some
information publicly about SBA lending activity, it is extremely
difficult to find and comprehend if you are not an SBA lending
professional. If a small business, mayor, or governor wants to
determine SBA lending activity in their area, they lack the ability to
do so easily.
I come to the floor today to introduce a bill that would increase
accountability at the SBA in its lending reporting activity. The
Communicating Lender Activity Reports from the Small Business
Administration, CLEAR SBA, Act would require the SBA to establish an
online database to provide consumers with more transparent, user-
friendly data about their local SBA lenders.
More specifically, the CLEAR SBA Act would require the SBA to post a
user friendly Lender Activity Index on the SBA website. Users will be
able to access the following data for any given bank: name of bank or
Certified Development Company, CDC, number of SBA loans each lender
made, total dollar amount of SBA loans of each bank or CDC, zip code of
lender activity, not where every single loan was made, but a list of
every zip code where the bank has made an SBA loan, industries lent to,
hospitality, manufacturing, service, software, etc., stage of business
cycle, new, or existing business, and business specific information,
i.e. Women Owned Businesses, Minority Owned Businesses, or Veteran
Owned Businesses. Data will be available for the year to date and users
will be able to compare to 3 previous fiscal years. Both quarterly and
annual data will be included.
I would like to emphasize that this proposal has already received
bipartisan support. In the 112th Congress, the SBA Lender Activity
Index was included as a provision in Title II of the SUCCESS Act. On
July 12, 2012, the Senate voted on the SUCCESS Act. On July 12, 2012,
the Senate voted on the SUCCESS Act as part of Senate Amendment 2521 to
S. 2237, the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act of 2012. Although
the amendment came up short of the 60 votes needed to end debate, the
SUCCESS Act received a strong 57 bipartisan votes, including five of my
Republican colleagues. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
to come together in support of this common sense proposal to increase
transparency and accountability at the SBA.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record as follows:
S. 537
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Communicating Lender
Activity Reports from the Small Business Administration Act''
or the ``CLEAR SBA Act''.
SEC. 2. SBA LENDER ACTIVITY INDEX.
Section 4 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 633) is
amended by adding at the end the following:
``(g) SBA Lender Activity Index.--
``(1) Definition.--In this subsection, the term `covered
loan' means a loan made or debenture issued under this Act or
the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 661 et
seq.) by a private individual or entity.
``(2) Requirement.--Not later than 6 months after the date
of enactment of this subsection, the Administrator shall make
publicly available on the website of the Administration a
user-friendly database of information relating to lenders
making covered loans (to be known as the `Lender Activity
Index').
``(3) Data included.--
``(A) In general.--The database made available under
paragraph (2) shall include, for each lender making a covered
loan--
``(i) the name of the lender;
``(ii) the number of covered loans made by the lender;
``(iii) the total dollar amount of covered loans made by
the lender;
``(iv) a list of each ZIP Code in which a recipient of a
covered loan made by the lender is located;
``(v) a list of the industries of the recipients to which
the lender made a covered loan;
``(vi) whether the covered loan is for an existing business
or a new business;
``(vii) the number and total dollar amount of covered loans
made by the lender to--
``(I) small business concerns owned and controlled by
women;
``(II) socially and economically disadvantaged small
business concerns (as defined in section 8(a)(4)(A)); and
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``(III) small business concerns owned and controlled by
veterans; and
``(viii) whether the covered loan was made under section
7(a) or under the program to provide financing to small
business concerns through guarantees of loans under title V
of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695
et seq.).
``(B) Incorporation of data.--The Administrator shall--
``(i) include in the database made available under
paragraph (2) information relating to covered loans made
during fiscal years 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013; and
``(ii) incorporate information relating to covered loans on
an ongoing basis.
``(C) Period of data availability.--The Administrator shall
retain information relating to a covered loan in the database
made available under paragraph (2) until not earlier than the
end of the third fiscal year beginning after the fiscal year
during which the covered loan was made.''.
____________________