[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 27629]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         H.R. 3854: SMALL BUSINESS FINANCING AND INVESTMENT ACT

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                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, November 7, 2009

  Mr. HOLT. Madam Speaker, I support our Nation's small business and 
the passage of the ``Small Business Financing and Investment Act,'' 
H.R. 3854.
  Small businesses play an integral role in the United States economy. 
Small businesses employ more than half of all workers in the private 
sector and generate 60 to 80 percent of new jobs in this country. The 
small business financing and lending programs improved by this bill 
would help small businesses not only survive the current downturn, but 
help them to expand and create new jobs.
  Last month, I brought more than 50 high-tech small business owners to 
Washington to discuss the issues facing their businesses. Many of these 
small business owners told me about the struggles they face in finding 
credit and investment funding, which they need to maintain and expand 
their businesses. They talked about how reluctant banks were to lend to 
small businesses in these difficult economic times. This bill would 
help those small business owners by extending key provisions from the 
Recovery Act passed earlier this year. First, the legislation would aid 
small businesses by eliminating fees on Small Business Administration, 
SBA, loans, in order to make these loans more affordable for small 
businesses. The bill further would assist these small businesses by 
providing a Federal guarantee of certain loans, to encourage local 
banks and credit unions to increase their lending to small businesses.
  I appreciate how the Small Business Financing and Investment Act 
assists high-tech businesses and entrepreneurs. Beginning in the last 
quarter of 2008, investments in early-stage businesses, such as these, 
plunged 26 percent. To address this shortage, the bill would establish 
a new Early-Stage Investment Program at SBA, which would pair SBA 
grants with private venture capital in order to target investment 
dollars to promising technology small business startups. The 
legislation makes improvements to the Renewable Energy Capital 
Investment program in order to increase investment in small business 
that are researching alternative and renewable energy technologies to 
meet our future energy needs.
  I am pleased that H.R. 3854 helps veterans interested in starting 
their own businesses. Our Nation was built by citizen-soldiers, yet too 
often, our veterans have difficulty finding well-paid, rewarding work 
in the Nation they served and protected. We need to do more to help our 
youngest veterans find gainful employment. According to the Department 
of Labor, veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 had an unemployment 
rate of 14.1 percent; nearly double the rate of those between the ages 
of 25 to 34, 7.3 percent. It is unacceptable that hundreds of thousands 
of veterans who have risked their own lives to defend our country can't 
find jobs, and many endure homelessness and lives of poverty after they 
return home. Our brave men and women in uniform have given so much for 
this country; it is right that the Congress help ensure that our 
returning soldiers have jobs when they come home. The legislation helps 
veterans by offering higher guarantees and lower cost loans, so they 
can access more affordable capital.
  The Small Business Financing and Investment Act builds on the 
investments that this Congress made through the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act. This bill would provide further aid to our small 
business and continues our efforts to put the economy back on the track 
to recovery.
  I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill to support our 
Nation's small businesses.

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