[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14498-14499]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             BIPARTISANSHIP

  Mr. REID. Madam President, both parties claim they are friends of 
small business. This bill gives Members of both parties the opportunity 
to prove it. This is not just talk. Listen to what this bill has in it.
  This bill is called the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. There is a 
small business access to credit provision. SBA estimates the loan limit 
adjustments will increase lending to small business by $5 billion 
within the first year of its enactment. This is a bipartisan provision: 
Landrieu-Snowe.
  Small business trade and export promotion: It is believed this will 
save and create as many as 50,000 jobs this year.
  Small business contracting: Increasing contracts to small business by 
1 percent could create more than 100,000 jobs. This is bipartisan: 
Snowe-Merkley, Landrieu-Snowe, Landrieu-Crapo-Risch.
  Small business management and counseling will create or save more 
than 10,000 jobs in 2011. It is bipartisan: Snowe-Landrieu.
  Small business disaster loan improvements: This is also supported by 
Landrieu and Nelson of Nebraska. This is not bipartisan, but everyone 
knows these two Senators work on a bipartisan basis on virtually 
everything they do.
  Small business regulatory relief: This is bipartisan: Snowe-Pryor.
  Exclusion of capital gains tax: This allows investors in small 
businesses to take a 100-percent exclusion from capital gains tax on 
small business investments made this year. It is bipartisan: Kerry-
Snowe-Menendez.
  Increased deductions for startups: Temporary increase in maximum 
deduction for business startup in 2010-11. This would increase the 
limits to $10,000. It is bipartisan: Merkley-Alexander.
  Extension of section 179: Extends small business expensing. This is 
supported by Senator Snowe; it is her provision. It extends section 179 
expensing provisions.
  Tax equity for self-employed: Allows self-employed taxpayers to 
deduct health care costs for payroll tax purposes on their 2010 tax 
returns. Bipartisan: Bingaman-Hatch-Landrieu.
  Extension of ARRA: That is the stimulus bill bonus depreciation. 
Bipartisan: Baucus-Grassley-Brownback-Inhofe-Johanns-Menendez.
  Small business penalty relief: Makes a penalty for failing to 
disclose listed transactions proportionate to the tax savings. This is 
bipartisan: Baucus-Grassley-Crapo.
  Remove cell phones from listed property: Delists cell phones and 
other telecommunications devices from the category of ``listed 
property'' for tax purposes. Bipartisan: Kerry-Ensign.
  S corporation holding period: Reduces the asset holding period for 
converted S corporation from 10 to 5 years: Snowe.
  General business credits not subject to AMT limits: Allows small 
business to use all types of general business tax credits to offset the 
AMT liability: Grassley.
  Carryback up to 5 years: Allows sole proprietorships, partnerships 
and nonpublic trading corporations with less than $50 million in 
average gross annual receipts for the prior 3 years to carry back 
unused credits for 5 years: Grassley.
  Small business lending fund: Bipartisan: LeMieux-Landrieu. This is 
the one that has created all the interest all over the country, a 
program level of $30 billion, which by conservative estimates would 
lead to $300 billion in small business lending. It is not related

[[Page 14499]]

to TARP. There are no TARP-like restrictions.
  Utilizing predictive modeling to fight health care fraud: That is 
bipartisan: LeMieux-Landrieu.
  Export promotion: Klobuchar-LeMieux, LeMieux-Landrieu. Very well 
accepted in the business community.
  We have agriculture disaster relief. Bipartisan: Lincoln-Chambliss.
  State small business credit initiative, bipartisan--developed with 
the support of 28 Republican Governors.
  That is the bill. How could we have anything more bipartisan? That is 
why 80 different organizations support this legislation, including many 
Governors. The majority of the Governors support this legislation. 
Those who don't are maybe not familiar with it. But there are so many 
organizations that support this legislation.
  Naming just a few, there are some 80 of them: Marine Retailers 
Association, people who sell boats; National Restaurant Association; 
Community Bankers for a number of States; National Small Business 
Association; Small Business Majority, and 76 other organizations. This 
is about as fair as it can be.
  My friends on the other side of the aisle have indicated they want to 
offer some amendments. We say go ahead and do that. They can't take yes 
for an answer. I hope those Republicans who voted with the Landrieu-
LeMieux amendment on Thursday would do so again on cloture. This is a 
bill that will help businesses all over America.
  This bill is literally on the verge of final passage. My friends on 
the other side of the aisle have said the only thing standing between 
us and their support for final passage is giving them the opportunity 
to vote on their amendments. Here are the amendments they said they 
wanted: Grassley amendment on biodiesel; Hatch amendment on research 
and development; Johanns amendment on corporate reporting requirements. 
We said: Fine, go ahead and offer those. We will have our alternatives 
to those, as we do here. That is how it works. I propounded a consent 
that gave the Republicans votes on all three of these amendments along 
with the Democratic alternative.
  So I wish to close by expressing my appreciation--I think I can say 
this without any reservation--the appreciation of the country, small 
businesses in America. We would not be where we are but for the work of 
Senator Landrieu and Senator LeMieux. Others have joined in. I had 
phone calls late last night with one of the most deliberate Senators. 
She has impressed me for so long. I got a call from Senator Landrieu. 
At her home was Senator Cantwell, who is a truly good legislator, and 
the two of them worked late into the night trying to come up with 
support for this legislation. But it wasn't only last night. Senator 
Landrieu, as chairman of the Small Business Committee, has been 
tireless. I had a conversation with her today. I have been so proud of 
her work on the floor--great speeches that she has gotten people to 
give in support of this legislation.
  I can remember when she was a brandnew Senator and she was working on 
a military issue, and the headline in a Louisiana newspaper had 
``Military Mary'' because she was fighting so hard for the troops. She 
hasn't stopped fighting for the beleaguered State of Louisiana, which 
has had so many problems. But for her aggressive work on behalf of her 
State, that State would not be where it is today. It was doing so well 
when the oilspill came. But who has been out in front on the oilspill? 
Mary Landrieu.
  So I am proud of her being in the Senate. She has great lineage. I 
have such fond feelings for her father who was a legend in his own 
time, but that legend has been caught by his daughter, Mary Landrieu. 
So Moon is very happy, I am sure, with her legislative skills, as he 
should be, and as her mom is.
  So anyway, thank you very much. I see my friend, the chairman of the 
Small Business Committee, is here. I would ask that the Record be 
pretty clear that there be an hour from now until the cloture vote. So 
I ask unanimous consent that be the case.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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