[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15707-15708]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SMALL BUSINESS LENDING

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I take this time, first, to thank Senator 
Landrieu for her persistence in bringing forward legislation that is 
going to help small businesses. We are on the verge, I hope this week, 
to finally pass in the Senate legislation that will help the small 
businesses in our country--H.R. 5297 that is now before us. Hopefully 
we are going to be able to get this legislation through the Senate.
  What this bill does is create jobs. I am proud to serve on the Small 
Business Committee. We have been working long and hard, and many of the 
provisions we have supported in our committee on a strong bipartisan 
basis are included in the legislation that is now before us.
  This bill is about helping small businesses so we can create more 
jobs for our communities. I think my colleagues will all agree and 
acknowledge that more jobs are created through small companies than 
through large companies. If we are going to be able to grow our 
economy, we have to be able to help our small businesses.
  It is also known that innovation is more likely to come from the 
opportunities from small companies. So we need to pay attention to and 
help our small companies help our economy grow. The bill that is before 
us incorporates many of the provisions that have been voted on in a 
bipartisan way by the Small Business Committee. But let me tell you 
this: I traveled the State of Maryland during our August break when we 
are back in our States. I had a chance to visit all parts of the State 
of Maryland and visited many small business owners. The No. 1 issue 
they continued to raise with me is the ability to be able to borrow 
money, to get credit for their businesses to expand.
  We spent a lot of time trying to help the Wall Street bankers, but, 
quite frankly, it has not gotten to the small business owners. They are 
not able to get the type of loan at an affordable cost so that they can 
expand their businesses. This bill will help. This bill provides 
strength to the SBA.
  I think all of us agree, the Small Business Administration has the 
tools to help small companies. But we need to give them the tools that 
can work in the current economy. So this legislation extends the 7(a) 
loans under the SBA from $2 million to $5 million, the 504 loans from 
$1.5 million to $5.5 million, and the micro loans. They may not seem 
like a lot of money, $35,000 to $50,000, but that could be the key 
piece of the puzzle necessary for a company to start or expand and 
create more jobs in our communities.
  The legislation also extends the SBA guarantees to 90 percent and 
waives the costs so we can make it affordable. The legislation sets up 
an intermediary lending program so that we encourage banks to make more 
loans to small businesses. In all, it is estimated that it will 
generate $5 billion of credit for small businesses, creating 300,000 
jobs. That is quite a step forward, quite an important step forward to 
help our communities.
  In addition, the legislation includes help to our States. In the 
State of Maryland, we have our own program. Governor O'Malley has a 
program that is aggressively helping small companies in Maryland. The 
problem is, as you know, State budgets are strapped. This bill provides 
$1.5 billion more for the programs our States are operating in order to 
expand those programs. That will be leveraged to far more than $1.5 
billion of new credit to small companies. It will provide substantial 
help in Maryland and all of the States of our Nation.
  The bill also deals with the continuing problem of contracting. If 
you are a small company, you are trying to get a contract with the 
Federal Government--you do not have a lot of contract officers in your 
business, you are trying to be very efficient, you need help so you can 
get a fair shake in bidding for a Federal contract.
  Unfortunately, today there have been abuses known as bundling where 
agencies have bundled together a lot of small contracts into a large 
contract, making it very difficult for a small company to get any part 
of that Federal contract. In addition, there is prime contractor abuse 
in not paying the subcontractors on time, which are generally more 
likely to be the smaller companies.
  This legislation incorporates the work of our committee to make it 
easier for Federal procurement officers to enter into contracts with 
small businesses. The proposal is estimated to create another 100,000 
jobs in our communities.
  This is what we need to do. These are not partisan issues. These are 
bipartisan. I do not know of anyone who disagrees with our efforts to 
try to help small businesses with more credit or make it easier for 
them to deal with the Federal Government.
  One other major part that will create jobs in our communities is to 
make it easier for small companies to be exporting goods to other 
countries. We all talk about keeping jobs in America. Let's not 
outsource. Let's keep the jobs right here in America. Well, again, if 
you are a small company, and you are trying to get through the 
bureaucracy of exporting, it can become very difficult. This 
legislation makes it easier for our small companies to be able to 
participate in international trade, keeping jobs here in America, 
creating more jobs, helping our economy, reducing the balance of 
payment problems we have with other countries. It is a win-win 
situation for the U.S. economy.
  In addition, this legislation provides tax relief for small 
companies. Tax relief. We all talk about that. You get higher 
deductions for startup costs so small companies can get help from the 
Federal Government as far as tax relief.
  It provides tax equity for small companies in the deductions of their 
health insurance costs, and allows for the continued writeoff of 
capital expenditures that were included in the Recovery Act. So there 
are a lot of tools to help small companies grow. But here is the good 
news: It is done without adding any money to the deficit of the 
country. It is totally paid for. We all understand we have to energize 
the growth of jobs in our economy, but we cannot do it at the cost of 
raising the deficit. This bill provides the tools but makes sure that 
we do not add to the deficit of the country, again, strengthening the 
underlying economy so that we get true job growth.
  I thank all who have been responsible to help bring this bill 
together. I think it is an important step forward in creating new jobs 
and helping our economy grow and helping small companies help our 
country. I am proud to support this legislation and hope we can move it 
quickly this week and get the tools out there helping our small 
companies grow, creating more jobs for the people in our communities.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington State.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, over the last several months I have been 
pushing very hard for this legislation that would help small business 
owners in my home State of Washington access the capital they need to 
expand and create jobs.
  I stand here today to urge all of our colleagues to put politics 
aside and finally allow this critical legislation to

[[Page 15708]]

pass. I spent the last month crisscrossing my home State of Washington 
talking to families and small business owners about ways that we can 
create jobs and grow the economy. What I heard again and again from so 
many of these small business owners is that one of the major factors 
that prevented them from growing is their inability to access credit. 
Banks were not lending their money to the small businesses that were 
doing better than they have ever done before.
  I recently spoke with a small business owner named Alton McDonald who 
owns a grocery store in Tacoma. He told me he wants to hire new 
employees. His business is primed to grow. But when he went to the bank 
to get a loan he was turned down.
  I spoke with a small business owner named Peter Aaron, who owns the 
Elliott Bay Bookstore in Seattle which has been a local institution for 
decades. He is doing his best to keep his head above water in these 
tough economic times. But he told me that finding a lender to lend him 
the money he needs to stay in his business is an ongoing challenge. 
Right now he is struggling to get the financing he needs to put books 
on his shelves for the holiday season so that when people come in to 
buy there is something for them to buy.
  I had the opportunity to speak with Timothy Robinson. He owns a small 
manufacturing company in Snohomish County. His small business today 
employs about 14 people and he is doing well. But he told me that 
despite his best efforts, he simply cannot get access to the credit he 
needs to expand. If he could get a bank to give him a loan, Timothy 
told me he could add 30 people right away, 30 new jobs in Snohomish 
County.
  What I heard from these small business owners and dozens more over 
the last several weeks was clear: If small businesses were given access 
to credit, they would be able to expand their operations and add new 
jobs--as simple as that. Small businesses such as the ones I visited in 
Washington State can be the engines that drive our economic recovery. 
But that engine needs fuel in the form of credit to run, and that fuel 
is not flowing right now.
  In communities across my home State of Washington, it has been 
community banks that have taken the lead in providing that fuel for 
small business growth. They understand the communities they work in, 
and they work closely with local small business owners to make sure 
that their needs are met. But the sad fact is that for far too long our 
community banks been ignored in our economic recovery. Since this 
recession began, we have seen banks fail one after another, lending 
drying up to our small businesses, and job growth suffering. Meanwhile, 
Wall Street institutions such as AIG and Goldman Sachs were deemed too 
big to fail. The collapse of our community banks has apparently been 
too small to notice.
  That is why last year I introduced the Main Street Lending 
Restoration Act, which would direct $30 billion to help jumpstart small 
business lending.
  It is why I spoke directly to Secretary Geithner about this several 
times. It is why I have been pushing my colleagues hard to make small 
business lending a priority. It is why, when President Obama came to 
Seattle last month, I introduced him directly to several small local 
business owners and we specifically talked about this issue. I believe 
strongly that we need to focus more on community banks if we are really 
going to make progress and bring true recovery to Main Street 
businesses.
  I am proud to stand here today in support of the small business 
lending legislation now before us. This bill takes the most powerful 
idea from my Main Street Lending Restoration Act. It sets aside $30 
billion to help local community banks--those under $10 billion in 
assets--get the capital they need to begin lending money to small 
businesses again. It would reward banks that are helping small 
businesses grow by reducing interest rates on capital they receive 
under this program. It would help support small business initiatives 
that are administered by States across the country struggling today 
because of budget cutbacks. It does all this while saving taxpayers an 
estimated $1 billion.
  When I met with small business owners across my State, I spent a lot 
of time talking with them about this bill. I talked about how it would 
help them create jobs and grow their businesses. Every single small 
business owner with whom I spoke thought this was a very important 
idea. Many of them had a question for me--a question to which I wish I 
had a better answer. Their question: Who would oppose this bill? Who 
would oppose a bill that seems to be such a commonsense solution to a 
most pressing problem, a bill that would create jobs and help small 
businesses grow, boost our economy at a time when it is so desperately 
needed? Who would stand up and say no? I was asked that constantly. 
Unfortunately, I suspect it comes down to some old-fashioned political 
games. I fear too many of our Republican colleagues are afraid that a 
victory for small businesses is a victory for the Democratic Party. 
They don't want that to happen this close to an election. I think that 
is truly a shame because I believe the challenges small business owners 
face today transcend partisan politics.
  The truth is that this is a nonpartisan bill. It is a bill that puts 
credit back into the hands of small business owners. It is a bill that 
puts people back to work. It is a win for small business. It isn't a 
win for a political party. It is a win for the economy, our workers, 
and our country. I urge my colleagues to put partisan politics aside, 
listen to the voices of their constituents, listen to small business 
owners, and support this critical legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Burris). The Senator from Montana is 
recognized.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, are we still in morning business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, on behalf of the leader, I yield back our 
time so we can get to the bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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