[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9442-9443]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Bean) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BEAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to recognize National 
Small Business Week. This year marks the 47th annual Small Business 
Week, during which we honor the immense contributions of entrepreneurs, 
their companies, and their workforce to our country.
  Our Nation's economic rebirth relies on the ability of our community 
businesses to innovate, develop, and market solutions that deliver 
measurable value to their clients. Their growth and success creates up 
to 80 percent of new jobs in our Nation, including 25,000 already this 
month.
  As a former business owner, I recognize today's many challenges, 
including getting access to capital, lowering energy costs, funding 
R&D, workforce training, and improving efficiencies.
  When I host Small Business Federal Resource Seminars in my district, 
I encourage community businesses to connect with Federal agencies whose 
resources and programs could be useful to their operations, including--
I have the SBA come out and share information with our businesses about 
504 and 7(a) and Express loan programs. We also talk about small 
business development tools from the SBDCs.
  The IRS is available to provide information about small business tax 
incentives, which include 179 expense provisions and bonus 
depreciation, the NOL carryback that has already refunded $2.6 billion 
to small businesses that had been in the stimulus, so that as they had 
been profitable in previous years, they can get those dollars back at a 
time they need to cover payroll and operating expenses. There are also 
tax credits for health care, which the IRS elaborates on as well.
  The Commerce Department talks about export programs, and the 
Department of Energy talks about Webinars and grants, tools, and 
incentives for energy development and energy efficiencies.
  Small firms are the engine of our U.S. innovation and 
competitiveness, producing 13 times more patents for employees than 
those in larger firms. And they support our communities. In addition to 
goods, jobs, and services, small firms invest in local real estate. 
Their suppliers grow as they grow, and they contribute to charities and 
provide leadership and mentoring services to their neighbors.
  To help small firms weather the recession and access the capital that 
is critical to their growth, Congress and the SBA have stepped up. The 
Recovery Act included $288 billion worth of tax cuts, not just to 95 
percent of working Americans, our consumers, but business incentives as 
well, including bonus depreciation, 179 expensing, the NOL carryback, 
and capital gains exclusions for small business stock. The first-time 
home buyer tax credit helped bring 700,000 new buyers back into the 
market.

[[Page 9443]]

  This broad-based stimulus went further with infrastructure investment 
in roads, bridges, energy, and water projects, and included investments 
in education, smart grid technology, and health IT.
  We have seen a positive return. GDP growth has gone from negative 6 
to positive 6 since the stimulus, and U.S. manufacturing is now growing 
at its fastest pace since 2006. While these signs of recovery are 
encouraging, more needs to be done.
  Creditworthy businesses need to have access to working capital, and 
many need to restructure their debt in the months and years ahead. When 
businesses can't access financing, they delay contracts, hiring, 
equipment purchases, and other expansions.
  The Recovery Act provided higher guarantees and reduced fees on SBA 
7(a) and 504 loans. Since its passage SBA has driven over $27 billion 
in small business loans into the hands of our community businesses, yet 
many are still struggling to access affordable capital. Banks are 
operating under tightened lending standards and have greater risk 
aversion and greater exposure to the instability of the commercial real 
estate market.

                              {time}  1915

  Their strained balance sheets make it difficult to continue extending 
credit, where appropriate, to small businesses.
  The experience of the Recovery Act has shown that the SBA guarantee 
can make a difference for an entrepreneur in need of capital. When it 
comes to Congress' approach to fostering recovery, every week must be 
Small Business Week.
  My colleagues and I will continue to address the capital access gap 
with measures we move forward in the weeks ahead. Congresswoman 
Dahlkemper and I have a bipartisan measure to increase the maximum loan 
size and guarantee on the SBA express loan, a critical tool that 
provides working capital so firms can restock inventory and make new 
hires.
  Today I introduced the Small Business Asset Investment and 
Modernization Act, which will enhance the SBA 504 loan program for 
commercial real estate, buildings, and heavy equipment.
  Businesses are facing a collateral program as their loans mature and 
their equity is down in value. Many small business owners obtained 
loans during the bubble, getting loans at inflated appraised values on 
their property or with balloon payment structures. Banks are reluctant 
to restructure debt, particularly if the borrower is equity challenged 
or if the bank is capital challenged.
  My bill will temporarily enable business owners to refinance their 
commercial real estate debt through the 504 program, addressing an 
acute near-term need in that sector. Over the next few weeks, I look 
forward to advancing these and other initiatives to help our growing 
businesses get the capital they need.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in moving forward on further programs 
to support the work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit of our small 
businesses, the cornerstone of our economy.

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