Monday, September 13, 2010
Senate Must Pass Small Business Lending Bill
Obstructionism is Hurting Small Business Owners and Job Creation
Lakewood,
CO – Today, U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter (CO-07) called upon the Senate to move on a series of small business legislation including H.R. 5297 – the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act. Included in the bill is an amendment authored by Rep. Perlmutter which allows small community banks to amortize or write-down losses over a six to 10 year period, which will free up capital in banks to loan to small businesses. The House passed this legislation on June 17 and is waiting on Senate action.
“Senate Republicans are holding this up and they need to do the right thing for
America’s small businesses and pass this bill. Enough is enough. Too many small businesses can’t get the loans they need to expand, buy inventory or hire new employees. My amendment will get credit flowing again to the small businesses on
Main Street. Back in the early 1980’s a similar provision helped the
Colorado agricultural community gain access to credit. It worked then and can work now. I strongly urge the Senate to pass the bill this week to help small business and put Americans back to work,” stated Perlmutter.
Important Provisions of The Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010
Creates three separate programs designed to increase small business lending and increase jobs:
- The Small Business Loan Fund Act in Title I creates a small business loan fund that is designed to boost bank lending to small businesses struggling to gain access to credit due to the financial crisis. The legislation will establish a $30 billion fund to boost lending to small businesses looking to hire and expand their operations by providing additional capital to community banks.
- The State Small Business Credit Initiative Program provides $2 billion in funding for new or existing state lending programs. These programs already exist in around thirty states, and use small amounts of public dollars to generate substantial private bank financing. By supporting existing expertise in states around the country and using an easy to replicate model, this program will be able to quickly increase small business lending and create jobs.
- This program would establish a new program under the purview of the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide $1 billion in financing to support early stage small businesses in the form of true equity financing.
