Investing in Main Street Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. CHU. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my bill, H.R. 754, the Investing in Main Street Act of 2025, which would spur innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth in our small businesses nationwide.

Currently, banking rules allow financial institutions to invest up to 15 percent of their capital and surplus in SBICs. Small business investing rules cap these same investments far lower at just 5 percent of capital and surplus.

The Investing in Main Street Act of 2025 simply amends this outdated law to align these caps by allowing banks to invest a full 15 percent in SBICs. Raising this cap would dramatically increase the amount of investment capital available to our country's small businesses for whom even small investments can mean so much.

Already SBICs have helped marquee American companies like Costco, Apple, and Intel get off the ground, back when they were just starting out. SBICs fill a gap in the investment ecosystem and level the playing field for the smallest businesses which often face the highest barriers to securing investments from traditional private investors.

The nearly 319 certified SBICs in operation today have invested or committed over $38 billion in small businesses nationwide. In 2023 alone, SBICs provided $7.2 billion in funding to 1,142 small businesses and startups.

By raising the investment cap from 5 percent to 15 percent, we could potentially triple those numbers in the years to come and drive revitalization in communities across the country.

I thank Representatives Finstad, McIver, and Garbarino for their partnership in this legislation and Chairman Williams and Ranking Member Velazquez for their strong support.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill and for the Senate to expeditiously take it up so we can unlock more of the potential of American entrepreneurs.

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