Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I yield myself 3 minutes at this time.

Madam Chair, this is an important amendment. This amendment will not be a perfect amendment with references to what it seeks to do, but it is a perfecting amendment. This amendment seeks to provide disclosure and enhance accountability, and I'd like to make it known that this amendment received a lot of help and input from the Office of Congressman Hensarling, and I thank him for what he has done.

This amendment would provide that an institution engaged in the lending process with the funds from the program, that this institution will on applicable loan documents indicate that the funds being loaned are funds that are coming from the fund. This is important because the public desires to know where the money is going, how it is being utilized.

This amendment would also require, if the institution has a Web site, it will require that that Web site contain the written reports of the Treasury Secretary. These reports would indicate, to the extent that loans have been made, how the money has been utilized, and this, again, would provide additional transparency which will lead to accountability.

Finally, the amendment will require lending institutions to make known to the capable, competent, and qualified borrowers that they will have the opportunity to participate in the program by way of receiving loans and that these loans must be based upon the law as it is written and not allow any type of discrimination, invidious discrimination to infiltrate the program.

I think this is an amendment that goes a long way toward helping us improve our transparency and accountability. It is not a perfect amendment, but it is a perfecting amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. It will indicate what transactions took place, and it will indicate who the banks, the lending institutions, that engaged in the transaction. The borrower's name would not be a part of the information.

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Let me simply say in response that the bill anticipates that loans will be repaid. It's not a circumstance where persons are going to receive or businesses will receive loans that are not going to be paid. And the bill causes banks or lending institutions to make the loans because they will receive a better interest rate upon making loans such that they are incentivized to make these loans.

So, while the bill will not cure all of the ails of society, all of the ills that we have, it certainly will go a long way towards stimulating small business lending, which is important to the economic recovery.

I believe in this bill. I believe that this amendment will help with transparency and accountability. And I also believe that it is time for us to do all that we can to help the small businesses in this country. I believe that this is something we can do, and I believe that it is the something that will make a difference.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. I yield myself such time as I may consume.

While I appreciate the gentleman from Texas' desire to make sure that budgets are balanced and to make sure that we have accountability and transparency, I do have to remind the gentleman that the desire and the need to balance the budget did not start this year, nor did it start last year. We should have had a balanced budget for the 8 years of the prior administration.

I think that you find this administration burdened with the problems that were created by the past administration. I believe that in an effort to correct these problems, we will have to take some necessary steps toward helping small business.

I hear my colleagues on the other side quite regularly contending that small businesses need help. This is help, and my trust and my hope and my belief is that the small business help will be supported by not only this side of the aisle, but by both sides of the aisle.

Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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