Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010--Motion to Proceed--Resumed

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I am here to speak to the bill that is pending before us. Small businesses are the cornerstone of New Hampshire's economy, just as they are the cornerstone of the economies of so many of our States.

Over 96 percent of employers in New Hampshire are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees, 96 percent. The economic recovery of New Hampshire depends on the ability of those small businesses to invest in their future, to grow their businesses, and to hire new workers.

But right now many of these small businesses are hurting and they continue to have trouble accessing credit, the credit they need to help turn our economy around. While community banks in New Hampshire have increased their lending, I consistently hear from small businesses that they still need additional working capital.

Last year my office organized a financing fair to bring together lenders and small businesses who need financing. Over 500 people showed up. That is a crowd in New Hampshire. Wherever I go in the State, small business owners tell me they have run out of financing options. In some cases their only choice is to turn to credit cards, their personal credit cards where they pay exorbitant interest rates to get the working capital they need to keep their businesses growing.

That is why we need to quickly pass the Small Business Jobs Act. This legislation will help small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country access the credit they need to create jobs and to weather this economic storm. I am very proud of the work of my committee. As the President knows, the Small Business Committee does great work. It is led by Chairman Landrieu and Ranking Member Snowe.

They have worked and we have worked on this committee to fashion bipartisan measures to strengthen critical SBA programs for small businesses. This afternoon I want to talk about two of those provisions in particular that I think will provide tangible credit solutions for small businesses in New Hampshire.

Many creditworthy small businesses have mortgages on their property that are coming due in the next year. In normal times these businesses would simply refinance those mortgages at reasonable rates. But with commercial real estate lending so tight, and real estate values falling, the only option for many businesses is to refinancing at very high rates. This drains them of the cash they need to pay for their workers and buy new inventory.

For small businesses that cannot refinance at all, they face foreclosure even though they may have never missed a payment on their loan. The
Small Business Jobs Act will change an existing SBA program in a way that makes sense. It will change the 504 program to help small businesses refinance these mortgages at low rates. This will free up capital for these small businesses to hire workers and to make other investments to grow their operations, and we can do this in this bill at no cost to the taxpayer.

In New Hampshire, this will help small businesses of all kinds: manufacturers, hotels and restaurants, doctors offices, and many others. This will help them retain hundreds of jobs that would otherwise be lost due to a lack of credit availability. In some cases, it will stop businesses from having to close their doors altogether.

This bill will also increase the maximum loan limit of the Express Loan Program. This is another important provision of this bill that will help small businesses in New Hampshire get the working capital they need. The Express Program is popular with small business lenders in New Hampshire because it cuts redtape and provides a streamlined process for approving loans.

Unlike traditional 7(a) loans, lenders can use their own paperwork for SBA Express Loans, making it easier for them to quickly get capital into the hands of small businesses. Currently, however, Express Loans are capped at $350,000. The Small Business Jobs Act will increase the loan limit to $1 million, making additional working capital available to small businesses.

I thank Senators LANDRIEU and SNOWE for working with me to include this important provision. I am also pleased that the bill includes President Obama's initiative to provide over $30 billion for two new lending funds for small business owners.

I am hopeful the small business lending fund and the State small business credit initiative will provide community banks with the capital cushion they need to expand lending to small businesses.

This bill also lowers taxes on small firms, providing over $12 billion in tax cuts to help free up capital so small companies can invest in their future. These tax cuts are fully paid for, and they will not add to the deficit. The Small Business Jobs Act will help provide the boost that small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country need so desperately so they can create jobs and help continue to grow our economy.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical piece of legislation.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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