Helping Small Businesses Grow

Statement

A couple of weeks ago, I joined a couple of SolarCity employees on the roof of a Denver home to give them a hand as they completed the final installation of a 5 kilowatt solar array, one that was manufactured right here in the United States. SolarCity has been expanding its operations and services recently, moving into a new sales office in Westminster, and expected to hire 40 new employees in Colorado by the end of the year.

Companies like SolarCity exists all over Colorado. They are drivers of innovation and provide thousands of great jobs. In fact, small businesses created nearly two-thirds of all new jobs over the past 15 years. Yet a recent U.S. Treasury Department report noted that the 22 banks that received the most Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds have cut small business lending by $10.5 billion over the past six months. It's critical that we reverse this trend, so that small businesses can access credit, continue to create new jobs, and keep our economy on the road to recovery.

The Small Business Jobs and Credit Act contains approximately $12 billion in tax relief for small businesses and includes improvements and expansions to Small Business Administration lending programs. The bill also calls for the creation of a $30 billion lending facility for community banks to expand lending to small businesses struggling to obtain loans as credit markets have dried up.

I'm fighting for key provisions to be included in the bill, including tax incentives for on-the-job clean energy training; tax credits to incentivize investment in rural communities; an increase in the size and scope of SBA loans for small businesses; the creation of an SBA loan clearinghouse to improve access to credit for small businesses; and expediting the patent process for small businesses.

1. Creating a Clean Energy Job Training Credit to provide basic education and training to prepare workers for jobs in clean energy.

2. Incentivizing Investment in Rural Communities by creating a tax credit for entrepreneurs who invest in rural communities that continue to struggle.

3. Increasing the Size of SBA Loans for Small Business Job Creators by raising the limit on 504 loans to $10 million for small businesses that are a significant source of job creation.

4. Creating an SBA Clearinghouse that would make markets more efficient by enabling a small business' loan application to be considered by a broader array of lenders.

5. Expanding the Reach of SBA Guaranteed Loans by enabling Small Business Lending Companies (SBLCs) to target lending in low- and moderate-income communities.

6. Expediting Patents for Small Businesses by adding $10 million to the Patent and Trademark Office to assist small businesses, individual inventors and non-profits until Congress completes its work on more long-term reforms.

Without a reliable source of credit, Colorado's small businesses are struggling to stay afloat, let alone hire new workers. We have to get the flywheel spinning again so that they have access to the lines of credit they need to grow, create jobs and help our economy recover. My amendments help provide that path forward.

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