American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, today, hopefully, we will finally extend unemployment insurance to those who can't find a job in this difficult economic climate. Our next task is to help small employers and entrepreneurs grow their businesses and hire new workers. That is the only way we will fully emerge from this recession.

Over the past 15 years, small businesses have created almost two-thirds of the new jobs in America. Small businesses are the cornerstone of New Hampshire's economy. Over 96 percent of businesses in the Granite State are small businesses with fewer than 500 employees. That is why we need, once we have passed the extension of unemployment insurance, to pass the Small Business Jobs Act as soon as possible. This is legislation that will dramatically increase lending to small businesses, it will enhance the ability of small companies to export, and it will provide tax relief to small firms.

I am proud that as a member of the Small Business Committee I helped craft this bill under the leadership of the chair of that committee, Senator Mary Landrieu, and ranking member Senator Olympia Snowe. I want to thank both of them for their work and for their leadership on this bill.

While many community banks in New Hampshire have increased their lending, I consistently hear from small businesses that they have run out of financing for the working capital they need. Last year, my office organized a financing fair to bring together lenders and small businesses who need financing, and over 500 people showed up. It was a huge turnout. But still, wherever I go in New Hampshire, small business owners tell me they are running out of financing options. In some cases, their only choice is to turn to credit cards, often personal credit cards, paying exorbitant interest rates to get the working capital they need to keep their businesses going.

The small business jobs bill will enhance Small Business Administration loan programs that help small businesses in New Hampshire and throughout the country as they try to access the credit they need to hire workers, to grow their businesses, and to weather the economic storm.

In the past year, many small businesses in New Hampshire have taken advantage of the enhancements to the SBA programs that were included in the Recovery Act. One business owner in New Hampshire, Janet Dunican, was able to save her business with an SBA loan. Janet owns an innovative manufacturing company in Hooksett, NH. She has over 50 employees, and what they do is help take trucks that are owned by other small businesses and transform them by adding custom-fit utility buckets--the kind we see when the cable company fixes the power lines after a storm.

When Janet needed a loan to save her company, she looked everywhere for help. But with credit tight and with this uncertain economy, she had a hard time finding a bank that would finance her project to keep the business afloat. Then she turned to a bank that participated in an SBA loan guarantee program. She was able to work with her bank to get the credit she needed to save her business.

Unfortunately, too many small businesses can't take advantage of loan guarantees because the loans have been too limited, and they do not fit their needs. But the small business jobs bill opens these programs to more businesses. It increases the size of the loans that businesses can obtain, it allows small businesses to refinance their debt at lower rates, and it extends the higher guarantee rates that were included in the Recovery Act. The SBA estimates that these provisions will put over $5 billion in credit into the hands of small businesses.

The bill also funds successful State small business lending programs--programs that have helped save many small businesses and helped others finance their growth. These programs, such as our own--the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority's Capital Access Program--and other successful small business lending programs, can quickly get credit into the hands of the small companies that need it the most.

The bill also includes a proposal that I worked very hard on to allow more small businesses in New Hampshire to access the SBA's Express Loan Program. The Express Loan Program is popular with banks in New Hampshire because it cuts redtape and allows them to use their own paperwork in making the loans. It is a simple way to quickly put working capital into the hands of small business owners.

Another important way we can increase the bottom lines of small businesses is by helping them sell their products overseas, something I have been supportive of for a very long time. Of the small- and medium-sized businesses in this country, only about 5 percent are selling into markets overseas. Yet 99 percent of those markets are outside of the United States. For many of these small businesses that would like to export, it can be very challenging because, unlike big companies, they often don't have the technical capacity or the resources to identify new markets, to go on trade missions, and to market their products to foreign buyers.

The small business jobs bill will help these small firms access new markets because it boosts Federal and State programs that help small businesses export their products. It also strengthens SBA export financing programs so that small businesses can get loans to put them in a better position to compete locally.

Finally, this legislation also provides over $12 billion in targeted tax relief for small businesses. These are tax cuts that will help free up capital for small firms to make investments and, most importantly, to hire workers because that, in fact, is what the small business jobs bill is all about. It is to help provide the boost that small businesses in New Hampshire and across the country need, not just so they can be successful and grow, but so they can create jobs--the jobs that we need to put people back to work in this country.

I am excited that we are going to be taking up this legislation. I hope it is going to be today. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical bill to help improve job prospects for people across the country.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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