Small Business Lending Fund Act Of 2010
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, in just a few moments Senator Landrieu is going to come to the floor to talk about the small business bill, and I will just say a word or two about my support for her efforts.
She did something extraordinary last week. She is a determined Senator, and the time came when she wanted to see a fund created to lend money to small businesses. So she took to that desk and grabbed her charts and stayed there all day until she got the job done. She got 60 votes, which is a daunting task sometimes in the Senate, and added into this bill a fund to loan money to small businesses across America.
We need it. We need it across America, and we need it in Illinois. There were over 258,000 small business employers in Illinois in 2006--that is the last year for which we have data--led by professional services and construction firms. They account for over 98 percent of the employers in our State. These small businesses added 93,000 jobs in 2006, more than three times as many jobs added by Illinois companies with more than 500 employees. We can see that small businesses are a major part of our job economy. Another 850,000 people work for themselves, meaning the number of people working for small businesses was actually dramatically larger.
I fear that some of the firms likely to have failed during this economic crisis would have continued to do battle and might have prospered if they would have had access to credit. That is why this small business bill is so important.
Yesterday, the Republican minority leader, Senator McConnell, came to the Senate floor and questioned why we would even raise the so-called DISCLOSE Act, about the Citizens United decision at the Supreme Court. He said we should be on the small business bill. I couldn't agree more.
I hope that sense of commitment and urgency from the Republican side will be shown again today.
If there are amendments, let's bring them to the floor, debate them in an orderly fashion, and bring them to a vote so we can bring this bill to passage. The House of Representatives is waiting for this bill. They want to help us move forward to help create jobs and turn this economy around. The best place to start is with the small businesses across America. With 10.8 percent unemployment in Illinois, it is crucial we help Illinois small businesses start hiring again.
I personally thank Senator Landrieu for her leadership. What she is taking are TARP funds, funds that were originally designated to go to the biggest banks in America but didn't. They were funds that were held back. What Senator Landrieu is doing is claiming these funds that went to these big banks and saying: Now let's send them to healthy banks, banks that are not going to fail, with the understanding they will loan them to small businesses. That, to me, is a good answer.
I am disappointed with what happened to TARP initially. To think that we sent these moneys, taxpayers' dollars, to some of the largest financial institutions in America that were guilty of misconduct and bad judgment and they showed their gratitude by announcing bonuses for their officers instead of paying back the Government right away, is inexcusable.
The remaining funds, some $30 billion, will come into this small business effort. I think I have heard Senator Landrieu say the multiplier on this is a factor of 10, so there could be some $300 billion across the economy.
In Illinois, in Chicago, across my State small businesses say: If we could just borrow money, we are doing well, we can expand, we can hire more people. But even though we have a good story to tell, with banks we have always worked with, we can't get the credit.
I thank Senator Landrieu for her leadership. We are going to get back to this bill. As I said, as she was preparing to come to the floor, if there are amendments, let's get these amendments in order, let's have a reasonable time to debate them, and then let's move on. Let's get this done and pass it over to the House so they can act on it before we leave next week. That is critically important. The House, I know, is hoping to wrap up this week.
Let me clarify one point. Although at one point in time this $30 billion lending fund was to be created from unused TARP funds, I'm reminded that this is no longer the case. This fund will be created independent of the TARP or any other existing program. It will be a standalone lending facility within the Treasury that will help small businesses access loans through community banks. And according to the Congressional Budget Office, this fund will not cost the taxpayers a penny--in fact, it will raise money to help reduce the deficit.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill, to help Americans get back to work.
I thank Senator Landrieu for her leadership and I yield the floor.
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Mr. DURBIN. If the Senator from Louisiana will yield for a question, the majority leader just said we are going to continue to work on this, but I remember yesterday, during the debate on the DISCLOSE Act, the Republican leader came to the floor and was critical of the fact that we had left the small business bill. He said: Why don't we stay on the small business bill? It is very important.
Today, we couldn't work out an agreement when we accepted the three amendments which the Republicans said they wanted to offer. We said: Fine, you may offer those three, we will offer three, and let the Senate decide.
Now the Senate minority leader, the Republican leader, comes to the floor and objects again. He can't have it both ways. He can't complain that we are killing time here on the floor instead of taking up small business and then, when we return to it, object to finishing the bill.
Right now, if I am not mistaken, we are facing a cloture vote. That will happen automatically in the morning, if I am not mistaken, on this bill, and I am hoping we can either get a unanimous consent agreement by then or some agreement by some Republicans to stand up for small business.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes. And I thank the Senator.
Mr. DURBIN. Is that not true? I am supposed to form a question.
Ms. LANDRIEU. I think the Senator has assessed it correctly. But we have worked in a bipartisan fashion through both the Finance Committee--and I see the Senator from Montana, the leader of that committee, is here--and through the Small Business Committee. There were a few issues that couldn't be worked out in those committees, so the idea is to bring them to the floor and get a vote. We brought the lending provision to the floor, we had a vote, and we got 60 votes.
So let's just continue to move on. If someone wants to offer an amendment to strike it and take it out--I don't think they will get that but, fine, and let's move on. It is a very strong bill.
I just want to say that the only amendment that has been adopted to this bill has been a Republican amendment--with my cosponsorship--by Senator LeMieux from Florida because he says he has a State full of small businesses that desperately need this help. So we are not that far apart. They want eight amendments; we want three. Maybe we can figure out five amendments that could be offered because I think the small businesses of America deserve our best efforts.
I thank the Senator from Illinois.
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