Jon Kyl: “I will speak on the amendment that until just a moment ago was pending, amendment No. 205, which is my amendment to this…”

“I will speak on the amendment that until just a moment ago was pending, amendment No. 205, which is my amendment to this minimum wage bill to extend provisions of the Finance Committee bill from March 31 of next year through the end of next year. The committee decided in its wisdom--and I note that it was a unanimous vote out of the committee, a bipartisan vote--that there were certain small business tax provisions that should be extended to help small business pay for the minimum wage increase we would be mandating by this bill. Most of the jobs are small business jobs that would be affected by the minimum wage. In fact, about 60 percent of those jobs are in the restaurant industry. As a result, the Finance Committee took several provisions of existing law and created a couple of new provisions that enable these small businesses to write off their leasehold improvements or their owner improvements either in a shorter period of time than they had been previously allowed under the code or, in the case of new improvements, a 15-year period which would be consistent for all these entities, whether they be restaurants or leasehold improvements or other new construction.”