I want to read just another short paragraph into the record. This is going to appear, I understand, in the Wall Street Journal tomorrow. I received a copy of it today. It is going to be in response to a wrongheaded editorial by the Wall…

I have come to the floor to talk about an issue I have spent a good bit of time talking about in the last several weeks--particularly the last week--and that is the issue most Americans have on their minds right now, and that is, when is…

I would like to respond directly to the minority leader because I wish to make clear that there are no extraneous provisions in this bill other than disaster relief for farmers. The last time I checked, they were small business owners…

I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the National Urban League on celebrating 100 years of enabling African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power, and civil rights. The National Urban League is a…

Let me be very clear that in 1 hour, we will come to the end of a very long, important public and open debate on the best way we can help Main Street. This bill is not about Wall Street. We have had enough of those. This bill is not about…

Well, the Senator is exactly right, but a better question is why would the minority leader insist on voting on an amendment we have already voted on three times. That is even a more interesting question. We have already voted on the…

Exactly. I mean, I don't know how you explain to teenagers. There really is no explanation. I think it is shameful and we need to fix it. The Senator should know that is what we are trying to do. Again, I don't know what we can do about…

I would like to answer the Senator from California by saying the record will speak for itself because that vote we just took, there were 59 Senators, all on this side of the aisle, who pushed a green light, and there were 41 on the other…

You cannot build it without access to affordable capital. Our businesses, some of them that are lucky enough to have something, are paying exorbitant interest rates on their credit cards. Some of them have watched their lines of credit…

Absolutely, the Senator is correct. I am glad I have this chart to answer her question because she has been representing the State of California beautifully for so many years. She knows this without me showing it, but 81 percent of the…

For whatever reason, I don't know why. I think maybe they think that is good politics. But I don't believe it is, and I don't think most Americans, even Republicans, would think that is good politics.

That is exactly what it looks like. The Senator from Illinois has described it accurately. If anybody believes he has not described it accurately, let them come to the floor because he has described the truth. He has said the truth. So I…

That seems to be where we are. That is why I said I feel like I am ``Alice in Wonderland,'' because it is topsy-turvy.

But to come to the floor, I say to the Senator from New York, that there are no Republican provisions in this bill, it is laughable.

I hope we are not at the point of no return. But we are close. If we can salvage this bill and move forward and do the right thing for small business, I think we can all be proud of that work.

I wanted to end with a comment from another small business in Metairie, LA, which is right outside of New Orleans. This is a small business owner, Patti Martinez, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, who opened her business in March 2009…

This is the wrong bill to filibuster. I mean, you may get political points by filibustering other issues, but to filibuster a small business bill, to filibuster a Main Street bill is not the way forward. Again, I cannot stand here and…

Main Street has been waiting for a year and a half. We have had bill after bill, amendment after amendment. What I heard this morning from the minority leader was very positive. He said: All we need is just a few more amendments. I asked…

I am going to speak for some time and try and reengage this debate. We had an excellent debate this morning between 9:30 and 12:30 trying to find a way forward on a very important bill, the small business bill. This is the Main Street bill…

We also support the LeMieux-Landrieu Amendment incorporated into the bill, which would establish a $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund. . . . As the nation's fragile economic recovery continues, households are still holding back on…

But I want to answer again because these small business groups--we have 80 of them and they are counting on us--keep calling and saying: Vote for the bill. Vote for the bill. And what they are hearing from the other side is: We can't vote…

We have to stop saying no every day, and particularly on this day, and start saying yes to small businesses. The sooner we can say yes to small business, the sooner this recession will end, the sooner Americans can get back to work, and…

May I ask another question? I appreciate what the Senator has said, but the ranking member has made it clear for many months now that she doesn't support--and I have great respect for her-- the Small Business Lending Fund. So we actually…

the Senator from Illinois is absolutely correct. One of the last remaining works that we have to do, as we try to wrap up this portion of the session as we move to an August work period in our home States and our home districts, is to get…

I want everybody to know this is what we are talking about today: small business. We spend a lot of time in this Chamber talking about lots of other issues-- foreign aid, other countries, big corporations, Wall Street--but today, in these…