Angie Craig: “I rise to comment on legislation introduced yesterday, S. 3122, the Patriot Loan Act of 2006. It is called the Patriot…”

“I rise to comment on legislation introduced yesterday, S. 3122, the Patriot Loan Act of 2006. It is called the Patriot Loan Act for that is who the legislation is intended to benefit, patriot citizen-soldiers who are called from their employment at America's small businesses to serve our country in uniform. I am proud to join with Senator Olympia Snowe, who serves as the chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, as an original cosponsor of this important bill. All of us in the Senate come from States affected by the mobilization of our Guard and Reserve personnel. In my home State, the Idaho National Guard's 116th Brigade Combat Team turned last fall from its 18-month deployment to Iraq. I visited members of the 116th while they were in Iraq and discovered that a good number of them left jobs at small businesses across Idaho. I also held a hearing in Idaho last August regarding the reemployment rights of returning Guard and Reserve members, with particular focus on how those rights would impact members of the 116th. At that hearing it was emphasized that, while legal rights to reemployment are critical, they do little good for those who have no employer, or no small business, to return to. I resolved then to find some way to assist small businesses to cope with the financial hardships of frequent and lengthy mobilizations of its employees or owners during the war on terrorism. I believe S.…”