Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan amendment to the small business bill offered by Senators Landrieu and LeMieux. The amendment would make $30 billion of capital available to community banks across the country, incentivizing them to lend several times that amount to small businesses in desperate need of credit. There is no question about it: Small businesses are the great engines of growth in our economy. They employ over half our workers. In the past two decades, they have created over two-thirds of the Nation's new jobs. Our economy is starting to show signs of life again, but we still have a long way to go. The HIRE Act, especially the payroll tax cut Senator Hatch and I authored, has been a good success, saving businesses billions in taxes. I recently introduced a bill to extend the tax cut for 6 months. Congress should be focused like a laser on bringing unemployment down and getting the economy humming on all cylinders again. The bill before us today is an important part of that ongoing effort. It is a targeted bill that will help small businesses expand and hire. The small business lending fund was once a part of the legislation. Actually, it was not merely part of the legislation, it was the heart of the legislation. There are many worthy ideas and programs in this bill from bonus depreciation to increasing the loan limits on the SBA's flagship programs to providing grants to help States expand innovative small business initiatives.…”