Back from the Senate's district work period, our first order of business is to take up a bill to help aid new and existing small businesses.
Believe it or not, earlier this summer this commonsense bill was repeatedly blocked by filibusters. Thankfully, after months of obstruction, today we succeeded in overcoming the filibuster so we can pass this measure to help New Mexico's small businesses create jobs and regain access to private capital.
Throughout the financial crisis, small business owners have continually told me, "I can't get access to credit. And because I can't get access to credit, I can't grow."
The Small Business Jobs Act addresses this problem directly. It creates a $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund , so that our community banks have the necessary capital to reopen the flow of lending to our small businesses.
It also gives small businesses $ 12 billion in tax cuts , and helps entrepreneurs to make investments of their own, through increased Section 179 expensing and by doubling the tax deduction to help cover the costs of starting up a new business.
After serving on the Small Business Committee for eight years, I know full-well that small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They are responsible for creating two-thirds of all new jobs over the past 15 years alone. Today, with millions of Americans out of work, it's critical that we give them the resources to create more. I'm proud to say that the important provisions in this bill will do just that by giving small businesses the help and resources they need to create approximately 500,000 new jobs .
It's about time we got past the obstruction around here so we can do what's right and get our sluggish economy back on track. I look forward to a final vote on this bill later in the week.
