Small Business Lending Bill Headed Toward Vote

WASHINGTON – Community banks would be able tap a $30 billion government fund to help them increase lending to small businesses under a bill working its way toward a vote in the Senate, reported The Associated Press.

Democrats say banks should be able to use the lending fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans to small businesses, helping to loosen tight credit markets. The fund would be available to banks with less than $10 billion in assets.

Democrats and Republicans were negotiating a handful of amendments Wednesday with the goal of scheduling a vote on the bill later in the day. The talks played out as President Barack Obama traveled to Edison, N.J., where during a visit to a sandwich shop he urged the Senate to abandon partisanship long enough to pass the bill.

"Everywhere I go, I hear from small business owners who simply cannot get the credit they need to hire and expand," Obama said. "And we've been hearing from smaller community banks that they want to lend to these folks but need more capital to do it."

"The initiatives in this bill will help them meet those challenges," the president added.

The measure is part of a bill that would also provide a series of tax breaks aimed at small businesses. The House passed a bill establishing a similar lending fund in June.

"The bill increases access to much needed capital, encourages entrepreneurship and promotes equity," said Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

Some GOP lawmakers called the lending fund another bank bailout that would do little to increase lending to small businesses. The measure overcame a Republican filibuster in the Senate last week.

Republicans are hoping to add a handful of amendments before voting on the final bill. One would repeal a new tax reporting requirement for businesses that was included in the massive health care overhaul enacted last spring.

The health care law requires businesses to report to the Internal Revenue Service the names and tax identification numbers of vendors that sell them more than $600 in goods in a year, starting in 2012. The information reporting is already required for the purchase of services.

The new reporting is designed to crack down on vendors that don't report all their income, raising an estimated $17.1 billion in taxes over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.