After months of partisan debate and just five weeks prior to the midterm elections, President Obama signed the $42 billion small-business bill on Monday, reported AOL Small Business.

The bill creates a $30 billion lending fund and provides for $12 billion in tax breaks, via eight tax cuts that take effect immediately. These tax cuts include a $500,000 write-off of investment in new equipment, zero capital gains tax for some small-business investors, a $10,000 deduction of startup costs, and 100 percent deduction of the cost of health insurance for entrepreneurs and their families from self-employment taxes.

"It was critical that we cut taxes and make more loans available to entrepreneurs," Obama said. "Today, after a long and tough fight, I am signing a small-business jobs bill that does exactly that."

Obama called it "a great victory for America's entrepreneurs."

Some observers also see the small-business bill as a political victory for Democrats, as it is expected to be the last economic stimulus effort Obama enacts before the midterm elections on Nov. 2.

Critics of the new law, including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), contend that small businesses would benefit more from cuts in spending and an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts. "If the president really wants to help small businesses, he should insist that Congress not leave town without cutting spending and stopping his tax hike to help create jobs – particularly small business jobs," Boehner said. "By failing to act, the president is turning his back on American families and small businesses."

After signing the bill, Obama addressed the audience, which included several business owners, saying, "There you go, it's done."