Senate Democrats Ready Jobs Bill, Aides Say
Senate Democrats Ready Jobs Bill, Aides Say
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
4:31 p.m. | Updated Senate Democrats are expected on Tuesday to unveil their version of a small-business financing bill that passed last week in the House, with the Senate legislation including three of the six House provisions, as well as other measures to extend credit to small businesses, Democratic aides said.
The Senate measure will include slightly modified versions of three House measures to make it easier for small businesses to go public, sell equity shares to raise money and attract investors through “crowd-funding.” All three provisions have bipartisan support. The new bill will also include a measure by Senators Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, and Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, to ease restrictions governing the amount of debt a small business can take on. It will also extend the Small Business Administration’s program to help refinance short-term commercial real estate loans into longer term loans, and it reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank, a provision that some conservatives oppose.
The changes to the House bill could anger activists like Steve Case, the AOL co-founder who has begun a social media campaign to move the legislation to President Obama as soon as possible. But Senate aides say they still expect prompt action and a signing ceremony this spring.
Democrats made clear the new bill is only a starting point, and they expect the other provisions of the House bill to be introduced as amendments.
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Update: Further complicating the schedule, Mr. Reid said on Monday he will force the Senate to consider 17 of President Obama’s judicial nominees who have been unable to get a confirmation vote. He said he will start the Senate procedural clock running on each of the 17 even without an agreement from Republicans to bring them to a vote. That could eat up weeks of Senate floor time.
