Congress to Send Small Business Bill to Obama

[spanone]

...according to the last sentence here, our esteemed media is only capable of reporting on one thing per week


WASHINGTON (AP) -- A long-delayed bill to help struggling small businesses with easier credit and other incentives to expand and hire new workers is poised to clear its final hurdle.

The legislation -- slated for a House vote Thursday -- would establish a $30 billion government fund to help Main Street banks lend to small businesses. It also would cut taxes on both big and small businesses and boost Small Business Administration loan programs.

''It combines ... tax relief with increased access to critical financing so that our nation's small businesses can move forward on new or delayed expansion plans,'' said Rep. Chellie Pingress, D-Maine.''Small-business growth means job creation.''

The vote would send the measure to Obama, giving him and his Democratic allies on Capitol Hill a much-needed, but minor, victory just six weeks before the midterm elections.

The measure passed the Senate last week but was overshadowed by a debate raging over the extension of Bush-era tax cuts.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/23/us/politics/AP-US-Small-Business-Lending.html?_r=1&ref=global-home&pagewanted=print

[notesdev]

1. This stuff would be funny

if it were not so predictable.

"The legislation -- slated for a House vote Thursday -- would establish a $30 billion government fund to help Main Street banks lend to small businesses."

Anyone want to guess how this is going to turn out?

If I were to wager that "Main Street banks" ends up including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, BoA, etc., and further more that actually getting the money into the hands of small businesses is not actually a technical requirement (or alternatively, made de facto void through lack of enforcement) when the final version of this bill becomes law... would anyone consider taking the other side of that bet?

[Mnpaul]

2. So much for their pledge

This is exactly what was called for in their pledge

Two Republicans in the Senate voted for it and three in the House.