Finally, after many months of waiting, the Senate today passed legislation that is designed to give some relief to small businesses. The measure will provide for a $30 billion government fund that will allow small and medium-sized community banks to borrow funds at a low interest rate if the banks are able to show that they are making loans to small businesses. The legislation will also make other changes to the Small Business Administration's loan programs by reducing fees and raising loan guarantee and lending limits. Finally, the bill will implement tax cuts for some business owners to remodel their existing locations or to build new ones. The legislation will now make its way back to the House of Representatives for approval, which is widely expected.
You may recall that I first commented on this proposed legislation back in February. For all the lip-service given by government officials to the importance of helping the small business owner, virtually nothing changed for more than half a year. There's no mystery as to why the measure has now finally gotten Congress' attention: given the upcoming mid-term elections, our elected representatives are just now realizing how important economic issues are to voters. Of course, regardless of the motivation, I am happy to see something happening to boost small business lending. Now how about those tax cuts?
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