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Small Biz Straight Talk
Washington, D.C.,
September 25, 2009
News from Ranking Member Sam Graves and Committee Republicans: • Ranking Member Sam Graves spoke on the Floor in support of H.R. 3614, to extend SBIR and other SBA programs. View his remarks here on YouTube. • Rep. Vern Buchanan won Florida's 9th annual SBDC small business award. View the video footage here. • Rep. Vern Buchanan with small business owners in the Bradenton Herald: “Buchanan talks health reform.” • Rep. Steve King was featured in The Hill’s “Meet the Lawmaker.” • Rep. Luetkemeyer in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the H1N1 influenza: “Pig out? Swine flu moniker is a stinker, Luetkemeyer says.” • Rep. Luetkemeyer on Moberly’s KRES radio: “The Role of Automobile Dealerships in Rural Economies.” Must-Reads from the Week: • Kansas City Star: Small businesses want their share of government contracts • Dallas Morning News: Cash flow - or dribble? Small firms fight money drain Administration and the SBA: • It was reported this week that the Small Business Administration (SBA) will change the terms of their goodwill financing scheme. Earlier in the year changes were made by the SBA to limit the level of goodwill financing, or the value of intangible assets. However, those changes were met with some stiff opposition from the small business community given the difficulties acquiring capital. According to the New York Times, “effective Oct. 1, good will and other intangible assets can amount to up to $500,000, with no limit on the percentage of the loan. When intangibles exceed $500,000, the SBA will recommend that banks limit the SBA-backed loan to 75 percent of the purchase price. The remaining 25 percent of the purchase price would have to come from either buyer equity or seller financing.” Earlier in the year Ranking Member Graves expressed concerns to the SBA about how the changes to good will financing will impact a small businesses ability to acquire capital and is pleased with the recent actions proposed by the SBA. • President Obama made two significant visits this week before the United Nations in New York City and before the leaders of the world’s largest economies at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh. The speech in New York outlined four pillars of U.S. international policy -- nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the pursuit of peace, combating climate change, and increasing economic development and opportunity. President Obama also addressed long-standing issues such as the Middle East conflict, as well as more recent challenges including the global economic recession. In Pittsburgh, White House officials said that President Obama will be pushing key nations to agree to a plan to combat climate change, enhance energy security, improve public health and the environment, promote faster economic growth and support more effective targeting of government resources for the poor. Review of House Activity: • On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed an extension of unemployment benefits by a vote of 331-83. The bill would provide an additional 13 weeks of benefits eligibility to jobless people who live in high-unemployment states, defined under the bill as states with a three-month average unemployment rate of over 8.5 percent. • The House Energy and Commerce Committee finally finished its work on the health care overhaul bill this week setting up the difficult task for Democratic leadership to sort out differences between three bills that have been produced by three committees. According to news reports, Democrats would like to finish this process by next week and give the Congressional Budget Office ten to fourteen days to score it. Under this timeline, a bill would not be considered on the House floor until mid-October at the earliest. Legislation and Letters Circulating Around the House: • Rep. Gingrey (R-GA) Seeks Cosponsors for the HEALTH Act of 2009 - During President Obama’s speech to a Joint Session of Congress, he spoke of the need for medical liability reform, the lack of which costs our economy over $100 billion annually. H.R.1086, the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2009 – modeled after California’s 30-year-old health care litigation reforms – addresses the current crisis without limiting compensation for 100% of plaintiffs’ economic losses or medical costs. Instead, the bill would limit noneconomic damages to $250,000 and make each party liable only for the proportion of damages for which they are directly responsible. For more information or to become a cosponsor, please contact Robert Horne at 5-2931 or via email at Robert.Horne@mail.house.gov. • Rep. Granger (R-TX) Seeks Co-Sponsors on the Affordable Health Care Expansion Act (H.R. 879) - Rep. Granger is seeking co-sponsors for the Affordable Health Care Expansion Act. Nearly 52% of uninsured Americans say that they do not have health insurance because it is too expensive. That’s why Congresswoman Granger has introduced the Affordable Health Care Expansion Act, which provides individuals with a refundable, pre-payable tax credit toward the purchase of health insurance. The amounts of the credits are as follows: $1,000 per individual / $2,000 per married couple / $500 per child / $3,000 per family, PLUS 50 PERCENT OF ANY ADDITIONAL PREMIUMS ON TOP OF THESE AMOUNTS. If we are going to fix our health care system, we need to find a way to make sure that every single American has access to health care in a way that is affordable, and in a system the country can afford. If you would like to cosponsor the Affordable Health Care Expansion Act, please contact Theresa Vawter at 5-5071 or theresa.vawter@mail.house.gov.
Review of Senate Activity: • The Senate Committee on Small Business held a roundtable discussion this week on ways the government can improve their contracting programs to increase the number of awards to small businesses. According to the committee’s press release, “In 2008 small businesses received $93.3 billion in federal contracts, an increase of almost $10 billion from 2007. However, these contracts made up only 21.5 percent of contracting dollars.” The government’s statutory goal is to spend 23 percent of contracting dollars on small businesses. The discussion focused largely on the difficult task small businesses face in obtaining federal contracts. • On Thursday, the United States Senate unanimously confirmed Peggy Gustafson as Inspector General for the Small Business Administration. • The Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a roundtable discussion on Thursday entitled “Minority Entrepreneurship: Evaluating Small Business Resources and Programs.” For more information on the hearing please visit here. House Small Business Committee hearing summary this week: • On September 24, 2009, the Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology of the Committee on Small Business held a hearing entitled, “The Roles of Federal Labs in Spurring Innovation and Entrepreneurship Across the United States.” The witnesses were: Cynthia Lee, Associate Director, Langley Research Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Hampton, VA; Bruce Underwood, Chief of Advanced Projects, Wallops Flight Facility, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Wallops Island, VA; Paul Sebesta, Ph.D., Director, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, IL; Hans Seywald, Ph.D., President, Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc., Hampton, VA; Chris Suber, President, Construction Development Services, Inc., Norfolk, VA; and Peter Johnsen, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer, Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois, LLC, Peoria, IL. • The US Chamber of Commerce published a study on the impact of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency on Small Business. • The Associated General Contractors of America distributed a state by state study showing construction employment declining in 48 states compared to last year. Looking Forward:
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