Recent Press Releases

Oct 15 2012

Senator Landrieu Applauds Anniversary of Small Business Jobs Act

WASHINGTON – Following the second anniversary of the Small Business Jobs Act (SBJA) becoming law, Senator Mary L. Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, applauded its continued success of making small businesses more competitive through increased access to capital, global markets, and contracting.

“Two years ago President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act that has proven to help small businesses in today’s fast paced global market,” said Senator Landrieu. “America’s 28 million small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we must all do what we can to ensure that they prosper.”

The Act helped tackle small businesses’ access to capital issues. The SBJA created two new programs at the Department of the Treasury to ensure small businesses have more financing options: the Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) and the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). In fact, the Department of Treasury recently released a report noting that participants using SBLF funds increased their small business lending by $6.7 billion since the passage of the SBJA.  The SBJA also brought much-needed tax relief to small businesses and included $12 billion dollars of tax cuts for locally owned and operated companies as well as self-employed businesses owners.

Access to global markets and contracting are keys to small businesses being successful.  SBJA created the State Trade and Export Program (STEP) that places American products in global markets; in fact, small businesses in 52 states and territories were able to apply for an additional $30 million in grants. Furthermore, SBA projects that their return on investment from the STEP program will be ten-to-one.  According to the SBA, since enactment of the SBJA, 505 size standards have been reviewed, of which 321 have been revised; as a result, there are 66,275 newly eligible small businesses which are estimated to receive $857-912 million in contracts.

For more information on the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, visit the SBA website here.

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