thank the gentleman from georgia, mr. barrow, for his leadership and partnership on behalf of veterans. this amendment is rather direct. the underlying bill creates a new community bank lending fund for small businesses. it's essential as we continue our recovery we expand the amount of credit to america's small businesses so they can buy products and hire people. one, it ensures that community banks participating in the lending fund prioritize veteran-owned businesses. two, it sirs aggressive outreach in advertising to veteran-owned small b%sinesses. and third, it requires the secretary of treasury when designating lending institutions in the fund focus on veteran-owned businesses. mr. chairman, last year there were 3.6 million veteran-owned businesses in the united states of america, 250,000 were owned by service disabled veterans. they fought our battles, we should fight for their businesses and that is precisely what our amendment does. i again want to thank my partner

and my friend from georgia, mr. barrow, for working with me on this amendment. it is the israel-barrow amendment, but it might as well be called the barrow-israel amendment as a result of the partnership we brought to this task on behalf of small businesses and veterans. mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. . the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. does anyone seek time in opposition? >> i seek time in opposition but i'm not opposed to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: the bill includes language regarding veteran and women-owned businesses. with that we support this amendment. we thank the gentleman for bringing this amendment forward. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. isreal: mr. chairman, i yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from georgia, mr. beiro. -- mr. barrow. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. barrow: mr. chairman, i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. chairman, i spend a lot of

time with small business owners in my district because they are the backbone of our economy and they hold the key to our recovery. in the last decade 70% of all new jobs were created by small businesses. but many are now facing a credit squeeze which makes it hard to cover everyday expenses, including hiring and retaining workers. it's in the best interest of our country that small businesses thrive. that's why the small business lending fund act deserves our support. i think our amendment makes this bill better. it reaches out to women, minority and veteran-owned businesses to make them aware of the availability of these funds. they are an often disadvantaged part of our economy and i think they deserve our attention. i thank mr. he is real for -- mr. israel for his work on this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time.

the chair: the gentleman from new york. mr. isreal: we've proven to the american people that both sides of the aisle can agree on one thing, and that's supporting veterans and small businesses. i thank the bipartisan support we've received and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the yist have it. -- the yice have it -- the yeas have it. mr. isreal: i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york will be postponed. the chair understands that amendment 2 will not be offered. it is now in order to consider amendment number 3 printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the

gentleman from virginia seek recognition? mr. nye: mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 3 printed in part c of house report 111-506 offered by mr. nye of virginia. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1436, the gentleman from virginia, mr. nye, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. nye: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nye: mr. speaker, recent reports on u.s. economic growth are promising and suggests that recovery is taking hold. however, i continue to hear from small business owners in my district who are still having a tough time obtaining the business loans they need today. they have weathered the worse of the storm and are ready to lead our economy to a strong recovery. however, in order to do this they need capital, capital from loans that banks are unwilling to lend. as chairman of the small business subcommittee on contracting and technology, my

subcommittee examines every day how the federal government can incentivize business innovation. for example, last year with my fellow virginian, mark warner, i proposed the small business administration take action on the arc loan program, a vital loan program that had been delayed months until congress authorized it. because of our efforts, soon after the arc loan program was implemented, it's expected to create or retain 24,000 jobs and assist 4,900 businesses this year alone. we must continue to implement these types of small business programs that will unfreeze the small business credit markets. however, as we create this program to increase lending capacity to small banks, we must ensure that it's not another bank bailout. the amendment i offer today makes sure that the funds in the bill are going to small businesses. first and foremost, we must define what a small business is. if a small business lending fund is created with the

intention to spur small business lending we must ensure that the funds are in fact lent to businesses that are properly defined as small. in order to do this we should use the definition already being used by federal agencies to determine a business' size. second, we want to increase lending volume and open up the credit markets to every qualified small business. to do this effectively, we need to link lending incentives to volume, or in other words, to a number of loans the bank makes and not just the money lent. if we measure the lending of a bank merely by the money lent then a bank could make a few large loans and call it a day. working capital for most small businesses require small loans, and many times it takes more than one. thus, to effectively measure if this program is truly supporting working capital efforts, we must certify that the volume of these small loans increases. third, in the same vein, a hardened baseline with real meaning must be set when measuring a bank's lending record.

currently, the bill only requires a bank to increase its lending, coorgd to its 2009 fourth quarter record -- according to its 2009 fourth quarter record. it saw a historically low lending rate. small financial institutions decreased their small business lending by an average of 12.8%, and small businesses lending by large banks dropped by more than 20%. together -- to get a more accurate measure, this requires a full year's worth of data to measure a bank's lending record. and finally, small business lending companies exist only to lend to small businesses. it will be near sighted not to make these institutions who already have a large infrastructure and lend to small businesses eligible in this bill. my amendment improves this as qualified financial institutions alongside community banks and small credit unions. if our economic recovery is going to translate into economic expansion, we must open up the credit markets to

our small businesses who are proven job creators, and we must ensure that programs created to provide capital to small businesses take the necessary measures to promote small business lending and not big business bailouts. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment for our small businesses and for our economic future, and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. who seeks time in opposition? mr. neugebauer: i seek time in opposition. the chair: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. neugebauer: mr. chairman, i am opposed to this amendment because it removes some of the safeguards that are in place to help make the banks use the money and use it the way they were supposed to and not simply just building up their capital buffers. allowing recipients to self-certify that they have increased small business lending gets all the other protections in this -- forgets all the other protections in this bill. if we require them to pay dividends as low as 1%, we need

to make sure they use the money actually the way the legislation was intended. we already have less oversight of this money than we did in the tarp program, and even though it's the same program, cutting back even further is the wrong approach. already under this bill banks are getting a good deal on the cost of capital thanks to the taxpayers. community banks that issued preferred equity payments of 9% or more in the private market, here we have the government to give them the capital at 5% or as low as 1%. this amendment changes the incentives in the wrong way and we need more safeguards for the taxpayers, not fewer. at this time, mr. chairman, i'd like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from missouri, mr. graves. the chairman of the -- the ranking member of the small business committee. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. nye: i yield to my colleague from new york, the

chairwoman of the small business committee, one minute. the chair: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for one minute. ms. velazquez: thank you. i want to thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. chairman, since the financial crisis happened in 2007, much is being done to help banks and financial institutions stay solvent. those steps were necessary. i firmly believe that without them the financial crisis would have deepened. unemployment would have been higher, more americans would have suffered and our economic recovery may have been delayed for many years. despite these efforts, our entrepreneurs are still struggling to tap into the credit that they need. as we look at this problem once more, it's vital that we ensure that the benefits of this bill reach small businesses. that is the intent of this legislation, but without the right safeguards, this would be

another attempt that fails to address the underlying problem of small businesses' access to capital. if this measure is not crafted properly, loans that gos to small businesses could -- under the program. so, mr. chairman, i support this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: thank you, mr. chairman. i just want to repeat that when we're going to give a dividend -- a lesser dividend rate for the more performance that these banks have, letting them self-certify i think is not a good check and balance. certainly we want them to increase their lending, but what we need is third-party validation to make sure that -- in fact they will get as low as 1% capital can i have dend rate that some third party validation validates that because obviously that has impact on the return -- on this

program. so with that i reserve. the chair: all time has expired. mr. nye: mr. speaker. the chair: the gentleman from virginia. the gentleman from texas. mr. nye: mr. chairman. i would like to make unanimous consent request that both sides be allocated an additional two minutes for debate. the chair: is there objection? without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. nye: i'd like to yield to the distinguished ranking member of the committee, mr. graves. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. graves: i thank the gentleman. thank you, mr. chairman. i rise in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia. under the program, the way it was reported out of the financial services committee, the bill bases lending on the size of loans and assumes that loans under $250,000 and $1 million will be made to small businesses. however, there's no such assurance in the bill and loans of those sizes could be made to large businesses but count as small business lending. if this is a small business lending program then it should

use the definition of small business used throughout the government and that is the one in the small business act. and the approach offered by the gentleman from virginia does just that, it makes that change. the other change that the gentleman's amendment does is to include small business lending companies. these institutions are not overseen by the federal financial regulators but are authorized by the small business administration to make guaranteed loans. if the idea of the program is to increase lending to small businesses, small business lending companies should not be excluded for this program. for these reasons i definitely support the gentleman from virginia's amendment, mr. nye, and i thank you. mr. nye: i would yield back. the chair: the gentleman from virginia yields back. the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: at this time, mr. chairman, i yield back my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia. mr. nye: i urge a yes vote and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back.

the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from virginia. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 4 printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the gentleman from idaho seek recognition? the gentleman from idaho. >> mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 4 printed in part c of house report 111-506, as modified, offered by mr. minnick of idaho. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1436, the gentleman from idaho, mr. minnick, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from idaho. mr. minnick: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. minnick: i ask unanimous consent to modify my amendment. the chair: is there objection? the clerk will report the modification. the clerk: modification to the amendment offered by mr. minnick of idaho. page 6 after line 9 insert the following -- b, nonowner occupied commercial real estate loans. the chair: is there objection? without objection, the amendment is modified. the gentleman from idaho. mr. minnick: mr. chairman, this amendment, while short in length is extremely important to the commercial banking industry and to small business and my state and all of the -- all of the united states. what it does is adds commercial

real estate to the category of assets that can be covered by small business loan guarantees. . and increases the amount of those assets up to $10 million. this is -- this allows a category of assets that is now being held by small business men throughout the country, a category that is very large that needs to be refinanced because commercial real estate loans are short-term -- short term and banks simply do not have the capacity in the current market to finance all of the -- and process all of the commercial loans that need to be reprocessed over the next three to five years. by making these smaller loans that our community banks have

made to strip shopping centers, to restaurants, to small business, making them more liquid by applying a federal guarantee, they will be able to sell these loans in the market, a bank will get cash and be able to make another commercial loan. so this is a very important piece of legislation, important component of the small business lending act that will be -- do more, i think, than any other single thing in terms of getting our banking system functioning again and providing credit to the entrepreneurs and small businesses across this country who will fuel the economic recovery and create the jobs that will bring us out of this recession. i urge my colleagues to accept this amendment and i yield back -- i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: who seeks time in

opposition? mr. neugebauer: i seek time in opposition although i am not opposed to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: i appreciate the gentleman's point here trying to create a new source of capital for commercial real estate. where there's a significant amount of stress on our community banks, financing for commercial real estate, particularly the smaller loan market that serve small businesses, has been limited to commercial backed mortgages which accounted for nearly 50% of the commercial real estate lending in 2007, remains dormant. while i continue to believe the $30 billion lending fund will not improve lending for small businesses, i do not oppose the gentleman's amendment. with that i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from texas yields back his time. the gentleman from idaho. mr. minnick: i thank the gentleman and i would urge my colleagues to endorse this bill and ask that it be added to the bill. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from

idaho. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the aye vs. it. the amendment is agreed -- the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number five printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? mr. perlmutter: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk, made in order by the rules. amendment number 5. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 5, printed in part c of house report number 11-506, offered by mr. perlmutter of colorado. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1436, the gentleman from colorado, mr. perlmutter, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. mr. perlmutter: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. perlmutter: mr. chair, the amendment i offer with my colleagues today would increase the availability of capital for

small businesses. it temporarily allows banks to amortize real estate losses over six years. in addition, smaller community banks would be incentivized to increase small business lending through an extended am more at thisization period of up to 10 years. the impact of this amendment deals with regional and small banks. it will be immediate and is a necessary step in providing greater availability of credit which will lead to job creation and economic growth. we had an earthquake on wall street about a year and a half ago. those aftershocks are still being felt by small businesses and small banks all across the country. and it is for that reason these banks in an effort to help small businesses regain their footing, deserve this kind of am more at thisization and flex --

amortizization with reflect to their portfolios. they did not cause the trouble they now find themselves in and we believe that am morization -- amortization is appropriate. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. who seeks time in opposition? mr. neugebauer: i do, mr. chairman. i am opposed to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: certainly i'm sympathetic to the many community banks coping with the real estate assets that have lost their value. this amendment would essentially allow certain banks to hide losses for up to 10 years. legislative forebarons is a dangerous one and could result in problems that would only get worse. the county rules function provide a clear record of the health of the institution. this amendment does just the opposite by hiding the losses. the amortization provided by this amendment does not take effect for two years. the increase in the small business lending is measure, thus it doesn't address the

current credit problems this bill attempts to solve. this amendment creates the wrong incentive of allowing banks to hide losses for longer periods of time based on making even more loans. instead of continuing to distort the market, the government should create an expansionary environment whereby lowering taxes and providing regulatory certainty and not hiding accounting losses. i urge opposition to this amendment. with that i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from colorado. mr. perfectly mutter: i would -- mr. perlmutter: i would say the amendment provides if there is a $250,000 loss it is booked and opened but then it's spread up for six up to 10 years. it's easily transparent. and open. i yield one minute to my friend from florida, mr. klein. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. klein: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman. all of us share a common goal. we are committed to a full economic recovery. we are also agreed that small business lend something critical to achieving that recovery. small businesses in my district in south florida and around the

country are struggling to get access to credit so they can grow their businesses and create jobs. even though bank regulators at the top are telling banks to lend, i have heard over and over again directly from dozens of businesses in my community and the banks locally that examiners on the ground are giving the exact opposite message. it is essential that we do everything we can to increase small business lending. this amendment provides incentives for small business and real estate lending, exactly what south florida and other communities need to continue on the road to recovery. the amendment provides a solution to a critical problem and i'm proud to have worked with community banks, our realtors, and real estate community on this issue. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. the chair: the gentleman from colorado. mr. perlmutter: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from texas has yielded back his time. mr. perlmutter: i would at this point i also say to my friend from texas the amendment takes place immediately not after two

years. with that i yield one minute to my colleague from colorado, mr. coffman. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. coffman: i thank the gentleman from colorado. mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of this amendment to house resolution 5297, the small business lending fund act of 2010. the amendment authored by my friend from colorado, representative perlmutter, would do a great deal to increase the availability of loans to our nation's small businesses. small businesses are the engine that drives our economy. this amendment will allow colorado banks to amortize or write down commercial real estate loan losses over a period of time to ensure an adequate amount of capital for continued lending. the amendment encourages continued rending to small businesses by establishing a graduated scale with a maximum 10-year period of amortization for increased small business lending of 10% or more.

enacting commonsense measures such as this will do a great deal to help small businesses while also protecting many community banks from the volatility that currently surrounds the commercial real estate portfolio. i have run a small business and access to capital was always a pressing concern. i am glad that congress is addressing this important issue. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from colorado. mr. perlmutter: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield one minute to my friend from wisconsin, mr. kagan. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kagan: i rise in strong support of the perlmutter-klein-kagan amendment. why? it's exactly the medicine we need in our economy right now. small businesses in wisconsin, small businesses in colorado and across the country, are looking for access to credit at a price they can afford to pay. and right now our community banks are unable to lend.

not because of their own activity, but because the bad judgment of big banks on wall street. main street community banks and main street small businesses should not have to continue to pay for the mistakes of wall street. the perlmutter amendment would allow community banks under $10 billion of assets to amortize potential losses over six years and up to 10 years if they increase their lending to small businesses. we get it. we understand that small businesses are the economic engines of this country. it's time to give small business the opportunity to grow our economy and the jobs we need to work our way back into prosperity. i would urge a strong yes vote on this amendment. yield back. mr. perlmutter: how much time do i have left? the chair: one minute. mr. perlmutter: thank you. the point here is smaller banks, regional banks, not banks on wall street did not create the credit and lending mess that exists today.

small businesses didn't create the mess that we see. and it is small business that employs so many people and we've got to get folks back to work. so the amendment allows for a bank to write, take a loss, and spread it over a period of time so they can weather this storm until we get back to good financial footing in this country. it is something that is necessary. it will assist with the availability of credit today, and doesn't cost the taxpayer any money. something like this was used in the 1980's to assist the agricultural banks. and it worked at that time. it will work today. with that i urge an aye vote on amendment number 5 and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado, mr. perlmutter.

so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 6 printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i have an amendment at the desk made in order under the rule. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 6 printed in part c of house report number 111-506, offered by mr. price of georgia. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1436, the gentleman from georgia, mr. price, and a member opposed, each will have

five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: thanks, madam chair. i want to thank the chairman of the committee and ranking member for working with me on this amendment. although as they know i am opposed to the underlying bill this amendment is extremely important to highlight the serious problem of mixed messages that financial regulators are sending to our community banks. and i appreciate the support of the chairman on this amendment. banks in georgia employ almost 450,000 people and hold $276 billion in assets. most of these banks are community institutions which were near bistaveners to the financial and lech bidity crisis of the last two years. late last week the treasury department reported that tarp will cost less than they originally estimated. treasury expects to spend less than the $550 of the $700 billion authorized. regrettably this big does not factor in -- does not factor in the bailouts of fannie mae and