a.i.g. but even though this is a revolving taxpayer bailout fund. meaning there is $550 billion the administration and leadership could put toward small business lending. however the administration chose not to do this and instead wants congress to appropriate another $33 billion of taxpayer money. that's right. another $33 billion. certainly small business lending is a priority for banks and businesses. however this bill doesn't address the underlying causes of contraction in lending. but invests much more in a failed regulatory agentcy. unfortunately the mixed messages being sent by failed bank regulators will not be fixed. instead of making the fdic and other regulators send a clear and consistent message to our nation's banks, this congress feels throwing more money at the problem will fix it. in february, bank regulators both state and federal, issued a joint statement providing guidance to banks and to credit unions, encouraging them to make

loans to creditworthy small business borrowers. the regulators described the guidance as intended to quote, emphasize the financial institutions engaging in prude intersmall business lending after performance -- prudent small business lending after performing a review of the borrower's financial condition -- however reports from the field show a much different picture. i hear from bankers in my district and across our state that there is capital to lend. however i also hear from those same banks that they are nervous and anxious about the unpredictible regulators' response and scrutiny of their regulatory capital rishos and loan requirements. . for many banks it's easier and better to ride out the storm by hoarding their cash than to justify every penny they lend to the regulators, possibly risking their capitalized standing. banks cannot hold capital for regulatory compliance and comply with regulators' instructions to

lend at the same time. they're mutually exclusive. my amendment states that these mixed messages sent by the regulators are a very serious problem and a cause of the contraction in small business lending and our de-- and are destructive to communitys. in order to highlight this, i urge adoption of the amendment and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois rise? ms. bean: i claim time in opposition, even though i'm not opposed. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman -- the chair: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. bean: i yield myself as much time as i may consume. i want to acknowledge congressman price's amendment and its recognition of the challenges faciig not only community businesses seeking loans but the community banksers that are trying to provide them -- bankers that are trying to provide them. his amendment recognizes the mixed messages between regulators urging more lending while regulators and examiners are often urging less,

particularly in the area of commercial real estate. that's why i have a bill that addresses both priorities, by expanding the sba 504 program to allow banks to lend to small businesses for owner-occupied properties while easing the exposure on their bank's balance sheet with investments from the c.b.c.'s. i also want to acknowledge that this amendment recognizes the credit crisis that's challenging our country and our small businesses particularly, which is the point of this underlying bill and i hope my colleague will support the underlying bill as it addresses those credit challenges. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from georgia. mr. price: i thank the chair and i thank the gentlelady from for her -- the gentleman the gentlelady for her support of the amendment and would point out once again the mixed messages that are being received by our community banks. i'd also like to point out that the amount of money left available in tarp right now could easily cover the intent of

this bill. however, this bill has in it an extra $33 billion. $33 billion, madam chair, that frankly we do not have as a nation. we'll put it on the backs of our kids and borrow it from other nations, when we could be utilizing money that's already been appropriated for the same positive purpose. i urge adoption of the amendment 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 georgia, mr. price. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. all in favor. opposed. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 7 printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek

recognition? mr. green: madam chair, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 7 printed in part c of house report number 111-506 offered by mr. al green of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1436, the gentleman from texas, mr. green, and a member opposed each have -- each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. green: thank you, madam chair. i'd like to yield myself three minutes at this time. madam chair, this is an important amendment. this amendment will not be a perfect amendment with reference to what it seeks to do but it is a perfecting amendment. this amendment seeks to provide the closure and enhance accountability. and i'd like to make it known that this amendment received a lot of help and input from the office of congressman hensarling and i thank him for what he has done. this amendment would provide that an institution engaged in the lending process with the

funds from the program, that this institution will on applicable loan documents indicate that the funds being loaned are funds that are coming from the fund. this is important because the public desires to know where the money is going, how it's being utilized. this amendment would also require, if the institution has a website, it would require that that website contain the written report of the treasury secretary. these reports would indicate to the extent that loans have been made, how the money has been utilized and this again would provide additional transparency which will lead to accountability. finally the amendment will require lending institutions to make known to capable, competent and qualified borrowers that they will have the opportunity to participate in the program by

way of receiving loans and that these loans must be based upon the law as it is written and not allow any type of discrimination to infiltrate the program. i think this is an amendment that goes a long way toward helping us improve our transparency and accountability, it's not a perfect amendment but it is a perfecting amendment. i yield back -- i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> i claim time in opposition, although i don't think i'm going to oppose the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: i just wanted to clarify something that the gentleman said. i understand that the bank will disclose to the borrower that they are loaning them funds because they are participating

under this program. and then the gentleman went on to say that the treasury would then post a report on their website. now, will that list the names of the borrowers -- will the treasury report on their website list the names of each borrower that borrowed money under this program? mr. green: if the gentleman yields to me. thank you. it will indicate what transactions took place and it will indicate who the banks, the lending institutions, that engaged in the transaction, the borrower's name would not be a part of the information. mr. neugebauer: i thank the gentleman because i was concerned about the privacy of those business owners, you know, letting the world know how much money they're borrowing. i'm not opposed to the gentleman's amendment. i think disclosure is a good thing. i just want to make a point that

there have been several discussions up here today, it's not going to cost the taxpayers any money. only washington, d.c., can you go spend $33 billion and say it's not going to cost anything. the problem is if this program is participated up to $33 billion, we don't have $33 billion. and so we're going to go have to borrow $33 billion from the chinese to loan banks to loan to small businesses in this country. and a lot of folks, i think, understand that kind of how we got here was that the whole world, small businesses, individuals and governments, have been on this borrowing and spending binge, borrow and spend, borrow and spend, and quite honestly that's how we wove this web where we are our financial markets in somewhat of a wrinkle right now. and while i applaud the gentleman's amendment, i still go back to the fundamental point here that, one, this bill will

not help small businesses have any additional capital, but more importantly we are going to go spend $33 billion that we don't have and i don't think that's the right prescription for our country. with that i reserve my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. mr. green: thank you, madam chair. let me simply say in response that the bill anticipates that loans will be repaid. if not -- it's not a circumstance where persons are going to receive or businesses will receive loans that are not going to be paid. and the bill causes banks and lending institutions to make the loans because they will receive a better interest rate upon making loans such that they are incentivized to make these loans. so while the bill will not cure all of the ills of society, all of the ills that we have, it certainly will go a long way toward stimulating small business lending which is

important to the economic recovery. i believe in this bill. i believe that this amendment will help with transparency and accountability. and i also believe that it is time for us to do all that we can to help the small businesses in this country. i believe that this is something we can do and i believe that it is something that will make a difference. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: i appreciate the gentleman. i still go back to the point and i think that's where we get kind of in a -- we live in wally world here in washington, d.c., where you still have to have $33 billion if you're going to go loan -- or invest in the preferred shares of these banks, you still got to find the $33 billion. and the truth of the matter is, for every dollar we're going to appropriate or allocate in this country this year, we're going to have to go borrow 42 cents of it. so i just guess the question -- begs the question, should we go

out and hawk another $33 billion for a program that many people think that there's adequate capital and liquidity already in the banking industry? some people have quoted as saying, well, 42% of the small businesses have been turned down for loans in this country. well, you know, i was in the loan business and everybody that came into my -- to borrow money from me when i was a loan officer wasn't credit worthy or it wasn't in their best interest to leverage their business further. and so i'm afraid that we're out here trying to encourage behavior that the marketplace maybe already taking care of. my good friend from georgia did make a point, the regulatory folks are sending mixed messages. i think that's a bad policy. i think the regulators need to be more consistent with their policy. again, bringing that certainty. because what we've heard time and time again, whether it's from the business community or lending community, all this

uncertainty about what congress is doing and the regulatory reforms that are going on, all of this is creating a huge amount of uncertainty and so what happens when we have uncertainty in the marketplace? people just sit on the sidelines. if you want to get businesses going again, if you want to get the economy going again, we got to get the government out of the banking business, we got to get the government out of all of these huge regulations, we've got to bring economic certainty by not imposing more restrictions on companies, on their health care, cap and trade, affecting what they potentially are going to pay for energy in the future, uncertainty with our tax code, where we don't know what provisions are going to expire, what provisions aren't. it would be nice for the american people to get to see a budget of how congress is going, planning to spend their money, instead of going through a day -- a month, a weekly exercise of spending money without a budget. the american people don't do their business that way. they're a little bit concerned that the united states congress just keeps on spending money but

without a budget. so with that i yield back my time and -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas. mr. green: i thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. green: while i appreciate the gentleman from texas, his desire to make sure that budgets are balanced and to make sure that we have accountability and transparency, i do have to remind the gentleman that the desire and the need to balance the budget did not start this year, nor did it start last year. we should have had it balanced -- have had a balanced budget for the eight years of the prior administration. and i think that you find this administration burdened with the problem that was create drn -- that were created by past administrations. i believe that in an effort to correct these problems we will have to take some necessary steps toward helping small business. i hear my colleagues on the

other side quite regularly contending that small business needs help. this is help and my trust and my hope and my leaf leaf -- belief is that the small business help will be supported by not only this side of the aisle but by both sides of the aisle. i 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 texas, mr. green. 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 8 printed in house report number 111-50 of. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. driehaus: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 8, printed in part c of house report number 111-506, offered by mr. driehaus of ohio. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1436, the gentleman

from ohio, mr. driehaus, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. driehaus: thank you, madam chair. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. driehaus: thank you, madam chair. we know that small businesses account for the majority of new jobs created in this country. and we know that making it easier for small businesses to borrow is essential to our continued economic recovery. this legislation will help small businesses access the credit they need to create the jobs that will move our economy forward. but we need to provide strong oversight to ensure that these loans are being put to use where they are most effective. and put to use in a way that's responsible to the american taxpayer. the amendment i have offered with my colleagues from virginia and kansas will establish the office of small business lending fund oversight under the authority of the treasury inspector general. the special deputy inspector general of the oversight office will be required to monitor the small business loan fund and report to congress at least twice a year with

recommendations for improving the program. this amendment is about good government. it plays no additional burdens on banks or small businesses. instead it makes a good bill better by ensuring accountability and transparency to the american people. we have seen what happens when government fails to provide adequate protections with special interests. now we are taking steps to make up for the years of lax oversight and neglected responsibility. make no mistake. this bill is about creating jobs. small business owners tell me constantly that they can begin hiring again if only they had access to credit and capital. this legislation will encourage banks to lend to small businesses and my amendment will help protect taxpayers in the process. this bill will strengthen our economic recover qui without adding a dime to the deficit. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment as well as the underlying legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. neugebauer: claim time in

opposition to the bill. the chair: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. neugebauer: this new capital injection program is designed to operate exactly like the tarp program but without any of the taxpayer protection or oversight. now this amendment is intended to substitute for putting the experienced inspector general for this type of program in charge of this new fund. republicans had an amendment that put the special inspector general for tarp in charge of the oversight of this new fund, but the rules committee blocked it. really this creates a new regulator where we had an existing regulator in place for tarp-like programs which this is. and we think that was a better alternative and now we want to put someone that doesn't have as much experience with this type of program in charge of oversight and we just don't think that's in the best

interest of the taxpayers. republicans i want to remind the chairman offered a number of amendments that would have give the taxpayers much more protection even in than this amendment would. unfortunately, i don't want to be redundant here, but the rules committee, which is controlled by the majority, only allowed one republican amendment to be heard while we have had 16 amendments from the majority. again, we wondered why republican amendments to provide better protection, better oversight were blocked by the majority when i think the american people think that any kind of amendment that would provided them more opportunity, more protection, and more oversight would have been in their best interest. and so we don't think that this amendment does the job that it needs to do. and therefore we are opposed to it. with that i reserve.

the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from ohio. mr. driehaus: madam chair, i would just comment on the gentleman's comments. yes, those amendments were offered. as you know not a dime of tarp money is being used in this bill. it's not appropriate for sig tarp to have the oversight. mr. authorson who will have the oversight has incredible experience overseeing small business programs. before becoming the inspector general of the treasury department, he served as the inspector general for small business administration from 2006 to 2008. in that short time his office uncovered what is believed to be the largest government-backed loan fraud scheme in history. and as a result of that investigation, they arrested 52 people in one day. that's oversight. and so while the gentleman is asking for sig tarp to have oversight, despite the fact that not a dime of tarp is being spent on this bill, we have oversight that is adequate, that is strong, that's contained in treasury that should have the oversight within this bill. with that, madam chair, i would

like to yield 30 second to my colleague from illinois, ms. bean. the chair: without objection, the the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized. ms. bean: i just want to compliment congressman driehaus' efforts to improve the program. this expands oversight to ensure taxpayer dollars are protected. i urge my colleagues to adopt the amendment. i further rebut our colleague from texas' inaccurate assertion that the program is not paid for. the gentleman knows full well it is fully paid for and that according to the c.b.o. the government will earn a profit. i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman has yielded back. the gentleman from texas. mr. neugebauer: i concede to the gentleman that none of this money is coming from the tarp program. it probably should have because it's a tarp program. i want to just remind the gentleman that the special inspector general who oversees tarp said in terms of its basic

design its participants, application process from an oversight perspective the small business lending fund would essentially be an extension of tarp's capital purchase program. from elizabeth warren, the prospects are far from certain. the sblf also raises questions in light of the capital purchase programs poor performance in improving credit access, any capital infusion for the program can successfully jump-start small business lending. everybody but the democrats understand this is a tarp program. why did we want sig tarp to be oversight? because this is a tarplike program. just today released they helped bring a new lawsuit today for $1.9 billion with the failure of colonial bank. colonial bank received $553 million in tarp funds. to say that you're going to go out and put $33 billion into the

marketplace and not suffer any losses at a time when we have over 100 banks that have already missed one dividend payment. that we have had one bank that's missed six, and that several billion dollars have already been lost from some of these banks that are -- that were defaulted and were closed after the taxpayers had put money in there. i go back to, you say, well, it doesn't cost the taxpayers any money. i keep asking the majority, where is the $33 billion for this program coming from? i yield to the gentleman. mr. driehaus: i appreciate you yielding because i would like to reput your first point about the tarp. there's not a dime of tarp money going into this bill. you are undermining the authority or attempting to undermine the authority -- mr. neugebauer the gentleman is not going to answer my question. where is the $33 billion coming from. if the gentleman wants to answer that question.

i would love to yield him time. if he's not prepared to tell me where it comes from, i will not yield the gentleman time. mr. driehaus: as the gentleman knows we disposed of that issue yesterday an we paid for it. mr. neugebauer: the pay for was to cover any potential losses supposedly. buttwhere is the $33 billion that you are going to invest -- mr. driehaus: with all due respect to the gentleman i know this doesn't fit into the political framework of the republicans to suggest this is not tarp. this is not another bailout. mr. neugebauer: the gentleman obviously doesn't know where the $33 billion is coming from which is part of the problem up here. people just think this money appears. when you say i'm going to put $ billion here, $250 billion here nobody knows where the money is coming from. the bottom line is we know where the money's coming from. we are borrowing that money because the treasury -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from ohio. mr. driehaus: thank you, madam chair. the political framework of the

republicans is they want to call everything a bailout. when it's not bailout, they want to act like it is. they want to call this tarp even if it's not. the definition they want to use on fox news and elsewhere, but the fact of the matter is it's coming out of treasury. treasury deoff the oversight w that madam chair, i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly. the chair: without objection, the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. connolly: thank you, madam chairwoman. i thank my colleague from ohio for his leadership and my friend from illinois for the kind words. the small business lending fund act will expand opportunities for small businesses to access critically needed capital today. our amendment ensures that the program works as intended. that america's small businesses receive access to that capital and that taxpayers' loans are repaid. the lending facility encouragings small business loans to creditworthy companies with the repaid funds and interest payments going to reduce the deficit that our %% friends on the other side say they are concerned about.

small businesses will lead private sector job growth if they obtain the capital. the office of small business lending fund program oversight will provide accountability and enhance the effectiveness of the lending fund. helping to spur robust small business sector. they have a reputation for safeguarding taxpayer funds as my friend from ohio said. and review of the office of supervision uncovered six cases where improperly allowed private thrifts to back capital deposits allowed inconstitutions to appear more solvent than they were. this amendment would correct that problem. i urge its adoption and i yield back to my friend from ohio. the chair: the gentleman yields bacc the balance of his time. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. driehaus: thank you -- the chair: the gentleman has 15 seconds remaining. mr. driehaus: i want to remind the members. this amendment is about oversight. it's about doing our job to make government work properly. and while i realize it doesn't always fit in to political rhetoric of the other side, it is about good government.

this is isn't tarp. this isn't bailout. it's about helping small businesses. moving the economy forward. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from ohio, mr. driehaus. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. the chair understands that amendments numbers 9 and 10 will not be offered. it is now in order to consider amendment number 11 printed in part c of house report 111-506. for what purpose does the gentleman from maine seek recognition? mr. michaud: thank you, madam chairwoman. i have an amendment at the desk made in order under the rules. the clerk: the clerk will designate the amendment.

the clerk: amendment number 11, printed in part c of house report number 111-506, offered by mr. michaud of maine. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 1436, the gentleman from maine, mr. michaud, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maine. mr. michaud: thank you, madam chairwoman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise today in support of my amendment to the small business lending fund act. the amendment i offered today does two things to improve the underlying bill, the state small business credit initiative program. first, it ensures the state-run venture capital programs are eligible to participate in the program. second, it clarifies that the state financing program will be eligible for the program as long as their use of the new funds meets the business size

requirements in the bill. the programs created in the small business lending fund build on the proven potential of existing state lending programs. in maine, these programs have been enormously effective at getting small businesses the access to capital and the technical support they need. my amendment ensures that states are able to maintain their existing initiatives while taking advantage of the new programs created in this bill. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying bill. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. neugebauer: we do not object to this amendment. the chair: does the gentleman yield back? the gentleman yields back the remainder of his time of the the gentleman from maine. mr. michaud: thank you, madam