* Democratic US Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias is out with a new TV ad. Rate it…
* The ad is being publicized as Giannoulias holds a conference call with reporters to talk about Mark Kirk’s vote yesterday in the US House. From a press release…
U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias will discuss Congressman Mark Kirk’s latest vote against providing much needed tax relief and access to capital for small businesses during a conference call with reporters TODAY, September 24, at 10:15 A.M. CT
Kirk’s vote comes after he vowed repeatedly to help Illinois small businesses struggling in these difficult times. The legislation, which is deficit-neutral and won’t cost taxpayers a penny, will provide much-needed tax breaks to help hire new employees and gain access to capital through a new loan fund.
Giannoulias will call on Kirk to explain his vote and why he continues to say one thing in Illinois and then vote differently when he’s in Washington, D.C.
* But Kirk is also holding a teleconference at 11 o’clock with the NFIB…
The National Federation of Independent Business will host a conference call this morning to highlight why Mark Kirk is the best U.S. Senate Candidate for small business employers in Illinois.
“Mark Kirk is the proven, pro-small business candidate for Senate,” NFIB Vice President of Public Policy Brad Close said. “He has been a long time supporter of small business, and is promoting a pro-growth agenda that small business owners need to remove uncertainty and help get our economy working again.”
* Being a state government/politics person, I honestly don’t know enough about that bill to comment. So here’s a news roundup…
* Congress sends small-business bill to Obama: It provides new tax breaks to small businesses, increases Small Business Administration lending limits, waives SBA loans fees and provides banks with $30 billion in new capital to increase lending to small businesses. Republicans criticized that lending fund as “TARP Jr.,” a reference to the Troubled Asset Relied Program initiated by the Bush administration in 2008 to help failing financial institutions and keep credit markets from drying up.
* House approves small-business bill: Business organizations that have backed the measure say the loan fund could spur $300 billion in lending.
* Small-business aid package likely to become law: A so-called “carryback” provision, which lets small business owners collect a tax refund if their business suffers a loss, will be extended to five years - so owners can claim a refund on profits that they booked as many as five years ago. Also in the act is an expansion of a part of the tax code called Section 179. The section lets small companies immediately write off capital expenditures of up to half a million dollars.
* House Democrats OK small-business bill: Republicans warned the bill would open the door for banks to use taxpayer-funded bailout money to lend to small businesses, which the GOP feared would give the federal government added influence over those businesses.
* Democrats Slam GOP for “Pledge to America,” Small Biz Bill Vote: Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman Brendan Daly put out a memo to reporters today pointing out that Republican leaders claim to be pro-small business, and met with a group of them this morning, but that they almost unanimously voted against the small business lending bill on the House Floor today. “Their hypocrisy is breathtaking,” Daly said.
* National Restaurant Association Welcomes Passage of Small Business Jobs Act: “This bill will help restaurants and small businesses with tax relief and assistance in gaining access to capital that is critical to economic and financial recovery,” said National Restaurant Association Executive Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs Scott DeFife. “Our industry, employing nearly 13 million Americans at 945,000 restaurants locations nationwide, is comprised mainly of small, independent businesses.”
* Congress sends small business bill to Obama: The GOP-tilting National Federation of Independent Business is only tepidly backing the legislation. The group is pushing both a full extension of Bush-era tax cuts and repeal of a requirement in the new health care law that requires that businesses file tax forms called 1099s with the Internal Revenue Service for every vendor that sells them more than $600 in goods. “There’s some OK stuff in it, but the impact’s going to be minimal,” NFIB tax counsel Bill Rys said of the bill.
* Small-Business Bill Advances: Mr. Obama said in a statement that he would sign the small-business bill on Monday, calling it “a common-sense plan to put Americans back to work.”
