Small Biz Loses in Senate

Republicans Thursday blocked the Senate from considering legislation that aims to get credit flowing again to small businesses.

A vote to limit debate on the Small Business Jobs Act and bring it to a vote failed on 58-42 vote, two short of the 60 votes needed under Senate rules. Republicans complained they were denied the right to offer amendments to the legislation.

“This is unacceptable,” said Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, of Maine, who voted against the cloture motion even though she helped write much of the legislation.

The bill would expand Small Business Administration loan programs, provide up to $30 billion in cheap capital to community banks for small business loans, and give small businesses $12 billion in targeted tax cuts.

In an effort to get the 60 votes needed to move forward, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of Nevada, at the last minute agreed to take out an agricultural disaster relief provision that was tacked onto the bill last night, and allow votes on three Republican amendments, along with Democratic alternatives.

“I don’t know how we could be more fair,” Reid said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, from Kentucky, said Reid’s offer showed “some real progress,” but insisted that three amendments weren’t enough. He declined to say how many amendments would be sufficient, however. McConnell said he and Reid could continue their discussions “to unsnarl” this procedural impasse after the cloture vote.

“There’s nothing to unsnarl,” Reid replied.

“There’s only an effort to stop passage of this bill,” he said.

With that, the cloture motion went to a vote. Every Republican voted against it. Reid switched his vote to no so he could bring the motion back up again later.

It’s possible that the bill could be revived, but time is running out.

Even if the Senate passed the bill today, the odds were against the House passing it before leaving Washington for the next five weeks.

“The House is adjourning tomorrow, so where is the legislation going?” Snowe said.

She blamed Democrats for not only failing to accommodate Republicans but also waiting too long to bring the bill to a vote. In an emotional address on the Senate floor, Snowe said she had pleaded for action in January.

“We didn’t run out of time—we had 81 days, 81 days in which we did not have roll call votes,” she said.

McConnell noted that Reid had set aside the bill six times to move to something else.

After the cloture vote failed, Senator Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat who chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, managed to both blast Republicans for obstructing the bill and express hope that Reid and McConnell could find a way to move forward on the bill.

“It’s very clear who’s trying to move forward and who’s trying to stop this bill,” Landrieu said.

Minutes earlier, however, she said what she had heard from McConnell was “very positive.”

“He said all we need were a few more amendments,” she said. “I’m assuming a few is a few.”

Small businesses could still win today “if we work hard the next few hours,” Landrieu said.

“If we don’t give them some help now—today—many of them are not going to be here when we show up in September,” she said.

The day ended, however, with no agreement between Reid and McConnell, and the bill remained in limbo, until at least Monday.

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Kent Hoover is the Washington bureau chief for bizjournals.