Kelly Liang

3/12/2012
2
March 12, 2012, 4:21 PM

Senate Democrats Ready Jobs Bill, Aides Say

By JONATHAN WEISMAN (NEW YORK TIMES)
4:31 p.m. | Updated
Senate Democrats are expected on Tuesday to unveil their version of a small-business financing bill that
passed last week in the House, with the Senate legislation including three of the six House provisions, as
well as other measures to extend credit to small businesses, Democratic aides said.
The Senate measure will include slightly modified versions of three House measures to make it easier for
small businesses to go public, sell equity shares to raise money and attract investors through crowdfunding. All three provisions have bipartisan support. The new bill will also include a measure by
Senators Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana, and Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine, to ease
restrictions governing the amount of debt a small business can take on. It will also extend the Small
Business Administrations program to help refinance short-term commercial real estate loans into longer
term loans, and it reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank, a provision that some conservatives oppose.
The changes to the House bill could anger activists like Steve Case, the AOL co-founder who has begun a
social media campaign to move the legislation to President Obama as soon as possible. But Senate aides
say they still expect prompt action and a signing ceremony this spring.
Democrats made clear the new bill is only a starting point, and they expect the other provisions of the
House bill to be introduced as amendments.
Over the weekend, Mr. Case and his allies began using Twitter to pressure the Senate majority
leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, to simply take up and pass the House bill. Republican leaders took up the
cause, giving a partisan tilt to the measure although the House bill and its Senate companions are
distinctly bipartisan. The centerpieces of the Senate bill were drafted by Senator Patrick J. Toomey,
Republican of Pennsylvania, and two Democrats: Senators Jon Tester of Montana and Charles E.
Schumer of New York.
But some Senate Democrats have insisted on investor protections not in the House bill. Those changes
plus the Export-Import Bank reauthorization mean that probably no bill will reach the presidents desk
until late April at the earliest.
Update: Further complicating the schedule, Mr. Reid said on Monday he will force the Senate to
consider 17 of President Obamas judicial nominees who have been unable to get a confirmation vote.
He said he will start the Senate procedural clock running on each of the 17 even without an agreement
from Republicans to bring them to a vote. That could eat up weeks of Senate floor time.

Writing:
Senate Democrats are expected on Tuesday to reveal their version of a small-business financing bill that
passed last week in the House. The Senate measure modified some versions of the House measures to
make it easier for small business to go public. All of them are supported by Democrats and Republican.
Senate aides say they still expect a signing from President this spring. But some Senate Democrats have
demanded on investor protections not in the House bill. The bill will probably be sent to President in late
April at the earliest.
This article is related to what we are learning about in Unit 3 because we learned about how a bill
become a law. First it comes from an idea, then it is sent to one of the houses in Congress, if it is passed
in both houses, then it will be sent to President to sign it.