-
WASHINGTON — The House is expected to pass legislation today that would create a $30 billion fund for community banks to boost lending to small businesses, but the bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate.
June 16 -
WASHINGTON — Regulatory reform conferees tussled Wednesday over provisions that would allow the Government Accountability Office more power to audit the Federal Reserve Board, give shareholders a nonbinding vote on compensation and strengthen investor protections.
June 16 -
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers unexpectedly added an overhaul of the deposit insurance system to the final regulatory reform legislation on Tuesday, adding sweeping provisions that were not part of either the House or Senate revamp bills.
June 15 -
President Obama has sent a letter urging House and Senate leaders to quickly pass legislation that would establish a $30 billion fund to boost small-business lending and renewed calls for Congress to tax financial institutions for benefiting from the financial bailout.
June 14 -
Legislation to create a $30 billion fund to boost small-business lending is likely to pass the House this week and Senate leaders could consider it as early as next week.
June 8
WASHINGTON — The House approved a bill 241 to 182 on Thursday that would create a $30 billion fund that community banks could access for small business loans.
The bill passed after a contentious debate over whether the legislation would spur small business lending or if it should be considered another Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The measure would create a $30 billion fund to provide capital to community banks. Banks would see their dividend on the capital reduced as it increased its small business lending. For example, if a bank boosted lending by more than 10%, the dividend would drop from an initial 5% rate to 1%.
The program would also be free of some of the restrictions of Tarp, such as warrants and executive compensation limitations.
Over the two-day debate, the House adopted amendments to increase disclosure, reporting and oversight of the program.
On Thursday, lawmakers adopted an amendment that would allow construction, land development, and other land loans for offices to be counted as small business loans.
The bill now moves to the Senate, which could consider it within the month. Analysts and observers have warned the legislation faces an uphill battle in that chamber, however. Republicans have argued the bill is another version of the politically unpopular Tarp program.
House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank angrily denounced that argument on Thursday, saying the program was substantially different from Tarp.
"This is an effort to call it Tarp," he said. "It is not Tarp. It's the Pee-wee Herman school of legislating, let's call each other names without dealing with the substance."
