Issue Position: Small Business

Issue Position

THE LEADERS OF OUR RECOVERY

Growing up, I worked side-by-side with my parents in our family's restaurant. I understand the sacrifices people are making to keep businesses alive and to hold on to jobs in this economy. And I know it's the working people, small business people, and entrepreneurs of Connecticut who will create jobs and power our recovery. Small businesses employ about half the private sector workforce and have created more than 65% of net new jobs over the past seventeen years. We can't fix this economy without jumpstarting small business growth.

To grow, small businesses need access to capital and credit. Here's my plan to make sure they have it:

Increase small business lending and spearhead a national microlending expansion.

The 2011 budget set aside just $28 billion for small business loan guarantees through the Small Business Administration. It's critical to expand SBA lending to give small businesses access to the credit they need to grow. Let's increase SBA lending activity to $60 billion.

We hear a lot about microfinance abroad -- let's bring robust microfinancing to American entrepreneurs right here at home. Small businesses with loans from one California microlender have increased their income by an average of 30% and created 2.4 jobs per business. I'll work to expand microfinance opportunities to every state through our Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).

Ensure regulation is written specifically for community lenders and microlenders, so that institutions lending to small businesses aren't buried under regulations written for megabanks.

Pass the Job Creators Visa to help talented entrepreneurs create jobs right here on our shores. Google, Yahoo, Sikorsky, Electric Boat -- all of these companies were founded by immigrants. We need to make sure the next Google isn't started in Russia or China just because we didn't give entrepreneurs a chance to start it here.

Allow immigrant entrepreneurs to create American jobs if they have any one of the following:

$100,000 in American investor backing;

A science, technology, math, or computer science degree from an American university and minimum investor backing;

A current H-1B visa for skilled workers with minimum equity, income, or investor backing;

A start-up with $100,000 in annual revenue in the United States that they want to move here to our shores.

Ensure small business innovators get a fair share of federal research and development grants by permanently extending and expanding the Small Business Administration's innovation and technology research grant programs -- Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR).

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