Schumer, Toomey Aim To Help Small Businesses Go Public

By Adrianna McGinley

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) introduced bipartisan legislation Thursday they say will create jobs by facilitating the private-public transition for small businesses.

The duo agreed small and medium size businesses are essential for economic recovery, yet face tough obstacles when pursuing an initial public offering (IPO).

“Capital formation and access to capital is the single biggest and most important factor in driving economic growth and job creation,” Toomey said. “Without a doubt one of the very best and most efficient sources of capital is the public equities market, well you can’t access the public equity markets until you do your IPO.”

With the number of IPOs declining in recent years, the legislation would create a temporary “on-ramp” for small businesses to go public, phasing in costly IPO regulations as the business grows.

A new category of “emerging growth companies”, with less than $1 billion in annual revenue and $700 million in publicly traded shares, would be created. The companies would have a maximum of five years to make the transition, which could be cut short should the company meet either of the limits set forth.

Roughly 11 to 15 percent of companies, at any given time, would be eligible for the program, Schumer said, and with 79 percent of companies reporting lack of access to the IPO market for small companies and 90 percent of job creation occurring post IPO, this type of legislation “should be our focus.”

The Democratic senator cited LinkedIn as an example of a small company that has doubled its workforce since going public in May and expects many others would follow under the new program.

“The NYSE said the bill ‘would have the largest impact’ on job creation when compared to several similar proposals that have been debated,” Schumer cited.

On top of having bipartisan congressional support, the legislation was approved by the NY Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and the IPO Task Force.

“We hope that this nice little proposal can help bridge the partisan divides in the Congress and have a real impact on job creation,” Schumer said. “We tried to take the things where you get the most bang for the buck, the least opposition, and ability to get something done.”

“I’m often asked…is there anything you guys can agree on,” Toomey added. “Here’s an example of something very specific, very concrete, very constructive, and very pro-growth on which we do agree…This is just a very constructive thing we can do, it’s not going to cost the taxpayers a dime, and it is assuredly going to create jobs.”

New Hampshire Business Owners Not Sold On Romney

By Janie Amaya

A group of small business owners in New Hampshire attacked GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday for displaying a record of inconsistency over the years, and said that his plan to help them is unclear.

“Politicians often say that small businesses need certainty and consistency to grow and I’m sure Mitt said that when working with Bain Capital. Well, right now it is very clear there is nothing consistent, nor certain about Mitt Romney,” said Mason Donavan, a part owner of the Dagoba Group in Salisbury.

Donavan said that Romney’s opposition to President Obama’s American Jobs Act represents a turn-about for the former Massachusetts Governor, who once supported a $2,000 tax credit for small businesses to hire people who had been unemployed for longer than six months. Obama’s bill would provide $4,000 tax credits to businesses who hire the long-term jobless.

Donavan added that under Romney from 2003-2007, Massachusetts’ economy grew at just one percent, compared to the national level of five percent during that same period.

“We really do need a president that’s out for the small business, that’s there for small businesses and has a record of job growth,” Donavan said.

Small business owner Peter Hoiriis of Manchester said he doubts whether Romney’s 59-point jobs plan can help reduce the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployement rate. Hoiriis also waged a common complaint against Romney; that he’s inconsistent on the issues.

“I’m questioning Romney where he really stands,” Hoiriis said. “I have an old business affiliation with him from twenty years ago, and it just seems that it’s hard to target what he supports or doesn’t.” Hoiriis did say, however, that Romney would be “worthy of listening to.”

Though Romney is ahead of the rest of the GOP field in the Granite State, a new poll released today shows his lead slipping. According to the survey, conducted by Magellan Strategies, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich trails Romney by just two percentage points.

Given the news, Romney will likely need to win over as many small businesses as he can to win the primary, which is less than eight weeks away.

FCC Announces New Cyber Security Initiative For Small Businesses

By Adrianna McGinley

A broadband connection can increase annual revenue for a small business by $200,000, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Julius Genachowski, but only if there are adequate cyber security measures in place.

During a discussion Monday at the Chamber of Commerce, Genachowski praised the work of a partnership between the FCC, the Department of Homeland Security, and the private sector and announced the release of the “Small Biz Cyber Planner”, a free, online tool to help small businesses develop customized cyber security plans.

Genachowski cited a 2011 Connected Nations Study showing the financial benefits of being online for a small business but added if sufficient security measures have not been taken, the result of a cyber attack could average a loss of $200,000.

“Failure to take cyber security seriously can potentially negate the benefits of being online,” Genachowski warned.

According to a 2011 Small Business Cybersecurity Survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance and Symantec, 77 percent of small and medium business do not have a formal internet security policy in place, and 48 percent do not have even an informal policy. Despite these numbers, 85 percent of the 1,045 small business owners surveyed, reported they feel their systems are secure.

“Not to consider cyber security is a little bit like leaving your money lying around on a table and thinking that that’s not going to be a problem,” said former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

The Symantec/NCSA survey found that because of high costs, 85 percent of small businesses have no outside IT support. Chertoff said there is a need to create security resources that are understandable and accessible to “ordinary mortals”.

“The beauty of what’s been launched here…is that it makes accessible to people who are not full-time technology wizards the basic instructions and basic elements of a cyber security plan,” Chertoff explained.

Genachowski also announced that this week, the FCC will vote to modernize the Universal Service Fund, in order to provide infrastructure to 18 million people in rural communities across the U.S. who currently have no broadband access. The goal, he said, is to have universal broadband access by the end of the decade.

“Connecting these communities will create and save businesses that otherwise couldn’t exist,” Genchowski noted.

Dems React To Boehner's Resistance On China Bill

By Adrianna McGinley

House Republicans must schedule a vote on a bill addressing Chinese currency manipulation, said Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) and other House Democrats on Tuesday.

The House Ways and Means Committee ranking Democrat and other supporters of the bill said the legislation would create jobs in the U.S.

“There’s been no jobs legislation that has come out of the Republican majority here,” Levin said. “This is a jobs bill, and it is coming over most certainly from the Senate, and so the question will be whether the House leadership will let us vote on it. They know if it comes up for a vote, it will pass.”

Democrats who spoke took issue with House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) assertion that the bill would be “dangerous” for Congress to take up.

“This is a message from the Republican party, from Speaker Boehner, to all those small and medium size manufacturers all across the industrial Midwest that your help…is dead on arrival,” said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). “The Republican party no longer represents the small and medium size manufacturer.”

Levin said his years of experience in trade dismiss concerns from critics who say the bill could lead to a “trade war” with China. Levin said American businesses are already on an uneven playing field with the industrial powerhouse.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) heavily criticized Republicans for not acting on the bill, saying they are inhibiting economic recovery.

“They don’t want Barack Obama to have one bit of success,” said the ranking member of the House Trade Subcommittee. “They will do anything to our economy in order to prevent him from having any lessening of the unemployment rate in this country.”

Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) agreed, saying Congress not only needs to act on this bill, but also on the president’s jobs bill, and he urged reporters to ask Republicans “why won’t you take up the job creation bills?”

Senate Clears Major Hurdle On Small Business Bill

By Samira Sadeque - Talk Radio News Service

The Senate yesterday moved forward on legislation that would provide badly needed assistance to banks and small businesses. By a vote of 61-37, the upper chamber ended debate on a bill to spur lending to community banks, clearing the way for a final vote expected to come later this week.

Democrats and administration officials alike touted the legislation for its efforts to boost small business hiring. Senior Treasury official Gene Sperling said the bill will aid recovery for the middle class.

“Small businesses were the innocent victims of a perfect storm - the financial crisis. They got hit on the value of their collateral, they got hit on the tightening of bank lending and very little of it was due to their fault.”

In an effort to create jobs, the bill provides $12 billion worth of tax breaks for small businesses and sets up a $30 billion lending pool that will go directly to community banks. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) called the legislation “smart, strategic and fiscally responsible.”

Democrats were helped by a pair of Republicans, George Voinovich (Ohio) and George Lemieux (Fla.), who both voted in favor of the bill. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) thanked her GOP colleagues for breaking with their party.

“This is about righting a wrong that was done to small business when Walls Street took Main Street down and cut off access to capital. This is about restoring what we believe, in America, makes our economy great - entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs who can get access to capital.”

Earlier in the day, the Senate voted down two separate amendments to the bill that would have reformed a controversial tax reporting provision in the healthcare law passed this summer.