Initial Small Biz Moves in the Senate
Jan 12th, 2009 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: Politics & PolicyIt seems these days that Congress, having been sworn in last week, has a bet with itself to see how much can be accomplished before January 20th. Over in the Senate, for example, the scramble is on to hold as many confirmation hearings as possible. That’s only practical. Once he becomes unhyphenated President Barack Obama, it’ll be difficult for him to start playing pick-a-crisis without having his Cabinet in place. As of the close of business last Friday, however, one confirmation hearing that had yet to be scheduled was for SBA Administrator Karen Mills before the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
That’s not to say that small businesses have been abandoned already. Within the first 200 pieces of legislation introduced on the Senate floor last Tuesday was the very first small business bill originating in the Senate during the 111th Congress. The bill extends the current $250,000 Section 179 expensing cap and establishes a 5-year carryback on net operating losses, both of which will be of limited use to microbusinesses. However, in case this looks distressingly like business-as-usual, it is worth nothing that Chairwoman Mary Landrieu has asked for stimulus provision suggestions from among her contacts in the microenterprise development community. The suggestions she gets may or may not make it into law but at least she asked. That’s encouraging.
