Quote:

---

Republicans holding American small businesses "hostage to politics" after Republican senators refused to back a $30 billion small-business lending package.

Senate Republicans blocked the package on Thursday. Democratic leaders failed on Thursday to muster the 60 votes needed to advance the measure over Republican objections. The vote was 58 to 42, with all 41 Republicans voting to continue the filibuster.

Even if the Senate passes the small business lending bill next week, it will be too late to get it to Obama's desk before mid-September. The House of Representatives, which passed its version of the bill in June, is set to begin a six-week break on Friday. The House will be unable to vote on the version passed by the Senate until then.

The fund would be available to community banks with less than $10 billion in assets to help them increase lending to small businesses. The bill would combine the fund with about $12 billion in tax breaks aimed at small businesses.
Democrats say banks should be able to use the lending fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans, helping to loosen tight credit markets. Some Republicans, however, likened it to the unpopular bailout of the financial industry.

---

Quote:

---

On Monday the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) started mailing postcards to over four million small businesses and tax-exempt organizations to make them aware of tax credits available under the health reform law. The tax credit, one of the first provisions of health reform to go into effect, is designed to help small businesses afford to offer health insurance coverage for the first time or maintain the coverage they already provide.

Meanwhile, Republicans continue to insist that scrapping health reform is their number one priority – stripping away these tax credits and placing the burden of skyrocketing health costs squarely on the shoulders of small business owners. Democratic Members of the Ways and Means Committee are calling on Republicans to stop putting political ambitions ahead of hard working families and businesses

---

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off