S.Amdt. 4462

SA 4462. Mr. CARDIN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 4402 proposed by Mr. Reid (for Mr. Baucus (for himself, Ms. Landrieu, and Mr. Reid)) to the bill H.R. 5297, to create the Small Business Lending Fund Program to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to make capital investments in eligible institutions in order to increase the availability of credit for small businesses, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for small business job creation, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 200, between lines 2 and 3, insert the following:

SEC. 3114. PILOT PROGRAM FOR DIRECT LOANS TO SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.

(a) Definitions.--In this section--

(1) the terms “Administration” and “Administrator” mean the Small Business Administration and the Administrator thereof, respectively;

(2) the term “eligible small business concern” means a small business concern with fewer than 25 employees;

(3) the term “pilot program” means the pilot program established under subsection (b)(1);

(4) the term “region of the Administration” means the geographic area served by a regional office of the Administration established under section 4(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 633(a)); and

(5) the term “small business concern” has the meaning given that term under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).

(b) Loan Program Established.--

(1) In general.--The Administrator and the Secretary shall jointly establish a pilot program under which the Administrator and the Secretary, acting through the regional offices of the Administration, may make loans to eligible small business concerns.

(2) Locations for pilot program.--The Administrator and the Secretary--

(A) shall jointly select 6 States in which to make loans under the pilot program; and

(B) may not select more than 1 State in any region of the Administration under subparagraph (A).

(3) Start of pilot program.--The Administrator and the Secretary shall begin making loans under the pilot program not later than January 1, 2011.

(c) Terms and Conditions.--

(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), a loan under the pilot program shall have the same terms and conditions as, and may be used for any purpose authorized for, a guaranteed by the Administrator under section 7(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 636(a)), as amended by this Act.

(2) Maximum amount.--A loan under the pilot program may be in an amount not more than $1,000,000.

(d) Funding.--From the Fund, $500,000,000 shall be available to the Administrator and the Secretary, without further appropriation or fiscal year limitation, to carry out the pilot program.

(e) Termination.--The Administrator and the Secretary may not make a loan under the pilot program after December 31, 2013.