Small Business Coalition Letter

On March 14, 2012, NAR signed onto two coalition letters, urging Senate Majority Leader Reid and Republican Leader McConnell to expand the Senate jobs legislation to include provisions aimed to enhance the flow of credit to the small business and commercial real estate sectors.

In this letter, NAR urged Senate leadership to also include S. 509, the “Small Business Lending Enhancement Act,” introduced by Sens. Udall (D-CO) and Snowe (R-ME), as a separate amendment in the Senate jobs legislation.  S. 509 will increase the cap on credit union member business lending (MBL) from 12.25% to 27.5% for well-capitalized credit unions, allowing these community-based institutions to provide small businesses with much needed capital to remain competitive and refinance their properties in a safe and sound manner.

March 14, 2012


The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510


The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Republican Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510


Dear Majority Leader Reid and Republican Leader McConnell,
As organizations interested in sound public policy that encourages lending to small businesses, we are writing to encourage you to include the Udall-Snowe-Schumer Small Business Lending Enhancement Act (S. 509) as part of the jobs legislation the Senate will consider soon.


As the economy emerges from crisis, it is critically important that small businesses have the access to credit necessary to participate in the recovery. S. 509 will allow credit unions to provide more lending to small businesses, by increasing the statutory cap on credit union business lending. If this legislation were law, it has been estimated that credit unions could lend an additional $13 billion to small businesses, helping them to create over 140,000 new jobs.


Credit unions have been successfully lending to small business for over 100 years and continued uninterrupted small businesses lending during the financial crisis. Since the statutory cap was established in 1998, approximately 500 credit unions are currently being forced to reduce much needed lending to small businesses. During these tough economic times, businesses of all sizes are starved for capital, credit unions are ready to extend the needed helping hand, but those hands remained tied due to the stifling effect of the low cap.


Senators Udall, Snowe and Schumer have proposed commonsense legislation that provides for a increase in the statutory cap (from 12.25% of total assets to 27.5%) while providing significant safeguards which will ensure that all credit union loans will be made in a safe and sound manner. The bipartisan legislation will only affect those credit unions which are well capitalized, have a history of business lending and have been at 80% of their cap for the last year. Even then, the legislation imposes portfolio cap limits on these credit unions business lending of 30% per year.


The Small Business Lending Enhancement Act enjoys bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate and it is precisely the type of legislation that Congress should enact to encourage greater business lending in communities across the country. We strongly encourage you to include this legislation in the Senate jobs bill.


Sincerely,



Credit Union National Association National Council of Textile Organizations
American Small Business Chamber of Commerce National Farmers Union
National Association of Realtors Realtors Land Institute
Small Business Majority Society of Industrial and Office Realtors
CCIM Institute Americans for Tax Reform
American Consumer Institute National Association of Home Builders
Institute of Real Estate Management NCB Capital Impact
MultiFunding U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce
National Association of Professional Insurance Agents Hardwood Federation
AMT - The Association for Manufacturing Technology
Heartland Institute