Letter from Lungren re:the Jobs Act

Here it is: the jobs bill that the President asked for in his recent State of the Union address.  Promising to sign such a bill, the President asked that Congress send him a jobs bill that helps small businesses and entrepreneurs succeed.  Our bipartisan JOBS Act - Jumpstart our Business Startups Act - does exactly that.
Small businesses account for 66 percent of new jobs.¹  And in our own area, 87.6 percent of businesses employ fewer than 20 people.²  In recognition of the fact that any sustainable and robust economic recovery will mean a reinvigoration of our small businesses and entrepreneurs, our JOBS Act is targeted to increase capital formation, spur the growth of startups and small businesses, and pave the way for more small scale businesses to go public and create more jobs.

The JOBS Act reduce the regulatory costs of going public so that smaller companies can go public sooner; allow small companies to advertise or solicit investors to obtain capital; allow entrepreneurs to raise equity capital from a large pool of small investors, i.e. crowdfunding; remove barriers to capital formation for small companies by modernizing shareholder thresholds adopted in 1964; strengthen community banks to make more loans.

Enacting the JOBS Act will require more than the President's promise of a signature.  We need to partner with the Senate in order to see the JOBS Act to completion.  Therefore, the targeted policies in our bill to promote small businesses and startups have been voted on before and have received wide bipartisan support. 

Access to Capital for Job Creators (H.R. 2940)	Approved by House 413-11
Entrepreneur Access to Capital (H.R. 2930)	Approved by House 407-17
Small Company Capital Formation (H.R. 1070)	Approved by House 421-1
Private Company Flexibility and Growth (H.R. 2167)	Approved by Committee by voice vote

The House is scheduled to vote on the JOBS Act this week, putting into action what the President requested about a month ago.  I hope that the House and Senate will soon send these important initiatives to the President for his signature so that our entrepreneurs and small businesses can get to work.


Sincerely,

Daniel E. Lungren
Member of Congress