New law has sped loans to more than 5,000 U.S. small businesses -- Obama

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (KUNA) -- With the U.S. midterm elections only four days away -- and the top issue being jobs and the economy -- President Barack Obama on Friday touted the month-old Small Business Jobs Act, which has supported nearly 3 billion dollars in new loans to more than 5,000 small businesses in America.
In remarks after touring Stromberg Metal Works in nearby Beltsville, Maryland, the President said he expects the legislation he signed into law to help support tens of billions of dollars in loans to U.S. entrepreneurs so they can expand and hire new workers.
The initiative also accelerated 55 billion dollars in new tax relief for businesses that make job-creating investments over the next year, including by extending a provision in the Recovery Act called business expensing, or bonus depreciation, Obama said.
"What I want to do to accelerate this recovery is to allow businesses of all sizes to immediately deduct the entire cost of these investments -- 100 percent -- all next year, through the end of 2011," he said. Business owners who decide to upgrade their plants and equipment would be able to write off immediately that depreciation in one year, "and that means that they are going to have additional money to invest in workers and in other plants and equipment," he added.
Under the proposal, a business such as Stromberg would be able to deduct 1 million dollars next year, Obama said.
"That accelerates hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax cuts -- real money that business can use to expand or hire new workers," he said.
A new report from the U.S. Treasury Department estimated that the plan will accelerate 150 billion dollars in tax cuts for 2 million businesses, large and small, around the country, the President noted.
"It would temporarily lower the average cost of investment by more than 75 percent for companies like Stromberg, creating a powerful new incentive for businesses to invest more right now -- perhaps about 50 billion dollars -- which will generate more jobs and more growth," he said.
Looking beyond the elections on Tuesday, in which the Republican Party is expected to recapture the U.S. House of Representatives from the Democratic Party of Obama, the President said, "Political season is going to be over soon, and when it ends, all of us are going to have a responsibility, Democrats and Republicans, to work together wherever we can to promote jobs and growth". (end).
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