After a bit of wrangling and amending, the Senate did something out of the ordinary today: passing one of the House’s economic measures.
The JOBS Act, a package of bills that was the handiwork of House majority leader Eric Cantor, will make it easier for start-ups to access capital markets before going public. It was mildly controversial because it chipped away, ever so slightly, at the restrictions placed on new and growing businesses by the Saxbanes-Oxley Act and the more recent Dodd-Frank (which prompted the New York Times to splutter that the JOBS Act would allow a repeat of Enron, the dot-com bust and more…considering NYT columnist Paul Krugman’s ties to the fallen Enron, perhaps they were just being overly-sensitive).
The biggest change the Senate made was on crowdfunding:
Under the Senate bill, entrepreneurs will be allowed to raise up to $1 million per year through approved crowdfunding portals. The amount investors will be able to spend will be capped based on their income, with some people only allowed to put in a maximum of $2,000.
Fair enough.
Cantor issued the following statement in the wake of the bill’s passage:
“Small businesses and startup companies are the lifeblood of innovation and economic growth in our country. The bipartisan JOBS Act will cut through Washington red tape and help these small businesses and startups grow, expand and create jobs right away. Today’s strong Senate vote combined with bipartisan support in the House, from the President, and the business community shows even in a divided Washington we can come together to get things done for our nation’s job creators. I intend to schedule a vote on the Senate-amended bill early next week so we can get this bipartisan jobs bill to the President’s desk for his signature without delay.”
Now that will be a welcome change.
