- Posted February 02, 2012
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Obama wants small business bill this year
By Jim Kuhnhenn
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to act quickly on bipartisan measures that would extend tax breaks for small businesses and help startup companies raise money. He said he would sign the legislation "right away."
Obama plans to include in his 2013 budget proposal later this month a series of business measures that have been percolating in Congress or that already have passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to give entrepreneurs incentives to expand their businesses or start new ones.
Obama made his remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. He noted that for the first time, the head of the Small Business Administration, Karen Mills, was participating as a full member of the Cabinet. He said her presence symbolized his administration's determination to spur entrepreneurship and help startup companies.
The Obama administration also is seeking several major new tax breaks for small businesses that add jobs or increase wages in 2012.
With the presidential election set to become the main political preoccupation of 2012, the White House initiative is designed to take advantage of cooperative attempts by Republicans and Democrats to find modest remedies to spur the economy. Most of those efforts have been overshadowed by congressional bickering, the Republican presidential primary and Obama's growing attention to his re-election.
The measures are modest by comparison to Obama's 2009 economic stimulus or to last year's jobs bill. But they borrow from past Obama initiatives and from bipartisan legislation that has passed or been proposed in Congress.
White House officials would not disclose the total cost of the president's package, but financial adviser Gene Sperling said it would be more than covered by proposals to reduce tax expenditures and by closed loopholes the administration will request in its 2013 budget.
Published: Thu, Feb 2, 2012
headlines Oakland County
- Midnight Masquerade at Community House
- New online government transparency tool launches
- Oakland County CFO named
- Biosolids Conference features wastewater management innovations in Oakland County
- Connections Event connects suppliers with buyers in local governments, schools, universities, and businesses
headlines National
- 50 Years of Service: ABA has been a ‘stalwart ally’ for LSC funding
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Biden recalls time he bluffed knowledge of torts case and why he changed his mind about civil-trial work
- Lawyers’ ‘barrage of personal attacks’ on opponents started with tissue-box toss, appeals court says
- Longtime prosecutor resigns after judge tosses him from case, citing Perry Mason-type revelations
- 24% of law students expect to work in public service, survey says