The JOBS Act made a lot of news last week and continues to make news this week as the Senate mulls over what to do with the Act and how to deal with it.
Last week, the main news on the JOBS Act was how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was using it as a way to get 17 judicial nominees passed through that Republicans initially refused. In fact, Reid made comments that led many to believe that he didn’t mind holding up the passing of the JOBS Act at all. Since Republicans in the Senate held back 17 judicial nominees favorable to Democrats, Reid threatened to hold up the passing of the JOBS Act until these nominees are passed.
However, as the JOBS Act sat in the Senate waiting to be dealt with, many people began to find issues in the Act and have spoken out about the issues it may present for investors. According to many, the release of certain regulations through the JOBS Act placed on small businesses could leave investors open to harm and vulnerable to being taken advantage of. In fact, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mary L. Schapiro was quoted saying, “too often, investors are the target of fraudulent schemes disguised as investment opportunities. As you know, if the balance is tipped to the point where investors are not confident that there are appropriate protections, investors will lose confidence in our markets, and capital formation will ultimately be made more difficult and expensive.”
It is her opinion, and the opinion of many others, that the eased regulations presented in the JOBS Act could allow for companies to deceive investors with misleading information. This, in turn, would cause investors to be more cautious with their spending and thus harming the flow of capital. In response to this JOBS Act reaction, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is taking action and urging the Senate to leave the Act as is and believes that the Senate’s actions to add more safeguards for investors to the bill is holding it back and bogging it down.
Cantor was quoted in the Politico saying, “over the past week, [Senate Majority] Leader [Harry] Reid and Senate Democrats have worked overtime to find excuses not to pass the bipartisan JOBS Act despite support of 390 members in the House, the President, and job creators across the country.” According to the Politico, Senate Democrats want reauthorize the Export-Import Bank that is set to expire in May. The Export-Import Bank is set to help finance the sales of U.S. products overseas. By reauthorizing the agency, Democrats believe more jobs will be created. They also want to boost the agency’s lending cap from $100 billion to $140 billion.
Though it’s very unclear as to whether the Senate’s concerns with the bill are actual concerns or just phantom concerns aimed at slowing down the passing of the bill, the Act is being help up either way and the job market remains weak. With House members as well as Senate members taking weeks or months to approve small provisions or bills, it’s no wonder we have yet to make strong progress in the weak job market. According to Cantor, “Senate Democrats need to stop playing politics and act quickly to make sure this bipartisan job creation measure becomes law.”
It seems both sides need to stop playing politics and start getting to the meat of the problems we have here in our country. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Act today.
SOURCE: The Politico
IMAGE: Photo of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Courtesy of Elections Meter
Add comment