“I mean, somebody made a mistake on this, and it should’ve gone through a committee.” – Quote by U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, Chair, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on the JOBS Act, H.R. 3606, – the bill that includes key capital formation provisions supported by SBE Council. (Read the quote in its context here.)
So, Chairwoman Landrieu has become the biggest opponent of H.R. 3606, the JOBS Act. She claims the White House made a mistake in supporting it. As did 407 members of the U.S. House of Representatives when they first voted "yes" for H.R. 2930, the "Entrepreneurs Access to Capital Act" (the crowdfunding bill), and a second time 390 members for the JOBS Act, H.R. 3606, which includes H.R. 2930 as well as several other capital formation bills strongly supported by SBE Council.
There is no reason why the Senate Small Business Committee couldn’t have held hearings on the current crowdfunding space, how it works, why fraud is nonexistent, etc. so she could better understand this marketplace. Crowdfunding has been one of the hottest issues of discussion among entrepreneurs for several years, yet seemingly no interest from a Committee that is supposed to be keeping up with issues of importance to small business. In fact, the Committee has held only two hearings this year in total (one on March 20), according to the hearing schedule posted on its website.
The various provisions of H.R. 3606 were properly vetted in the U.S. House where, again, it received wide bipartisanship support -- TWICE. Chairman Landrieu needs to get out of the beltway bubble to understand the modern entrepreneurial marketplace and the innovation that is taking place to better serve the needs of America's small businesses. Unfortunately, she is standing in the way of entrepreneurs and small business owners who desperately need capital to startup and grow their businesses.
Karen Kerrigan, President & CEO, SBE Council
