Voting for Small Business Jobs; Enacting the Patient’s Bill of Rights
Voting for Small Business Jobs
After months of Senate Republican obstruction, the House passed the final version of the Small Business Jobs Act to expand much needed lending to millions of small businesses and offer tax incentives to help them grow, hire, and fuel our economy — which is fully paid for over 10 years and will not add to the deficit.
Congresswoman Pelosi celebrates the passage of the Small Business Jobs Act, which passed the House and is on its way to the President’s desk.
The most eloquent voices in this debate have been the small business owners themselves, who are still having difficulties obtaining the capital they need to keep their doors open and to grow. When I met with longstanding leader for San Francisco’s and California’s small businesses Scott Hauge, he told me: “All we are asking for is this: lend us the capital so that we can create the jobs. It’s what we do best.”
Small businesses in San Francisco and across the nation have waited for this bill for far too long. Through $12 billion in tax cuts and a $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund that will leverage up to $300 billion in private sector lending, this legislation will help small businesses create 500,000 new jobs.
For those currently looking for work, the Department of Labor has launched a helpful new Web portal to help job seekers match their current skills to new careers and find out what training is needed to transition from one job to another. This new online tool is called “mySkillsmyFuture” and can be accessed at https://www.myskillsmyfuture.org. Users will be able to view local job postings and locate training and education providers.
Enacting the Patient’s Bill of Rights
On Thursday – the six-month anniversary of the Affordable Care Act – the new Patient’s Bill of Rights took effect. These consumer protections will end the worst insurance company abuses and put you back in charge of your health care.
For Californians, this means:
- Up to 196,000 young adults may be able to stay on their parents’ plan until they turn 26
- Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime limits on the 18,883,000 residents of California with private health insurance coverage
- Insurance companies can no longer drop your coverage if you get sick – just when you need it most
- Your child cannot be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition
- If you join a new plan, insurance companies must provide free preventive care services
Please feel free to forward this information to your family and friends. To learn more about these efforts, to express your views, or to sign up for email updates, please visit my Web site. I am now on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi.