NAM Supports Investing in America’s Small Manufacturers

While Congress provided extremely helpful tools to small manufacturers looking to purchase equipment of machinery when it approved a permanent, enhanced Section 179 expensing provision as well as 50 percent bonus depreciation in 2015, some manufacturers still face difficulties accessing credit needed for these and other business needs. With this in mind, Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Congressmen Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC) along with other members of Congress have introduced the Investing in America’s Small Manufacturers Act (S. 347/H.R. 1186) to expand the resources small manufacturers have at their disposal to access credit, expand and grow.

The Investing in America’s Small Manufacturers Act relies on programs and loans already provided by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and simply expands them to ensure manufacturers can benefit from these tools. Specifically, the bill increases the maximum 7(a) loan guarantee rate for manufacturers, reduces guarantee fees on these loans, removes the disparity between the costs that “startup” companies must pay on financing a 504 program loan compared to other longstanding companies and directs the SBA to use existing resources to help small manufacturers access SBA financing resources.

In the long run, commonsense bills like this one, coupled with key National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) priorities like comprehensive pro-growth tax reform, will make manufacturing in the United States stronger for generations to come.

The NAM supports the Investing in America’s Small Manufacturers Act and applauds Sens. Coons and Gardner and Reps. Ryan and McHenry and all the bill’s cosponsors for doing their part to help our small manufacturers compete and grow in the 21st-century economy.