During his sixteen years serving in the United States Senate, Senator Kerry has come a long way for America's small business owner. Currently serving as Chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Kerry's leadership has provided millions of small business owners with the resources necessary to start-up and maintain a successful small business in America.

The Combined 8(a) Business Development and HUBZone Priority-Preference Act
Introduced in the Senate on March 6, 2002, The Combined 8(a) Business
Development and HUBZone Priority-Preference Act aims to continue to create a government that allows all of our citizens to live up to their maximum potential by creating an environment where the true entrepreneurial spirit of our country can flourish. This legislation will immediately put more money into the hands of minority-owned small businesses by raising the sole-source threshold by $1 million for minority, sole-source federal contracts.

Bridge Act
Introduced in the Senate by Senator Kerry on January 27th, 2002, the BRIDGE act is bi-partisan legislation aiding emerging growth businesses. The legislation comes in response to the tightening of credit by banks and a slumping economy taking its toll on the emerging small business community. If enacted, the BRIDGE Act will allow rapidly growing small businesses to elect to defer up to $250,000 in federal taxes for two years to allow the business to reinvest, expand and continue to create new jobs.

The American Small Business Emergency Relief and Recovery Act
The American Small Business Emergency Relief and Recovery Act of 2001
Introduced on October 4th, the purpose of the Kerry-Bond emergency legislation is to help small businesses meet their payments on existing debts, finance their businesses, and maintain jobs in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11th by strengthening and expanding access to the Small Business Administration's loan programs and management counseling.
To help turn the economy around, this bill includes changes to two of SBA's main non_disaster lending programs in order to encourage borrowing and lending for new and expanding small businesses that may otherwise be reluctant to start or expand their businesses in the post_September 11th economy. Finally, this bill includes provisions to aid our Federal contractors facing increased costs when trying to access Federal facilities to work on existing contracts.

Small Business Technology Transfer Program
First passed by Congress in 1992, the highly successful STTR program is funded by government agencies that have annual extramural Research and Development budget in excess of $1 billion. Each agency currently sets aside .15 percent for STTR competitive awards and contracts - about $65 million per year. Five agencies participate: Defense, Energy, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health. Reauthorization of the program extends it through September 30, 2010, and gradually increases funding to .5 percent, approximately $150 million by 2007. Senator Kerry was responsible for the reauthorization of the program in 2001, as well as increasing the funding to small businesses by $150 million.