American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Passes Senate

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Passes Senate
Includes $250 Million for CDFI Fund!

Just a few minutes ago in a vote of 61-37, the United States Senate passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which will provide $250 million for the CDFI Fund. The House version of the legislation does NOT include the CDFI Fund. To see a side-by-side of the two bills, go to:

http://www.opportunityfinance.net/public/files/House%20Senate%20Side%20by%20Side.pdf

The Senate’s compromise bill was authored by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ben Nelson (D-NE). Senators Collins, Snowe (R-ME), and Specter (R-PA) were the only Republicans who voted last night (61-36) to move the bill forward to allow for today’s vote. These same Senators provided the only Republican votes on final passage today.

The bill now goes to conference with Members of both the House and Senate negotiating differences between the two versions of the bill. Negotiations over a final conference report are expected to be very delicate as the final bill will need bi-partisan support in the Senate to obtain the 60 votes needed for passage. While it is possible that passage could be delayed, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has stated that he thought the bill could be passed by the end of the week.

We expect the House to vote on the conference report as soon as this Thursday and the Senate to take up the bill on Friday. Because of the speed in the process, negotiations have already begun to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate. The House is expected to appoint conferees today at 4:30 and the Senate has appointed the following conferees:
• Senator Inouye (D-HI)
• Senator Baucus (D-MT)
• Senator Reid (D-NV)
• Senator Grassley (R-IA)
• Senator Cochran (R-MS)

IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!
Sign-On Letter Request

If we are to be successful in keeping funding for the programs that are important to us, we must move quickly! Here is a sign-on letter that OFN would like to send to conferees tomorrow. I know time is short, but we need ALL OF YOU to support this effort.
http://www.opportunityfinance.net/public/files/Sign-On%20Letter%20Conferees%202-11-09.doc


The letter encourages Congress to include:
• CDFI Fund: $250 million for the financial assistance and technical assistance programs.
• SBA Microloan Program: $24 million for technical assistance and $6 million in direct lending authority.
• NMTC: $3 billion plus additional credit authority, AMT relief, and to ensure the NMTC is not disadvantaged in the investor marketplace.

To add your organization to the list of supporters, just hit reply to this email and type YES. I need your commitment by 10:00 AM (Eastern Time) on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 (TOMORROW!) so we can present the letter to Congressional leadership by mid afternoon.

I know that many of you have contacts with Members of Congress and their staff. Now is the time to call them. For contact information for your federally elected officials, please go to OFN’s policy action center at:

http://capwiz.com/oppfin/home/