WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. House, in a relatively rare show of bipartisanship, approved a bill Thursday to give small businesses more flexibility in raising capital.
The House approved the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act on a vote of 390-23, with all the no votes cast by Democrats, The Hill reported.
The bill essentially tweaks Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. It allows small businesses to solicit funds over the Internet and increases the level of funds they are allowed to raise before having to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The threshold would be increased ten-fold, from $5 million to $50 million.
In addition, the bill increases the number of shareholders allowed before SEC registration is required -- doubling it from the current threshold of 500 to 1,000. For community banks, the bill raises the threshold to 2,000 shareholders.
Rep. Patrick, McHenry, R-N.C., said Republicans were moving toward a political strategy of passing smaller, rather than larger bills, given the difficulty of finding bipartisan agreements in the capital.
"We're taking pieces at a time. One thing I've found inside this place is that big bills just collapse," The Washington Post quoted McHenry as saying.
"So let's just focus on small business, that's the core of job creation," he said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, D-Nev., said he would "move as quickly as we can" to usher a similar bill through the Senate.
The White House described President Barack Obama as "encouraged," that both parties "had found common ground between his approach and some of the proposals."
