Senate returns to small business bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday said his chamber would return to the small business jobs bill that creates a $30 billion lending pool and provides approximately $12 billion in tax relief.

Reid said he filled the so-called tree on the bill to narrow the scope of amendments that will be offered because it was an election year.

"We're in a difficult situation here," he said on the floor. "It's a tax bill. And you can go back and look for many Congresses in the past, whenever we got close to an election and there's a tax bill on the floor you have to be very careful about how the amendment process works," he said. "I hope that we can move forward in good faith, here, and have amendments offered by each side."