国际英语新闻：U.S. small business fund clears final legislative hurdle

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Congress on Thursday passed a long-delayed bill that the Obama administration proposed to help small businesses with easier credit and tax incentives to create jobs.

The 237-187 House vote has sent the bill to the president who is expected to sign it into law on Monday.

Last week, the Senate passed the measure which was proposed by Democrats earlier.

"The small business jobs bill passed today will help provide loans and cut taxes for millions of small business owners without adding a dime to our nation's deficit," Obama said in a statement after the House vote.

The bill will create a 30-billion-dollar federal fund to help smaller banks issue loans to small businesses and cut taxes by 12 billion dollars over the coming decade.

The Federal Reserve said in a recent report that although financial market is relatively stable, credit to small businesses remain tight.

The new loan fund would be available to community banks to encourage lending to small businesses. Supporters say banks should be able to use the fund to leverage up to 300 billion dollars in loans.