U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) have introduced The American Growth, Recovery, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Act.  The AGREE Act stems from areas of common agreement between the President’s jobs plan, recommendations from the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and plans put forward by both parties in Congress.

“From the White House to the halls of Congress, there’s a growing recognition that the best way to jump start job creation and ensure America’s long-term economic competitiveness is to improve the environment for entrepreneurs to start new firms and expand existing ones,” said Steve Case, CEO of Revolution LLC and a member of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness.  “I commend Senators Coons and Rubio for coming together to introduce the AGREE Act, an important step in the right direction for helping entrepreneurs create jobs and build significant companies here in the United States.”

If enacted, The AGREE Act would do the following:

*  Provide a three year extension of 100 percent bonus depreciation for the full cost of qualified investments such as equipment and property.
*  Provide a three year extension of Section 179 expensing levels for small businesses.
*  Provide a three year extension of eliminated taxes on certain small business stock.
*  Extend the Research & Development tax credit until 2013, increase the Alternative Simplified Credit (ASC) from 14 percent to 20 percent, and makes the ASC permanent.
Establish an enhanced research credit for domestic manufacturers to encourage job creation at home.
*  Provide veterans with a tax credit equal to 25% of the fee associated with starting a franchise up to $100,000.
*  Provide a five-year exemption from Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley for the first five years of a company going public, or for those below $250 million in total gross revenue (whichever comes first).
*  Eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for employment-based immigrant visas and adjusts the limitations on family based visa petitions from 7% per country to 15%.
*  Protect intellectual property by clarifying the Trade Secrets Act, and making it explicitly clear that it is not a crime for federal officials, in the performance of their duties, to share information about suspected infringing products with the right holder of a trademarked good.