Senate Republicans united in blocking a vote on legislation to provide tax breaks to small businesses along with a $30 billion lending fund.

Olympia Snowe

The legislation aims to encourage investment in small businesses by allowing investors to exclude 100 percent of the gains from the sale of certain small business stock from their income for tax purposes if the stock is held for more than five years, and allowing small businesses to carry back general business tax credits to offset their tax burdens from the previous five years.

The two parties took turns in finger-pointing Thursday. Republicans blamed Democratic leaders for preventing them from offering amendments to the Small Business Jobs Act.

“We could have been finished with this bill by now if you’d given the minority the right to offer a few amendments,” she said.

Democrats countered that they had permitted Republicans to offer three amendments, and some of their proposals had been included in the legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate would try to take up the legislation next week after a “cool-down” period this weekend. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., wants to be able to offer at least four amendments to the legislation.

However, the House is set to leave for the August recess on Friday, meaning the legislation will likely not be able to pass until mid-September. The House passed an earlier version of the bill in June, but it would still need to approve the Senate’s modified version, assuming it passes when Congress returns from recess.

The Senate may be forced to drop the $30 billion lending fund, which was aimed at helping community banks provide loans to small businesses. However, it has been criticized by some conservatives as a miniature version of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.