Joe Baca: “I rise in support of American small businesses and the 7(a) loan program. President Bush has stood by while a record 2.9…”

“I rise in support of American small businesses and the 7(a) loan program. President Bush has stood by while a record 2.9 million private sector jobs disappeared. The overall unemployment rate has stalled at 5.6 percent. It would be even higher if it included 1.7 million Americans who are no longer searching for employment. As a former small business owner, I know the benefits they provide to our economy. Small businesses generate three-fourths of all new jobs. They represent 99 percent of all employers and create more than half of our GDP. If we want our economy to grow, we need to support small businesses. But that's not what the Administration has done. At every step they have cut programs and decreased funds. The Administration's FY2005 budget devastates small businesses. 22 programs will be terminated and 14 will see their budgets cut. The microloan program, which provides small businesses with loans of up to $35,000, will be terminated, while the Manufacturing Extension Program, which helps small manufacturers solve business problems, has been cut by $66 million over the last two years. The 7(a) loan program has been repeatedly cut and dismantled. They've done everything they could think of in order to kill it. They reorganized it. They closed it down. They capped the loans. If the 7(a) program is shut down or the amount of loans is capped, then small businesses will suffer. They will not have access to affordable capital.”