Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I will speak to the bill we are considering. I rise today because I know we need to throw a lifeline to small businesses by increasing their access to credit. They have bills to pay, payroll checks to issue, and accounts payable mounting as they try to drive economic development. I supported the $30 billion lending increase this past week--I think the Presiding Officer did as well-- because we know we have to do all we can to get small business cranked up in our country. I supported it with the understanding that if we were going to finance $30 billion from the banking sector, the very least we could do as well would be to increase lending without costing taxpayers a dime. I wish to speak specifically to a piece of legislation I introduced, and I introduced it in amendment format as well, with bipartisan support. This amendment would get government out of the way so that credit unions could increase their small business loan portfolios. Right now, credit unions are making small business loans, but there is an arbitrary cap on the size and how many loans they can actually issue. In every single State--in Illinois, Colorado, California, and North Carolina--there are credit unions that have money and are ready to responsibly lend more money, but the Federal Government is standing in the way. I, for one, am not ready to say to all businesses that they have to close their doors because of a Federal cap on loans.…”