Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, this program has been a very successful program. It has been a successful program for the little guy--the small business. The pilot program has proved to be very successful and has been operating over three Presidential administrations. The program expands access to small business financing for underserved communities, including women, minorities, veterans, and people in low-income areas. Obviously, the lending community believes this is a program that works. The permanent program includes all 112 of the pilot's lenders who wanted to continue SBA lending, along with 31 new mission-driven lenders that were recently approved. Mr. Chairman, by blocking the SBA from continuing this program, the amendment would deny economic opportunities for communities and small businesses that need them the most. I have talked about, you are on your own. This is an area where small businesses need help. This is an area where apparently three administrations thought it was working. Now we are extending it. We hear that it is in the Congress' ambit. Of course it is. We could prohibit this, but the administration has made a judgment that it works. The lending community has made a judgment--apparently they are not losing money on it--that it works. Mr. Chairman, I strongly oppose this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Chu).”