Political Quotes

“I rise to support passage of H.R. 4062, a bill that provides needed improvements to the Small Business Administration's largest business loan program, the ``Section 7(a)'' program, at no additional cost to the Government. The SBA's 7(a) loan program has proven that a small amount of government backing can greatly enhance private-sector financing for small businesses, and that the economic benefits reverberate throughout the economy at large. Small businesses create almost 75 percent of the net new jobs in the economy. The 7(a) program harnesses this power and has helped small businesses to create or retain nearly 2 million more jobs in the last five years. The program is so popular among small businesses that demand for program funds in the first few months of fiscal year 2004 suggests that requests for the entire year would far out-pace its available budget. As a result, in January 2004, the SBA shut the program down, and then re-opened it with a loan cap of $750,000--only 37.5 percent of the $2 million maximum previously available. Faced with these restrictions, small businesses have urged Congress and the administration to improve funding opportunities for the rest of 2004.”