On the recordJuly 22, 2010
I thank the Senator, the chair of the Small Business Committee, for her leadership and her passion. I could not agree more. We have to focus on jobs. When you support small business, both the underlying bill and the changes, in terms of tax cuts for small business, as well as this provision, this is a great opportunity for us to support small businesses in this country, where the majority of jobs are created. Every time I go home, as the Senator from Florida mentioned, I am approached by small businesses that cannot get capital and cannot get the loans they need or get their line of credit extended. This is absolutely critical for us. In addition, I thank Senators Klobuchar and LeMieux for their export promotion piece, which is equally important. When we look at opportunities for small business and the opportunity to support their efforts to sell their products overseas in a global economy, this is also about creating jobs. I had the opportunity not long ago to be in Beijing, China, at the global auto leaders summit. I heard from people with the Foreign Commercial Service that they needed more assistance. If they had more staff, they would be able to support more businesses being able to sell into China. We want, in this global economy, to be exporting our products, not our jobs. So focusing on exports and supporting what the President has called for--doubling exports in the next 5 years--creates jobs as well.
