Al Franken: “I went all around the State of Minnesota during this recess. I had 118 meetings. Many of them were economic development…”

“I went all around the State of Minnesota during this recess. I had 118 meetings. Many of them were economic development meetings all around the State. Over and over and over I heard from small businesses that they can't get access to capital, and I heard from commercial bankers that they can't lend capital because their regulators are saying: Well, we are going to have to write that all off. Small businesses want this. This is not toxic asset relief, as TARP was. This is small business lending. Small businesses create 70 percent of new jobs, and this is something that Minnesota's small businesses want and the Small Business Administration in Minnesota wants.”