Political Quotes

“I am pleased to join the Senator from Louisiana in introducing the Small Business Disaster Recovery Act. The purpose of this bill is to streamline certain burdensome procedures for small businesses that are affected by a Presidentially declared disaster. This bill would complement provisions adopted by this body and enacted into law earlier this year that the Senator from Louisiana and I sponsored to improve FEMA procedures. Like the bill we are introducing today, we derived these provisions from our States' experiences with Hurricane Katrina. They will not cost anything, but they will improve government services at times when they are most critical. Through two budget-neutral provisions, this bill continues to improve the way we respond and recover from disasters using the lessons that we have learned from past disasters. Current practice dictates that small business owners can only use their homes as collateral for a post- disaster loan. The legislation's first provision clarifies that the collateral requirement for SBA disaster loans can include business assets of actual value other than a primary residence. This removes a key obstacle to small business owners who want to restart operations after a disaster but are unable or unwilling to use their homes when they could conceivably provide sufficient business assets as collateral for the loan.…”