On the recordJuly 22, 2010
I applaud the Senator from Louisiana for putting forward this amendment with the Senator from Florida. I think banks would be interested in lending this money. I think small local, community banks know their client base, know their customers. They are the ones to which these funds are going to be made available. It is not going to be the big banks. This is going to go to banks with $10 billion assets or less. There is nothing forcing these banks to take this money. I highly recommend we move forward with this bill. I echo so much what Senator Landrieu has been talking about on the floor today. The small business lending fund is an absolutely critical component of the small business package we are moving through the Senate. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and, in particular, in the State of North Carolina. In fact, small businesses represent over 98 percent of the State's employers in North Carolina and close to 50 percent of the private sector jobs. Having spent the last year and a half meeting with small business owners all across North Carolina, I have seen firsthand the power of their determination and innovation. I know that the small businesses will be the catalyst that we need right now for our economic recovery. In North Carolina, we have over 455,000 people unemployed--455,000. We need to be doing all we can in Congress to help this recovery.
