Political Quotes

“Madam President, I am pleased to be on the floor this afternoon to join the Senator from Louisiana, who has been such a champion for small business in America, to join my colleagues from the State of Washington who were here earlier, to support the proposal that is before to address an issue that I have been hearing about in New Hampshire for months now. This is something that all Senators have been hearing about in their home States for the last 18 months if they are willing to be honest about it. That issue is that creditworthy businesses, small businesses are frustrated because they cannot access the capital they need to expand their businesses and hire new workers. Wherever I go in New Hampshire, small businesses tell me they are having trouble accessing the credit they need to either stay afloat or to expand their businesses. While the community banks have increased their lending in New Hampshire, they can only do so much. As my colleagues have outlined so eloquently, they have been affected by the financial crisis that struck this country. We have an opportunity to address this issue with the Landrieu-LeMieux amendment that will create a Small Business Lending Fund to put capital into the hands of small businesses. This $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund will help our community banks put over $300 billion of capital into the real drivers of our economic recovery and give to the small businesses that will make that happen.…”