Paul Tonko: “Thank you for bringing us together this evening for this discussion on the small business agenda here in Washington.…”

“Thank you for bringing us together this evening for this discussion on the small business agenda here in Washington. Obviously, as has been stated so many times during this session of Congress, the number one priority is jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs. We cannot overemphasize the impact that job creation, job retention bears on the discussions that we have here in restoring this Nation's economy. And you make a very valid point in assessing the very deep loss of jobs that we experienced at the beginning of this administration. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 to 750,000 jobs lost per month in the last 3 or 4 months before the Obama administration began its work here in Washington. That was a tremendous loss to this Nation's economy. Millions upon millions, 7 to 8 million jobs lost during this recession. A very painful blow to the American economy and certainly to the American households across this Nation. And as we look forward to progress to inspire us, it is good to note that while it's not good enough, some 200,000 to 300,000 jobs lost in the last few months is a vastly improved outcome, a long way to go, but moving in the right direction. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enabled us to place down payments in small business production and creation and retention.”