Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of my amendment No. 70 to H.R. 4664. In May of this year, the Small Business Administration implemented a final rule on affiliation and lending criteria that eliminated longstanding guardrails and prudent lending standards for its flagship 7(a) loan program. Chief among these changes is the SBA's decision to eliminate the prescriptive lending criteria that has allowed the program to function with integrity for decades. The 7(a) lending program offers government-backed loans to businesses that are guaranteed by the taxpayer up to 85 percent. By removing the prudent underwriting standards for all lenders in the program, the SBA has opened up the program to increased fraud and losses. These changes will add risk to the SBA's loan portfolio. If enough of these loans go bad, Congress will have to step in and bail out the program to keep it operational, meaning the weak underwriting standards implemented by this rule could lead to a significant loss of taxpayer dollars. Mr. Chairman, such added risk is unacceptable when taxpayers are on the hook. This year our country experienced the largest bank failures we have seen since the 2008 financial crisis. The SBA should not be moving forward with their plan to reduce underwriting standards in the 7(a) lending program during these uncertain economic times. This important amendment would undo the troubling underwriting changes made by the Biden administration.…”