Sheila Jackson Lee: “I want to support the underlying bill as well and to make note of the fact that small businesses are now facing the most…”

“I want to support the underlying bill as well and to make note of the fact that small businesses are now facing the most difficult time in the worst recession in our history. According to a February 2010 report of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, total bank loans and leases declined for the sixth straight quarter, with total loans to commercial and industrial borrowers declining by 4.3 percent and real estate construction development loans declining by 8.4 percent. What that means is that small businesses are taking the strongest hit. This bill will focus, in particular, on the question of providing a lending scheme, a lending structure, which is paid for to provide the start-up credit for our small businesses. Well, here we find ourselves addressing an enormous crisis that has occurred in the gulf. During the Memorial Day recess, I did a flyover of the gulf and of the Deepwater Horizon, and I saw the magnitude and the growth of this disaster.”