Patty Murray: “I talked about the drivers of our economy and job creation. But if small businesses are the driver of our economic…”

“I talked about the drivers of our economy and job creation. But if small businesses are the driver of our economic recovery, then our community banks are the engine. Right now we all know that engine is in neutral. That is because for far too long, our community banks have been ignored in our economic recovery. Since this recession began, we have seen banks fail one after another, lending dry up to our small businesses, and job growth suffer. While Wall Street institutions, such as AIG and Goldman Sachs, were deemed 'too big to fail,' the collapse of our community banks has apparently been 'too small to notice.' Last year, I introduced the Main Street Lending Restoration Act which would have directed $30 billion to help jump-start small business lending.”