President Barack Obama has a proposal to raise the maximum loan size for SBA-backed loans to small business. SBA Administrator Karen Mills made this statement:
"America's 29 million small businesses have been hard hit in this recession. Nine months ago, President Obama sent small businesses a life line: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since then, the SBA has supported more than 33,000 loans for a total of almost $13 billion in small business lending. This has helped save or create tens of thousands of jobs."
"But there is much more work to be done, which is why President Obama today pledged his support for legislation that would increase the maximum size of some SBA loans. Increasing maximum loan sizes will allow the SBA to ensure that more small business owners and entrepreneurs can get access to the credit they need to expand their operations and create jobs."
"The President also announced additional support from the Treasury Department for smaller community lenders that are committed to increasing their lending to small businesses. Secretary Geithner and I will host a conference on small business lending with Members of Congress, regulators, lenders and the small business community. The conference will discuss additional efforts that can be taken to provide small businesses with access to credit. These steps, coupled with SBA's ongoing efforts, will help small businesses grow and create jobs throughout America."
Specifically, President Obama called for:
A copy of the President's remarks can be found here [1].
A fact sheet on the proposal can be found here [2].
Links:
[1] http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_rcvry_obama_evnt_remrks09.pdf
[2] http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_rcvry_new_effort_credit_sb.pdf