Durbin Meets With Head of Small Business Administration, Steven Preston of Downers Grove

Press Release

Durbin Meets With Head of Small Business Administration, Steven Preston of Downers Grove

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Steven Preston, Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and former Executive Vice President of Service-Master, in Downers Grove, IL. As Chairman of the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government which oversees funding for the SBA, Durbin asked for today's meeting to discuss several issues including the important role of Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) in job creation and how SBA can improve loans for small business entrepreneurs.

"In 2007, the 40 Small Business Development Centers in Illinois supported 544 business starts and expansions responsible for over 13,000 jobs," said Durbin. "Every one dollar supporting this program enables small businesses to access nearly eighteen dollars in new capital. Today, I stressed to Mr. Preston that programs with such a high return on our federal investment should be promoted and funded in the federal budget instead of placing the burden on those looking for financial assistance."

In the budget presented to Congress in January, the President proposed cutting funding for SBDCs by $10 million. Federal funding for SBDCs attracts matching funds from state and local governments, the private sector universities and other entities. In 2007, Illinois' 40 SBDCs were able to secure over $130 million in financing. The SBDC association reports that an SBDC client creates a new job every 8 minutes.

Durbin and Preston also discussed the proposed increase in fees charged to borrowers under SBA's Microloan program and the proposed elimination of $15 million in funding for technical assistance to Microloan borrowers. This program provides small loans to new or growing businesses by funneling investment capital through nonprofit community-based lenders.

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