Van Hollen Joins President Obama At Small Business Announcement

Press Release

Van Hollen Joins President Obama At Small Business Announcement

Today Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) joined President Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Small Business Administrator Karen Mills, Members of the Maryland Delegation, Governor Martin O'Malley, County Executive Jack Johnson, and Hyattsville Mayor William Gardner at Metropolitan Archives in Largo, M.D. to discuss the work Congress and the Obama Administration have done to expand credit access to small businesses and help support job creation, and announce new measures as part of this effort.

"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and our comprehensive economic recovery plan is designed to ensure they are able to weather these difficult economic times," said Van Hollen. "The steps announced today will build on our existing efforts to help America's entrepreneurs access the capital they need to help create jobs."

BACKGROUND

The 111th Congress has already taken a variety of actions to strengthen small businesses, including:

* Passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act
* Increasing Access to Capital for Small Businesses
* Extending the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program
* Providing funding for the Small Business Administration for FY 2010
* Working to enact health care reform that will help small businesses

The Administration has also taken several important steps to get credit flowing again to small businesses and to encourage job growth. Today's announcement will continue help small businesses by:

1. Taking Further Steps to Provide Small Businesses With Access to Credit By Supporting Community Bank Lending Through the Financial Stability Plan

* Improving access to credit for small businesses by providing lower-cost capital to community banks that submit a plan to increase small business lending
* Supporting small business lending in the hardest-hit rural and urban communities by making low-cost capital available to Community Development Financial Institutions

2. Seeking Legislation To Increase Maximum SBA Loan Sizes -- Allowing More Businesses To Access The Credit They Need To Expand And Create New Jobs

* Raising lending limits on SBA's 7(a) and 504 programs:
o From $2 million to $5 million
o Up to $5.5 million for manufacturing companies under the 504 program
* Raising lending limits on the Microloan program from $35,000 to $50,000

3. Convening a Treasury-SBA Small Business Lending Conference to Work With Regulators, Lenders and Congress to Ensure Credit Is Available to Small Business

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