SBA Extensions

Floor Speech

Mr. LARSEN of Washington. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation to extend the important programs of the Small Business Administration.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, having created 65 percent of all new jobs in the last decade. However, over the course of the last 18 months, small business owners have had trouble accessing the capital they need to grow their business and to create jobs. The SBA's lending programs are a critical piece of helping small businesses access this credit and create jobs, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Now, according to the Northwest Business Development Agency in Washington State, for every $1 lent under the SBA 504 program, $94 is generated in tax revenue for our communities. Congress has made important steps to encourage increased lending for small businesses, including allowing SBA 504 loans to be used for debt relief, reducing fees in the SBA's 7(a) and 504 loan guaranty programs, and increasing the maximum percentage of the loan guaranty for 7(a) loans to 90 percent.

And credit is starting to move. In my district alone, between October 2009 and the end of February 2010, 58 SBA 7(a) loans worth nearly $18 million and 15 504 loans worth nearly $6 million were provided to small businesses in the Second Congressional District of Washington State, allowing them to expand and to modernize. However, at the end of this month, authorization for these important SBA programs will expire.

As Congress stays laser-focused on creating jobs, extending these important programs and ensuring small businesses can access credit is critical. So I strongly urge a ``yes'' vote on this bill.

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