Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, on Tuesday, I came to the floor to voice my support for this bill by telling the stories of small business owners in every corner of my State who have struggled so hard to get credit since this recession began.

I talked about people who were driven by their passions, who want to grow their businesses, who want to hire, but who have been stymied by the lack of credit flowing from our banks.

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. That is why I have spoken with Secretary Geithner and President Obama about this directly and why I have been pushing so hard to make small business lending a priority.

I have felt very strongly that we have to focus more on our community banks if we want to make progress and bring true recovery to our Main Street businesses. It is why I am so proud to stand here today and support this bill. I thank Senator Landrieu and others for working with us in creating the Small Business Lending Fund and the State Small Business Credit Initiative.

This Small Business Lending Fund takes the most powerful idea from my Main Street Lending Restoration Act and sets aside $30 billion to help our local community banks--those that are under $10 billion in assets--to help them get the capital they need to begin lending to our small businesses again. It is going to reward the banks that are helping our small businesses grow by reducing the interest rates on capital that they get under this program, and it will help our small support business initiatives run by our States across the country that are struggling because of local budget cutbacks. And, as Senator Landrieu has told us, it will save taxpayers an estimated $1 billion.

It is a bill that should have broad support and, in fact, it does from small business groups of all stripes, community bankers, and so many others across this country who have found common cause with this bill.

Once again we are finding ourselves faced with opposition from the other side. Once again a commonsense bill that will save taxpayers money is being held hostage by political calculation. I think an editorial in yesterday's Seattle Times on this bill summed up some of the frustration in living rooms and communities across the country very well on the obstruction we see every day.

The editorial first noted the importance of this bill we are considering by saying:

Economic recovery is all about jobs. And American consumers, who help power the economy, are spending less in the shadow of a shaky employment market. Small banks lending to small businesses puts people to
work. Access to credit is key. Helping Main Street rekindles hiring, boosts consumer confidence in overall economic conditions, and fuels the recovery.

That is how the editorial started. It went on to say this is ``part of a larger package of legislation for small business and Main Street America that has attracted scant Republican interest or support.''

Then the editorial briefly, but very accurately, summarized what I think so many in our country are thinking when they return home from pounding the pavement, looking for work only to turn on their TV to see that a bill such as this is blocked from consideration. It said:

Nothing should be more nonpartisan than putting people back to work.

It is a line that speaks volumes in this Chamber because it is a line that truly represents how so many of our constituents feel. This is a nonpartisan bill. This is a bill that puts credit back into the hands of our small business owners. It puts people back to work. And nothing should be more nonpartisan than putting people back to work.

I urge all of our colleagues to listen to the voices of their constituents and small business owners. Support this cloture motion. Let's get this sent to the President.

Quickly, I do want to say that I worked very hard to include funding in this bill to help save over 130,000 teacher jobs. Again that effort has been blocked by Republican obstruction.

I remind all of us, every day we see more reports about the continuing wave of layoffs affecting our school districts. This is not just about school districts. It is about losing teachers, and it may be the only teacher who touches a child in their classroom. It is about kids in every one of our States. We need to be sure we do not lose focus of this issue.

I am going to continue to fight to ensure that our teachers return to the classrooms and our kids have the best instructors in September.

Again I thank Senator Landrieu for her tremendous work on this bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source