Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Obama Will Urge Congress to Act on Small Business Lending Plans

President Barack Obama will today urge Congress to act on proposals he’s put forward to help small businesses secure financing and reduce taxes for investments that create jobs.

Obama will host small-business owners at the White House today and give remarks on the important role those kinds of companies play in reducing unemployment.

“Government can’t create jobs, but it can help create the conditions for small businesses to grow and thrive and hire more workers,” Obama will say, according to excerpts of his remarks released by the White House.

With nationwide unemployment at 9.9 percent, Obama has been stepping up his efforts on the economy, holding events outside of Washington to say government programs have helped stabilize the economy and pressing Congress to do more.

In Buffalo, New York, on May 13, he said steps taken by his administration were necessary to avert economic disaster and now the country is “headed in the right direction.”

In his remarks today, Obama will say his proposals will spur additional job growth by ensuring small businesses looking to grow have access to financing and that investments in those companies will be encouraged by eliminating long-term capital gains taxes.

“This shouldn’t be an issue of big government versus small government,” Obama will say. “This is an issue of putting our government on the side of the small-business owners who create most of the jobs in this country.”

Obama has urged creation of a $30 billion program that uses bailout money repaid by financial institutions to help community banks make loans to small businesses.

The Small Business Lending Fund Obama outlined on Feb. 2 would use money transferred from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Banks with assets from $1 billion to $10 billion may borrow from the program to make loans. The plan requires Congressional approval.

--Editors: Paul Tighe, Ben Richardson

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mike Tackett at mtackett@bloomberg.net

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