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“Mr. President, The Self-Employed Need Your Help,” Says NASE
Association Talks Access to Capital and Health Reform With President Obama At Small Business Event
Washington, D.C., October 22, 2009 - During a meeting with President Obama, the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) made sure to mention that micro-businesses are still facing difficulties getting access to credit and financing and that health costs are crippling the backbone of the American economy – the self-employed.
The meeting was part of a small business event in Maryland yesterday to unveil a new initiative to increase access to capital. The President announced plans to increase small business lending by providing capital support to community banks, raising loan limits on SBA’s various loan programs, and creating a “lending conference” to find other methods of expanding credit and financing to small business.
“So to all the small business owners out there,” commented President Obama. “I know that times are tough and I can only imagine what many of you are going through, in terms of keeping things going in the midst of a very tough economic climate, but I guarantee you this: This administration is going to stand behind small businesses. You are our highest priority because we are confident that when you are succeeding, America succeeds.”
A key component of the President’s new small business lending initiatives is increasing the maximum loan size of SBA 7(a) loans from $2 million to $5 million, in order to help small businesses invest in machinery, equipment, land, and buildings. Additionally, there has been a push to raise the maximum loan size of SBA microloans from $35,000 to $50,000 which will give a boost to start-ups and micro-businesses.
Passage of legislation will be required to adjust SBA loan limits. Senator Mary Landrieu, Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, along with other key Senate Members have introduced “The Small Business Access to Capital Act” (S.1832) to address this issue. The NASE strongly supports this bill which would expand SBA funding opportunities.
“We are pleased to see this renewed focus on small business. In this time of economic decline, it is the self-employed and micro-businesses that will lead us to recovery,” said Executive Director Kristie Arslan. “After handing out billions of taxpayer dollars to shore up big business, we feel it is time our nations’ policymakers focus on America’s smallest businesses. We applaud the President for moving in the right direction with his recent announcement.”
View a fact sheet on the initiative here.