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At UVA's Darden School of Business this morning, Senator Warner brought business owners and lenders together with representatives from the Small Business Administration to discuss the opportunities available through the economic recovery package for businesses and banks in Virginia. 

The discussion, which was streamed live on our website, was a follow-up to a smaller conversation Senator Warner had earlier this week in Abingdon.

The SBA currently works with 900 Virginia businesses on about $235 million in loan activity, and is a key promoter of small business opportunities in federal procurement. The stimulis package adopted by Congress will more than double the SBA's potential impact.

During today's discussion, Senator Warner was able to learn that the details of the ARC program, which will provide interest-free loans for small businesses, will be released in June, even though the program was announced in mid-February.

"I gotta tell you," said Senator Warner, "this is why people get so mad. The press release comes out, and small business owners say, 'Oh my gosh, I've got this program that can help me out,' they start making plans, but then we don't have the regulations in place, and people get in a worse circumstance than before."

He said that when he gets back to Washington, he will push the Small Business Association to release the details as quickly as possible so business owners can take advantage of the program sooner. 

"If I was to go up and raise heck, you wouldn't be offended by that, right?" joked Senator Warner.

You can view the forum here: