Priorities
A shout-out to small business
May 20 2009
Senator Warner gave a loud "shout-out" to small businesses in an appearance on MSNBC's The Ed Show on Tuesday night, urging the White House to move more quickly in rolling-out promised programs and funding to help business owners in this challenging economy.
The Senator said the Small Business Administration has been too cautious in implementing several new initiatives designed to loosen credit to small business owners:
"I think I would give the administration good efforts in terms of starting, but they’re still incomplete... I’ve been kind of frustrated by the fact that they’ve been very slow at actually getting the details out. Karen Mills, the new SBA administrator, 'gets this.' She needs to get staffed up to get these programs out to the small businesses, where small businesses are particularly getting slammed by the shutting down of the financial markets. As banks constrict the amount of lending, it’s the small business guys who are often times around the margins who hurt the most when their credit lines get cut-off... One other point here: we’ve not seen any of the 'upsides' of the programs -- the health care money, a lot of these energy programs – we’ve got to make sure that money goes out, and that we don’t exclude small businesses from getting their fair share. That’s where the innovation is going to come in this economy."
Ed Schultz said to Senator Warner: "I think the President ought to be talking to you every day with the success that you have had in understanding this climate of getting businesses moving."
Watch the entire interview here:
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