Senator Warner joined Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills and Senate Small Business Committee chair Sen. Mary Landrieu at a Capitol Hill news conference today to promote his initiative to help small businesses grow and put more Virginians back to work.

Since last fall, Senator Warner has worked closely with the White House to design new tools to help small businesses access needed capital to help strengthen the economic recovery. His proposal would pump $2 billion into an existing (and successful) network of state-operated capital access programs, unlocking an estimated $60 billion in loan activity for small business owners.

“Our small businesses create two out of every three new jobs in this country, and it is small business that will be the driving force behind this economic recovery,” Senator Warner said. “The problem is small business owners have also been some of the hardest hit by this recession because banks clamped-down on lending in the midst of the financial crisis, it’s been difficult for small business owners to take out the loans they need to open up shop, and existing small businesses have found it hard to finance inventories, make payrolls, or expand even when business is good.”

“Virginia small business owners tell me they are ‘recovering,’ but they are not yet ‘recovered,” Senator Warner said. “So it remains vitally important that we work to support Virginia’s small businesses by knocking-down the barriers that prevent them from getting loans and investing in the future.”

The small business credit relief package (H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010) currently is pending in the Senate.

Later in the day, Senator Warner spoke about the economy and small business lending on CNBC's PowerLunch. You can watch the video here.