Small-business proposal gets cold shoulder from GOP, credit unions

[EmeraldCityGrl]

Republicans and credit unions gave a stiff reception to the administration’s proposal for a $30 billion fund to boost bank lending to small businesses.

The administration is urging Congress to pass legislation that would shift $30 billion from the $700 billion financial bailout program to a new small-bank-lending fund.

The new fund would then invest capital in banks with $10 billion or less in assets and encourage them to make loans to small businesses.
House and Senate Republicans lashed out at the proposal as a measure to recycle money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), as the bailout is known officially.

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/79389-small-business-proposal-gets-cold-shoulder-from-gop-credit-unions


Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) among others at the Senate Finance Committee hearing today, stressed the dire situation many
small businesses are in because, they can't get lending from banks. Hundreds of businesses are closing and many are hanging
on by a thread.

Here is a proposal that would make $30 billion available to small community banks and the repugs are trying to shut it down.
Every small business owner out there should read this and see for themselves it's the GOP standing in the way of the help they so
desperately need. Enough of this BS that repugs are the friends of small business.

[MercutioATC]

1. Expand it to include credit unions and it's actually a decent plan.

Credit unions are an increasingly important source of small business credit and should be included in this proposal.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

2. That would be great if the proposal would include

credit unions. But to scrap the entire thing because "TARP is not a piggy bank" is ridiculous.

Frankly, after what i heard at the hearing today, these would be emergency funds and by whom
they are distributed by is less important than just getting the money out there and available.

[MercutioATC]

3. Agreed, but why not just do it right?

Nearly everything coming from Washington is an imperfect fix that could be made better with a few simple revisions...but we're supposed to support it because "it's better than nothing".

Why not just write good legislation from the beginning?

[BR_Parkway]

4. Even though I hate what the GOP is doing - more credit isn't going

to help as many small businesses as more customers would. I don't need a loan right now, and neither do most of the small biz in my town - what we need are more customers (Jobs, Jobs, Jobs). The last thing I want is more debt.

As for tax credits for hiring? That assumes that there's a profit to pay taxes on, so for me, it's not going to help at all. Affordable health insurance (projected savings for me and my partner were 8-12K per year) - hell, that keeps the doors open and lets us make a part time hire (a bit tired of the 7 day workweek since we've cut everything else to the bone)

[Dr.Phool]

5. You're right. More customers-less debt.

Before we sold our restaurant last year, neither me or my partner took a paycheck for over a year. We just had to make sure we could pay for our supplies (cash), rent, and the employees.

A loan would have bankrupted us. All of our customers were losing their jobs, and the gas price spike stole most of their disposable entertainment income.