Mills responds to proposed loan boost

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) administrator Karen Mills has issued a statement on the proposal announced by President Barack Obama to raise the maximum loan size for SBA-backed loans to small business:

Mills’ statement, in p[art, reads: “America’s 29 million small businesses have been hard hit in this recession. Nine months ago, President Obama sent small businesses a lifeline: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since then, the SBA has supported more than 33,000 loans for a total of almost $13 billion in small business lending. This has helped save or create tens of thousands of jobs.

“But, there is much more work to be done, which is why President Obama (has) pledged his support for legislation that would increase the maximum size of some SBA loans. Increasing maximum loan sizes will allow the SBA to ensure that more small business owners and entrepreneurs can get access to the credit they need to expand their operations and create jobs.”

Specifically, Obama called for:

• Increasing the size of SBA’s 7(a) loan from $2 million to $5 million.

• Increasing the size of SBA’s 504 loan from $2 million to $5 million for standard borrowers (supporting a total project of $12.5 million) and from $4 million to $5.5 million for manufacturers (supporting a total project of $13.75 million).

• Increasing the size of SBA’s Microloan from $35,000 to $50,000.

A copy of the President’s remarks and a fact sheet on the announcement can be found at: http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_rcvry_obama_evnt_remrks09.pdf.

A fact sheet on the proposal can be found at: http://www.sba.gov/idc/groups/public/documents/sba_homepage/sba_rcvry_new_effort_credit_sb.pdf.

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