Administration Comes Out for Small Business Week
National Small Business Week provided White House officials with plenty of opportunities to tout their efforts to assist entrepreneurs. In keynote remarks at the start of the conference, SBA chief Karen Mills promoted what she called the “3 Cs‖capital, contracts and counseling–which she said are the core of the agency’s mission.
Mills pointed to the Recovery Act initiatives that helped buoy the 7(a) and 504 lending programs and enabled the agency to increase lending to pre-recession levels.
“Altogether, we’ve taken about $680 million in taxpayer dollars and turned it into more than $27 billion in lending support for about 63,000 recovery loans,†Mills said. “That’s nearly double our weekly loan volume compared to the weeks before it passed.†Mills added that borrowers have reported that, as a result of the loans they received, they’ve saved and created “hundreds of thousands†of jobs.
According Mills, the agency helped drive close to $8 billion, or 29%, of Recovery Act contracts into the hands of small business owners. Of that, $3.4 billion, or 16%, has gone to minority businesses. She also said that the SBA is in the process of implementing a strong rule that will provide more contracting opportunities for women-owned businesses. The agency’s field staff, Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers and SCORE chapters, reportedly served more than one million clients in the past year.
Later in the week, Mills and Gene Sperling, counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, announced a new state small business credit initiative to strengthen state programs that support lending to small businesses and manufacturers. This new initiative would require states to use federal funds for programs that leverage private lenders to extend credit to firms that are creditworthy but still having difficulty getting the loans or lines of credit needed to create and expand jobs.
National Small Business Week also provides an opportunity to heap praise on entrepreneurs and this year, four African Americans were rewarded: Rafael Collado, CEO and co-founder of Phacil, won the New Jersey state award. Edgar Smith Jr., chairman and CEO of World Pac Paper LLC, won the Ohio state award; Darryl K. Washington, president of DKW Communications Inc. in Washington, D.C., was named Region III Prime Contractor of the Year; and Keith Joy, director of small business programs at UT-Battelle LLC/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, won the Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Research & Development.
Senate Panel Fast-Tracks SBA Deputy Administrator Nominee
The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship voted unanimously on Thursday to move the nomination of Marie C. Johns as deputy administrator for the Small Business Administration to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote.
Johns served as president of Verizon in Washington, D.C., retiring in 2004 after more than 20 years in the telecommunications industry. She also is a former chair of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce and a former chair of the chamber’s small business committee. She is currently a member of the Howard University Board of Trustees and the Howard University Middle School of Math and Science.
During her confirmation hearing last week, Johns said that, if confirmed, she plans to play an active role in reaching out to groups that have been hard-hit by the recession, including women- and minority-owned businesses.
“Putting loans, contracts, and other job-creation tools in the hands of these fast-growing segments of the economy should be a priority,†Johns said.
A Democratic aide said that the committee is in the process of “hot-lining†the nomination. That means each Republican and Democratic senator will receive notice Thursday evening that the panel wants to move the confirmation forward by unanimous consent on Friday. If approved, Johns could be at work next week.
Congress Prepares to Merge Financial Reform Bills
Now that both chambers of Congress have each passed a financial regulatory reform bill, H.R. 4173 and S. 3217, lawmakers now must iron out the differences and reconcile the two. The task will be undertaken by 15 Democrats and 10 Republicans who will serve on the conference committee. Then the House and the Senate will have to vote on the final package before it heads to President Barack Obama for his signature.
House Financial Services committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) said
this week that he wants the chairs of his panel’s subcommittees to be part of the conference team. If House leadership agrees, Rep. Maxine Waters (California), Rep. Mel Watt (North Carolina), and Rep. Gregory Meeks (New York) will have a seat at the table.In the meantime, House members are poring over the Senate version to figure out the key differences. So far, they seem to center on risk management, consumer protection, and derivatives regulation.
Both bills include the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, but in the Senate version it would be an independent division of the Federal Reserve versus a freestanding agency that the House bill calls for.
Waters reiterated her pledge to fight for an Office of Minority Inclusion, which did not make it into the Senate bill. She urges black consumers to lobby their lawmakers to support the provision during the Memorial Day recess.
“All blacks must understand that it’s important because that’s going to be our eyes and ears and our advocate,†Waters advised.