NSBA Urges Congress to Remember Small Business
Jan 12th, 2009 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: Politics & PolicyLate last month, the National Small Business Association (NSBA) sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the signature of organization president Todd McCracken, urging Congress to consider a number of small business provisions for inclusion in the forthcoming economic stimulus package. Among them were setting aside 23% of infrastructure stimulus contracting for small firms, requiring banks to use some of those bailout funds to expand their small business lending, and temporarily eliminating lender and borrower fees from the SBA 7(a) and 504 guaranteed loan programs.
Even better, McCracken took advantage of the opportunity to remind Congress of just how important small firms are to the economy and how thoroughly they have been ignored so far in all stimulus discussions. He pointed out that the NSBA’s proposals amount to a fraction of the anticipated cost of the stimulus package and added, “Throwing more and more money at big businesses, as they shed more and more jobs, will not cure our ailing economy—but fostering a thriving small-business community can.” It doesn’t get much better than that. Hats off to the NSBA for sending the letter on behalf of small businesses and double kudos to Mr. McCracken for refusing to pull his punches.
