Contact:	Clarence Mills (202) 543-1440 c.mills@att.net
For Release:	Immediate News Bulletin PR-33 April 14, 2009

House Small Business Committee Chair Pushes Urgency on SBA Lending to Small Businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 14, 2009 - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides a number of provisions intended to jump-start lending to small businesses. However, as Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Committee on Small Business, pointed out in her letter to Karen Gordon Mills, the new head of the Small Business Administration (SBA), "It has now been 51 days since the president signed these measures into law. Given the current economic climate, it is critical that these programs get under way."

Congress estimated that certain programs would be up and running between 15 and 30 days after President Barack Obama signed the Stimulus Plan of 2009. In response to Velázquez's letter, an SBA spokesman said that the SBA is moving as quickly as possible to get these programs moving.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides several different options for small businesses to benefit from the stimulus package. It specifically includes:

• Fee Reductions.

• Economic Stimulus Lending Program: For a period of 12 months from the date of enactment of the legislation, the amount of a loan that the SBA may guarantee is increased up to 90 percent of a qualifying loan made to an eligible small business.

• Secondary Market Guaranty Authority: For a period of two years from the date of enactment of the legislation, the SBA may guarantee pools of first mortgage loans made in conjunction with SBA-guaranteed Community Development Lending Program financing if the pools are to be sold to third-party investors.

• Community Development Lending: This section authorizes the SBA to refinance a limited amount of existing debt with SBA-subsidized community development loans if the project being financed involves expansion of a small business.

• Small Business Investment Company Program Amendments: This section provides that effective on its enactment, an individual small business investment company may have an outstanding amount of SBA leverage equal to the lesser of $150 million or 300 percent of its private capital, which is an increase from the current limit.

• Small Business Stabilization Loan Program: Small businesses experiencing immediate financial hardship and experiencing difficulty repaying an existent SBA-guaranteed loan. These loans would have 100 percent SBA guarantee, have interest fully subsidized and be amortized over five years with the first payment not due until one year after the loan is disbursed.

• Secondary Market Loans.

Although all of these measures are aimed at jump-starting lending to small businesses, they have not been issued yet. Velázquez emphasized urgency in her letter: "Given the unprecedented size and scope of the problems in our credit markets, it is doubtful that these steps alone will be sufficient. For that reason, the SBA must expeditiously implement these provisions as Congress intended and instructed in the Stimulus Act."

To view more information on these SBA loans and the Stimulus Act, visit ASA's legislative Web site at www.TakingTheHill.com.

The Automotive Service Association is the largest not-for-profit trade association of its kind dedicated to and governed by independent automotive service and repair professionals. ASA serves an international membership base that includes numerous affiliate, state and chapter groups from both the mechanical and collision repair segments of the automotive service industry. ASA's headquarters is in Bedford, Texas.

ASA advances professionalism and excellence in the automotive repair industry through education, representation and member services. For additional information about ASA, including past news releases, go to www.ASAshop.org, or visit ASA's legislative Web site at www.TakingTheHill.com.

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