when sam kohl walked into a small business mellons center in illinois, he did not have any business experience at all. he was given a loan and a business plan, and today his company is still growing with offices all over the midwest. last year, the steps we took supported over 47,000 loans to small businesses, and delivered billions of tax breaks to small business owners which helps companies keep their doors open, make payroll, and hire workers. but we can and must do more. that is why proposed a series of steps this week to support small business owners and the jobs they create, to provide more access to credit, more incentives to hire, and more opportunities to grow and sell products all over the world. because financing remains difficult for credit or the small businesses across the country, i propose that we take $30 billion from the top funds originally used for wall street and create a new small business lending fund that will provide capital for community banks on main street. these are the small, local banks that will be able to give small business owners more of the credit they need

when sam kohl walked into a small business mellons center in -- small business development center iness experience at all. he was given a loan and a business plan, and today his company is still growing with offices all over the midwest. last year, the steps we took supported over 47,000 loans to small businesses, and delivered billions of tax breaks to small business owners which helps companies keep their doors open, make payroll, and hire workers. but we can and must do more. that is why proposed a series of steps this week to support small business owners and the jobs they create, to provide more access to credit, more incentives to hire, and more opportunities to grow and sell products all over the world. because financing remains difficult for credit or the small businesses across the country, i propose that we take $30 billion from the top funds -- part of fund -- t.a.r.p. fund originally used for wall street and create a new small business lending fund that will provide capital for community banks on main street. these are the small, local banks that will be able to give smal