so in june they had to find a new lender, and that linder help to get them a sba loan for $300,000. now they saved $8,000, reduced fees, and they've hired 18 more employees. so mike told us this loan literally saved their business. [applause] thank you for being here. thank you for coming, mike and td and also the work you do to save lives every day. we can't stop there. we have progress with our access to capital. but now we are working on small business is benefiting from recovery act contracts, the second c. at the sba we help ensure small businesses get access to 23% of all federal contracts. now i describe this as a win-win, because contracts are like oxygen. the revenue small-business is need to grow their business and create more jobs, and especially at this time when revenues are tight, recovery contracts are even more helpful. and this is good also for the taxpayers because the federal government to get access to some of the most nimble and innovative small companies sometimes with even direct line to the ceo. in august the vice president asked commerce secretary barry locke

and that led to help get them an sba loan for $300,000. now they saved $8000 from reduced fees, and they've hired 18 more employees. so mike told us that this loan literally saved their business. [applause] >> so thank you for being here. thank you for coming, mike and katie. and also for the work that you do to save lives every day. we can't stop there. we have progress without access to capital. but now we are working on small businesses benefiting from recovery act contract. the second c. at the sba, we help ensure that small businesses get access to 23 percent of all federal contracts. i describe this as a win-win. because contracts are like oxygen. they are the revenue that small businesses need to grow their business, and create more jobs. and especially at this time when revenues are tight, recovery act contract are even more helpful. and this is good also for the taxpayers. because the federal government gets access to some of the most nimble and innovative, small companies, sometimes with even a direct line to the cbo. in august, t

so in june they had to find a new lender, and that lenders helped get them an sba loan for $300,000. w they saved $8,000 from reduced fees, and they have hired 18 more employees. so mike told us that this loan literally saved their business. [applause] so thank you for being here, thank you for coming, mike and katie, and also for the work that you do to save lives every day. we cannot stop there. we have progress with our access to capital, but now we are working on small businesses benefiting from recovery act contracts, the second c. at the sba, we help ensure that small businesses get access to 23% of all federal contracts. now, i described this as a win- win because contracts are like oxygen. they are the revenue that small businesses need to grow their business and create more jobs. and especially at this time when revenues are tight, recovery act contracts are even more helpful. this is good also for the taxpayers because the federal government gets access to some of the most nimble and innovative small companies, sometimes with even a direct line to the ceo. in august, the vic

business administration, a federal agency that guarantees small business loans from private banks, gave him a letter to show lenders the sba would guarantee 40% of the value of the loan. the banks were not impressed. >> the national banks shut it down immediately. there was nothing you know, nothing, not a chance there. the local banks at least sort of seemed to run it up the flag pole a bit, they didn't even look at it. >> reporter: prosenjak got his new studio. but only because the real estate market was so bad the building's owner agreed to carry the loan himself. kantor and prosenjak are just two examples of what ken coors calls the worst small business crisis in american history. coors is a retired longtime small businessman who volunteers with score, the service corps of retired executives. the organization provides business advice to people like kantor. >> the banks are, are not making loans of course and they are reducing credit lines, they're making, they're making life miserable for, for good solid companies that are in tough times. remember we're saving the banks, we're saving the car companies, we're saving the

tho kinds of loans. >> reporter: but admintrator mills insis the arc loan prram, as well as other sba loan proams, are a success. >> we've gotten 6 billion in a guaranteed loans into the hands ofmall business so far. so nowwhat do we do? beuse there are still needs for cred out there. so we' got programs that the president has asked congss to continue of recoveryct money, were going to raise oulimits. >> reporter: in the meanti, barbara kantorot some bad news last week. jp mgan/chase bank slashed her line of cred by 90%. somebody who's hard working o's ethical, who plays by th rules, alwaypays on time, the banks usedo support and not now, no. >> rorter: a lot of small business owners say th need help rightow if they are to avoid closing their doors fo good. >> woodruff: we get a respse on all of thesmatters now with eve bartlett of the financia services roundtae. his grp lobbies for and representsost of the banks that were at today'seeting. >> good to havyou with us. >> good toe with you. woodruff: now you have not only the psident of the united states, you've got a lot of smallusiness peo

that's one reason why sba loans have increase sod much. he sba program providing higher guarantees lower fees is also helping although those programs are small in total mag my tuesday but for this to work we have to make it possible for banks to come get capital from the government so they can support more lending. banks have been very reluctant to come and the reason the program youer fromed to has not yet been launched is because they had been very reluctant to come and do business with the government. .. you started by saying you were going to terminate the capital purchase program and then i thought i just heard you say you are talking about putting more capital into small banks? i am just little confused on this. >> again, the emergency programs or necessary to-- in the capitol programs for large banks were now confident we can wind down and put out our misery, but as he said the president announced a program for capital and small community banks a few months ago. that is important we are going to preserve that and we are exploring way

they mentioned specifically both housing modifications and sba loans. the president -- look, the president took notes throughout the meeting. and i can assure you that he'll discuss with his team -- in the event that the housing modification program is being held back because of onerous paperwork requirements, that we'll streamline those paperwork requirements. >> do you think that's what it is, and not the fact that the banks don't want to loan? >> again, i don't want to speak broadly for all the banks. i know the president's position is it is far more preferable to keep somebody in a house and to figure out the best way for them to ultimately meet, through a modification, their mortgage and their loan requirements; that that is far preferable in any economic situation. quite frankly, it's more beneficial for banks to have somebody paying that loan than to have a house that they can't put anybody in. again, we will work with anybody in terms of streamlining the number -- the paperwork requirements if there are those that believe that's the onerous part

that's one reason why sba loans have increase sod much. he sba program providing higher guarantees lower fees is also helping although those programs are small in total mag my tuesday but for this to work we have to make it possible for banks to come get capital from the government so they can support more lending. banks have been very reluctant to come. they have been reluctant to come and do business with the government. they are concerned that they will be stigmatized and subject to the risk of conditions in the future that will make it harder for them to run their businesses. we have to find some way to mitigate of both the stigma of coming and the fear of changes in the future rules of the game that will apply to them. that is something we cannot do on our own. it will require some help from congress. you are right to say that unless banks have access to capital, this will be a harder problem to solve. >> but me follow up, mr. secretary, because i am confused. you were talking about small banks as the most effective lenders businesseto

that's one reason why sba loans have increase sod much. he sba program providing higher guarantees lower fees is also helping although those programs are small in total mag my tuesday but for this to work we have to make it possible for banks to come get capital from the government so they can support more lending. banks have been very reluctant to come and the reason the program youer fromed to has not yet been launched is because they had been very reluctant to come and do business with the government. .. you started by saying you were going to terminate the capital purchase program and then i thought i just heard you say you are talking about putting more capital into small banks? i am just little confused on this. >> again, the emergency programs or necessary to-- in the capitol programs for large banks were now confident we can wind down and put out our misery, but as he said the president announced a program for capital and small community banks a few months ago. that is important we are going to preserve that and we are exploring way

that's one reason why sba loans have increase sod much. er guarantees lower fees is also helping although those programs are small in total mag my tuesday b banks have been very reluctant to come, and the reason what is being referred to has not been launched is that the institution has been reluctant to come, and they will be subject to the risk of conditions in the future that will make it harder to run businesses. so we will have to find a way to mitigate the stigma and the fear of changes that will apply to them. that is something we cannot do on our own. that is going to require help from congress to deal with this concern. you're right to say that unless banks have access to capital, this will be a harder problem to solve. >> i thought you started by saying you were going to wind down the capital purchase program, and then you were just talking about putting more capital in banks? i am confused. . were now confident we can wind down and put out our misery, but as he said the president announced a program for capital and small communit

loans that they need to start up and grow. to that end, we're proposing to waive fees and increase the guarantees for sba-backed loans. in investment in theç nation's infrastructure beyond what was included in the recovery act, to continue modernizing our transportation and communications networks. these are needed public works that engage private sector companies, spurring hiring all across the country. already, more than 10,000 ofç these projects have been funded through the recovery act. and by design, recovery act work on roads, bridges, water systems, superfund sites, broadband networks, and clean energy projects will all be ramping up in the months ahead. çit was planned this way for to reasons -- so the impact would be felt over a two-year period, and, more importantly, because we wanted to do this right. ymthe potential for abuse in a program of this magnitude, while operating at such a fast pace, was enormous. so i asked vice president biden and others to make sure to the extent humanly possible that the investments were sound, the projects worthy, and the execution efficient. what this means is that we're

loans that they need to start and grow. we're proposing to waive fees and increase the guarantees for the sba backed loans and i masking by treasury secretary to continue to mobilizing the remaining t.a.r.p funds to facilitate lending to small businesses. second come a were proposing a boost in investment of the nation's infrastructure beyond what was included in the recovery act. to continue modernizing our chance petitioning communications networks. these are needed public-works batting cage private-sector companies during hiring all over the country. within 10,000 projects have been funded and by design, recovery act work on roads, bridges, water systems come a superfund sites, broadband networks and the energy projects will all be ramping up in the months ahead. it was planned in this way for two reasons. the impact would be felt over a two-year period and more importantly because we wanted to do this right. the potential for abuse in a program of this magnitude at a fast pace was enormous purpose of ast vice president biden and others to make sure to humanly possible extent that investments were sound, projects were the. this

loans that they need to start up and grow. to that end we're proposing to waive fees and increase guaranties for sba-backed loans. i'm asking my treasury secretary to continue mobilizing the remaining tarp funds to facilitate lending to small businesses. second, we're proposing a boost in investment in the nation's infrastructure beyond what was included in the recovery act. to continue modernizing our transportation and communications networks. these are needed public works that engage private sector companies, spurring hiring all across the country. already more than 10,000 of these projects have been funded through the recovery act and by design, recovery act work on roads, bridges, water systems, superfund sites, broadband networks and clean energy projects will all be ramping up in the months ahead. it was planned this way for two reasons. so the impact would be felt over a two-year period, and more importantly, because we wanted to do this right. the potential for abuse in a program of this magnitude, while operating at such a fast pace was enormous. so i asked vice president biden and others to make sure,