Larsen Praises President's Commitment To Help Community Banks And Small Businesses Create Jobs, Spur Economic Growth

Press Release

Calls For More Action To Help Troubled Commercial Real Estate Market In Northwest Washington

U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) praised President Obama's commitment to create jobs and grow the economy by helping community banks lend to small businesses.

"Small businesses are the number one source of new job growth in our country, but the credit crunch has prevented them from accessing the capital they need to grow and create jobs," said Rep. Larsen. "I look forward to seeing how President Obama's proposal will help community banks provide loans to give small businesses access to the tools they need to build their businesses and start hiring again."

President Obama today proposed a Small Business Lending Fund that will direct $30 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds to a new initiative to support small business lending. The program will be targeted at helping community and small banks that lend the most to small businesses. Larsen has supported other efforts to increase access to credit for small businesses including the Small Business Administration's (SBA) 504 loans that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act expanded to help small businesses with debt relief and the 7(a) loans that help startup and early stage firms access capital.

"The Recovery Act and SBA lending programs are stemming the tide of job loss and getting our economy moving again, but more needs to be done. As we move forward, we must create an economic environment for long-term, sustainable growth," said Rep. Larsen. "In Northwest Washington, the state of the commercial real estate market is threatening our economic recovery. I am working to help community banks cope with billions of dollars in troubled commercial real estate loans so that they can jump start their small business lending."

Larsen recently signed a letter to Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the US Department of the Treasury, urging them to address the deteriorating conditions in the commercial real estate market that are threatening our economic recovery. The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett metro area had the nation's highest delinquency rate of construction and land loans in the second quarter of 2009.

"Community banks in our corner of Washington state have been devastated by these troubled real estate loans," said Rep. Larsen. "We need to address this problem head-on so we can free up much-needed capital for them to loan to small businesses, that will in turn create jobs and launch us on a path towards long-term economic growth."

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