– During today’s Small Business Committee hearing with U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler questioned the Secretary about why the Treasury’s small business lending program was still inactive in Southwest Washington.
During today’s Small Business Committee hearing with U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler questioned the Secretary about why the Treasury’s small business lending program was still inactive in Southwest Washington.
The $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) was signed into law in September of 2010, designed to help small businesses quickly access credit and create jobs.
Nine months later, the SBLF is still inactive.
Multiple Southwest Washington lending institutions have told Herrera Beutler that they have received no response from the U.S. Treasury about receiving assistance. Meanwhile, unemployment in Southwest Washington continues to hover well above the national average.
“I am wondering why federal agencies aren’t in a dead sprint to implement programs aimed at job creation. Nine months is too long to get this going,” said Herrera Beutler after the hearing. “I had misgivings about this program before I was in congress, not because I’m against increasing credit access, but because taxpayer-funded government-administered ‘job creation’ efforts do not have a good track record. Southwest Washington needed economic relief yesterday.”
Excerpts from Jaime’s questions of Secretary Geithner:
Jaime: I thought the whole purpose of getting this small bit of cash infusion to those small community banks to get out to small businesses in a short term was the goal. What is happening with the money and can you give us a time guarantee -- because it should not take this long.
Geithner: I wish it were otherwise, but we’re doing what I think you’d want us to do, what you’d expect us to do and what you’d hold us accountable for which is we are being careful with the taxpayers’ money.
…
Jaime: I’m talking about creditworthy institutions who cannot get a response from Treasury--
Geithner: But you--
Jaime: Let me finish – from your office on whether or not they are approved or not approved. We’re talking six months.
Geithner: They’ll get that response. But again, the reason why people haven’t heard from us yet is because we depend on regulators to review these applications, we don’t even see them until they meet that review, when we see them we’ll look at them, and we’ll make those judgments as quickly as we can…
