This is the beginning of National Small Business Week, which every president has recognized since John F. Kennedy started the tradition in 1963.
Being a successful small business person isn’t just about collecting a profit or outperforming your competition. It’s about contributing to the success of this country’s economy. It’s about contributing to your country’s continued growth and prosperity. And it’s about securing your piece of the American Dream and helping your employees and your suppliers and all the people you work with secure their piece of the American Dream.
What’s always distinguished us as a nation is a belief that it’s a place where anybody with a good idea and a willingness to work can succeed. It’s the belief that has brought millions of people to our shores, and carried us through even the toughest economic times.
It’s how small businesses begin. Maybe somebody finally decides to take a chance on his dream. Maybe a worker decides it’s time to become her own boss. Either way, these entrepreneurial pioneers embody the spirit of possibility, the tireless work ethic, and the simple hope for something better that lies at the heart of the American ideal.
Some of you have opened mom-and-pop stores that have led to America’s biggest, most successful companies. Some have launched technology companies – software and IT services that have redefined the marketplace. You collectively create two out of every three jobs here in the United States of America. And that’s why small businesses aren’t just the backbone of this economy – you’re also the driving force behind this recovery.
The problem is that small business owners have also been the hardest hit by this recession. From the middle of 2007 through the end of 2008, small businesses lost 2.4 million jobs. And because banks shrunk from lending in the midst of the financial crisis, it’s been difficult for small business owners to take out the loans they need to open up shop or to expand. For those who do own a small business, it’s hard to finance inventories, make payrolls, or to do that additional work that could make your business grow.
Now, government can’t create jobs, but it can help create the conditions for small businesses to grow and to thrive and to hire more workers. Government can’t guarantee a company’s success, but it can knock down the barriers that prevent small business owners from getting loans or investing in the future. And that’s why so much of our economic agenda has been focused on America’s small businesses.
Last year, we enacted seven tax cuts for America’s small businesses, as well as Making Work Pay tax credits that go to the vast majority of small business owners. So far, the Recovery Act has supported over 64,000 loans to small businesses – more than $27 billion in new lending. More than 1,200 banks and credit unions that had stopped making SBA loans when the financial crisis hit are lending again today. And more than $8 billion in federal Recovery Act contracts are now going to small businesses. So right now, a series of additional tax incentives and other steps to promote hiring are taking effect. Because of a bill I signed into law a few months ago, businesses are now eligible for tax cuts when they hire unemployed workers. Companies are also able to write off more of their investments in new equipment.
And as part of the health reform package, 4 million small business owners recently received a postcard in their mailboxes telling them that they could be eligible for a health care tax credit this year. It’s worth perhaps tens of thousands of dollars to your companies.
I’m calling on Congress to pass small business jobs package as soon as possible. This legislation should ensure that creditworthy small business owners can get the capital they need to expand and create jobs. It should include needed tax relief, like our proposal to completely eliminate capital gains taxes for those making key long-term investments in small businesses. It should include expansions of vital Small Business Administration loan programs that are needed now more than ever.
And it should include two important lending initiatives that I recently sent to Congress.
The first initiative is the $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund I called for in my State of the Union address. This fund would target only small community and neighborhood banks, and it would help these institutions increase lending to small businesses.
The second initiative is a new state small business credit program that we recently proposed. It’s an initiative that will help expand private lending for small businesses and manufacturers at a time when budget shortfalls are leading states to cut back on vitally important lending programs.
Now, I’m very pleased that elements of this small business jobs package have already passed the House Financial Services Committee last week, and I know that the Senate is working on the issue as well. I urge both chambers to act on these proposals as soon as possible.
This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. This is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. This should not be an issue about big government versus small government. This is an issue that involves putting government on the side of small business owners who create most of the jobs in this country. It’s about giving them tax credits and loans and tax cuts so they can keep growing and keep hiring. It’s about unleashing the great power of our economy and the ingenuity of our people.
– Edited from public remarks made last week at the White House to open Small Business Week.
