Boxer pushes more funding, health care for small business

October 31, 2009

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by Chris Metinko
Oakland Tribune

"We've gone through some dark times and are going through some dark times," Boxer said after touring Blue Bottle Coffee Co. in the Jack London Square district. "Now we need to jump-start this recovery."

To do just that, Boxer said government needs to help and nurture small businesses, which have created 64 percent of new jobs in the country over the last 15 years. Boxer pushed what she called her four-point plan to help small business succeed. The main component was increasing access to credit so such businesses can grow. Boxer and fellow Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley from Oregon have introduced legislation to help assist community banks in extending credit to small businesses in an effort to spur on economic growth. The new plan, called the Bank on Our Communities Act, would allocate Troubled Asset Relief Program funds to community banks, as well as allow those institutions to raise private capital and increase their lending to small businesses and consumers.

The plan would dedicate up to $15 billion for a community credit renewal fund. The money would be available to banks with up to $5 billion in assets and agree to undergo a stress test — a two-year, forwarding-looking review to determine the capital needed to keep lending during harsh economic times and generate new lending.

Read the entire article at MercuryNews.