White House Releases Small Business Report - Political Punch

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May 16, 2011 4:49 PM

ABC News' Mary Bruce Reports: To kick off National Small Business Week, the White House today released a report touting the Obama administration?s investments to support small businesses.

?Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the cornerstones of our communities. They create two of every three new jobs in America, spur economic growth, and spark new industries across the country,? Obama said in a written statement.? ?We will continue to create new incentives to help small business owners hire new workers, promote growth and do what America does best ? invest in the creativity and imagination of our people.?

The report - entitled ?The Small Business Agenda: Growing America?s Small Businesses to Win the Future? - highlights seven areas where the administration has worked over the past two years to help small businesses create jobs including, 17 tax breaks through the Recovery Act, $53 billion in lending support, and nearly $100 billion in federal contracting dollars.

?There?s very little question that small business is now once again contributing to job creation and to helping to lead a job recovery,? Director of the National Economic Council Gene Sperling told reporters on a conference call this afternoon. ?We feel very strongly we?ve come a long way and that this economy still has a lot further to go. We?re proud of the positive impact the president?s comprehensive policies on small business have had but we?re not satisfied. We?re not done yet. We?re going to stay at it and keep working on this,? he said.

Looking ahead,?Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills said small businesses are the key to winning the future. ?When we talk about out-building and out-competing and out-innovating the rest of the world, we are talking about doing it through America?s small businesses,? she said on the call.

Here?are the seven areas of accomplishment listed in the report:

??17 tax breaks for small businesses through the Recovery Act, the Small Business Jobs Act and other laws
??$53 billion in SBA lending support for 113,000 small businesses at a time when traditional lending was frozen
??Nearly $100 billion in federal contracting dollars annually going to small businesses, with a new tool to help women-owned firms
??Support for small businesses to export their products and help meet the National Export Initiative?s goal to double exports in coming years
??Free and low-cost counseling to more than 2 million entrepreneurs and small business owners
??Targeted mentoring and growth capital for high-growth small businesses ? the biggest job creators ? through new efforts like Startup America
??More stability and protection in financial markets as well as work to reduce regulatory barriers and costs

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Source: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/white-house-releases-small-business-report.html

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