A Treasury-backed loan facility for small business showed surprising strength in the Senate Thursday night, winning a 60-37 vote despite withering Republican attacks likening the proposal to the oft-criticized TARP bailout of Wall Street banks amid the 2008 financial crisis.
As now proposed, the $30 billion loan facility would be an option for smaller community banks, enabling them to increase their capital and be rewarded with lower interest charges if they turn around and increase their small business lending. Critics contend that taxpayers could lose as much as $6 billion, but the Congressional Budget Office has said the facility will more than pay for itself with new revenues. And in its statement Thursday afternoon, NFIB said the “lending fund has the potential to help credit-worthy small businesses that have had difficulties obtaining credit, which is a good thing.” [Emphasis added].
For more, see Loan Plan Defies Gop Tarp Attacks by David Rogers, July 23, 2010, at Politico.
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