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“ Democratic priorities are clear: we will fight to get the economy back on track, we will create jobs, and we will help unemployed workers. ” |
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Pelosi Statement on Funding for SBA’s Disaster Loans
Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on H.R. 4745, which was debated on the House floor today and provides supplemental funding for disaster loans of the Small Business Administration (SBA):
“On the same day that even a Republican committee concludes the federal response to Katrina was a ‘national failure,’ today’s funding request is further evidence of incompetence and poor planning by the Bush Administration – at great cost to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
“The Small Business Administration is the federal agency where families go to rebuild their homes, and it is how businesses get back on their feet and provide the jobs the economy needs to get moving again. Yet, less than two months after Congress provided more than $400 million in Katrina disaster relief, the SBA has completely run out of money for disaster loans. Furthermore, the SBA is approving only 37 percent of disaster loan applications, has a backlog of more than 100,000 pending applications, and has paid out less than 10 percent of those loans approved. Our
“To protect those victimized by Katrina, we must demand answers from the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans for sending the SBA, and the families who need the loans, to the brink. To be good stewards of the taxpayer dollar, we must have greater accountability and faster turnaround from the SBA in providing those impacted with assistance.”
“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
