Kerry : Gulf Coast Needs More than Empty Promises

[Mass]

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-01-2007/0004537751&EDATE=

WASHINGTON, March 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Sen. John Kerry
(D- Mass.) issued the following statement in reaction to President Bush's
Gulf Coast visit. Kerry is the lead sponsor of bipartisan legislation to
overhaul the government's disaster loan program which the Bush
Administration has been blocking since September 2005.

"Long term recovery for the Gulf Coast requires a whole lot more than
18 months of empty promises. Businesses that were once the heart of the
Gulf Coast economy are now hanging on by a thread. Yet the bipartisan
proposals in Congress to get these businesses back up and running have been
blocked by the Bush Administration at every turn. On his last visit to the
Gulf Coast, the President predicted a bright future for the region's
entrepreneurs. Yet in the six months since that visit, nothing's changed.
While the Go Zone legislation represented a good first step, we still need
fundamental reform of the government's disaster loan program to permanently
remove delays and red tape that have prevented businesses from getting
timely financial assistance," said Kerry, Chairman of the Committee on
Small Business and Entrepreneurship.
The Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act of 2007
(S. 163) would:
-- Establish a Private Disaster Loan (PDL) program that allows banks to
make loans directly to victims after meeting SBA criteria. The SBA
will provide an 85 percent guarantee for these loans;

-- Require the SBA to draft rules within one year that would create a new
"expedited disaster assistance business loan program." These short-
term loans would have low interest rates similar to regular disaster
loans. This would provide businesses with short-term assistance while
they await other forms of federal assistance or insurance payouts
following future disasters. It specifically addresses one of the major
issues following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita -- a lack of access to
immediate capital to keep businesses afloat;

-- Create a new presidential declaration of "Catastrophic National
Disaster," which will allow the SBA to issue nationwide economic
injury disaster loans to small businesses affected by a large-scale
disaster;

-- Allow the SBA to provide relief to fuel-dependent small businesses
when energy prices increase at extraordinarily high rates.

-- Provide key tools for processing disaster loan applications more
quickly by authorizing the SBA to enter into agreements with qualified
private contractors to process disaster loans and requiring the SBA to
analyze and report to Congress on how the disaster loan application
process can be improved; and

-- Increase the maximum size of a Small Business Administration (SBA)
disaster loan from $1.5 million to $5 million and allow non-profit
groups to be eligible for disaster loans.

Kerry and Snowe deserves kudos to continue to fight for Louisiana with Landrieu and Vitter when it is no more the fashionable thing to do.

[Firespirit]

1. Arghgh, just missed it

Ah well. Thanks anyway. :hi: