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Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 4:59 pm Help for small business, condemnation for AIG bonuses download .mp4 | also available here | read transcript This morning the President discussed a sharp contrast. On the one hand, he invited hard working small business owners to the East Wing of the White House to discuss ways the government could help them stay above water. He lightheartedly lavished praise on the sandwich made for him by Marco Lentini, the owner of a small food company, and commended Cynthia L. Blankenship, a community bank owner who has not only been responsible, but has helped keep credit flowing to other small...

THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press Secretary _________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release                                           March 16, 2009REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS, COMMUNITY LENDERS AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESSEast Room 12:29 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. First of all, Marco, thank you for the wonderful introduction. I don't know if people heard properly here, but this is a all-natural health food restaurant in Philly. (Laughter.) So I asked him what was the equivalent at his shop for a cheese steak. (Laughter.) And he described for me -- what was it, a chicken --MR. LENTINI: It's our Chicken Italiano....

THE WHITE HOUSEOffice of the Press Secretary _________________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                   March 16, 2009President Obama and Secretary Geithner Announce Plans to Unlock Credit for Small Businesses Emphasizes Recovery Efforts Already Taken by SBA to Expand Access to Capital for Small Businesses WASHINGTON, DC – Today, as part of an effort Treasury Secretary Geithner first outlined in introducing the Financial Stability Plan (FSP) in February, President Obama and Secretary Geithner will announce plans to take immediate action to help ensure that credit gets flowing again to entrepreneurs and business owners. As another part of the Consumer and Business Lending Initiative,...

<p>Amid misgivings over his spending blueprint, President Barack Obama has decided to provide billions of dollars in federal lending aid aimed at struggling small business owners.</p> <p>The broad package of measures to be announced Monday includes $730 million from the stimulus plan that will immediately reduce small-business lending fees and increase the government guarantee on some Small Business Administration loans to 90 percent. The government also will take aggressive steps to boost bank liquidity with more than $10 billion aimed at unfreezing the secondary credit market, according to officials briefed on the plan who demanded anonymity to avoid pre-empting the president's announcement.</p>

Obama to announce new measures to boost lending for struggling small business owners WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid misgivings over his spending blueprint, President Barack Obama has decided to provide billions of dollars in federal lending aid aimed at struggling small business owners.

U.S. President Barack Obama will announce steps on Monday to make it easier for small business owners to borrow money, using $730 million in stimulus funds to cut lending fees, boost loan guarantees and expand other programs, officials said.