News aggregator

Today the President called on members of Congress to immediately pass a small business bill that has been held up by Senate Republicans.

New jobs numbers released this morning show that while we’re continuing to make progress on the economy—adding 67,000 private sector jobs in the 8th consecutive month of growth—businesses and workers are still hurting.

Loans for small businesses under the Recovery Act have successfully helped create jobs, but funds ran out in May. The Small Business Jobs Act would mean that more than 1,000 small businesses waiting for loans would be able to receive them.

Small Business Administrator Karen Mills explained on the White House blog:

Not only will the bill immediately help thousands of small business owners get access to capital, but it will also raise the limit on SBA loans from $2 million to $5 million, helping high-growth small firms who are ready to expand, franchisees who want to open a new location, and exporters who need to ramp up to meet a big order from abroad.

And on top of that, the bill has $12 billion in tax cuts for small businesses, including accelerated depreciation, eliminating capital gains on small business investments, and doubling the deduction for start-ups.  It’s fully paid for and both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses have praised the legislation.

In other words, this is a strong bill.  It has broad support.  It will give taxpayers a big bang for their buck.  And, it will benefit thousands of entrepreneurs and small business owners across the country, including the more than 1,000 who are right now waiting to get an SBA Recovery loan.

For OFA volunteers, this year's elections are just too important--and there's too much at stake--not to get involved. During last week's Moving America Forward Day of Action, thousands of supporters came out and knocked on more than 200,000 doors, talking with voters about the choices they'll face this November.

In Arizona:

Pima Community College student Joseu woke up at 4:00 a.m. for cross country practice and still made time to reach out to first-time 2008 voters, saying he wanted “to be a part of the change Arizona needs”

OFA Rhode Island writes:

“One volunteer, Kathy, hosted a canvass for the first time. ‘You know I've always been saying 'I don't have time, I don't have time,' but today, we're here together because this agenda is too important. It's time we all step up and do our part and I'm happy to have you over today to do just that.’

Another canvasser, Gale, walked door to door and reminisced of her last foray in political organizing: marching on Washington in the 1960's in support of women's rights and the Civil Rights Act.”

And folks in Missouri came out across the state:

“In Springfield, newly returning students to Missouri State canvassed neighborhoods surrounding the college to talk to folks about the importance of voting in November. In Columbia, US Senate candidate Robin Carnahan stopped by to fire up the crowd before going out to talk to neighbors on a beautiful and breezy Saturday afternoon. Sarah S. in Kansas City kept with tradition and held her weekly canvass and phonebank. Twelve excited volunteers showed up to walk in and around midtown Kansas City to talk about the importance of voting and getting engaged for this year’s midterm elections. In North St. Louis County, eight volunteers showed up ready to talk to neighbors, and upon their return, the owner of the shop had a cake waiting decorated with the ‘Hope’ logo on it. Who knew cake went so well with bottled water?”

You don’t have to wait for the next day of action to get involved—there are events happening each day all over the country. Find one near you and join in to help keep moving our country forward this November.