US President Barack Obama headed to New Hampshire on Tuesday with an agenda to increase the job rate in the state.
A town hall meeting was set for the president, where he announced his proposal of investing $30 million on a small-business lending fund. This would recycle what was left of the Troubled Asset Relief Program funds into a programme that would allow community banks to avail themselves of cheap capital for small-business lending.
Over the past year, the credit state of large businesses has improved, but small businesses continue to struggle due to lack of capital needed to run their operations. Since half of American workers are employed by small companies, policymakers believe that the credit crunch is the reason for the high job loss.
If Obama’s proposed measure would be approved, banks with less than $10 billion in assets would be permitted to borrow money at a low dividend rate from the Treasury, provided that they use the money to offer more small-business loans than they did last year.
Political analysts commented that Obama’s visit to the city of Nashua may be part of the White House’s efforts to boost the administration’s political momentum, as more than 40% of the state’s voters are independents.
The trip on Tuesday was the president’s second visit to the state since taking office. Apart from the business proposal, attendees also asked questions related to education, government transparency, energy independence, and health care.
“We’re in the red zone. We’ve got to punch it through,” said Obama, referring to the long-overdue health care overhaul. “I do not quit. We are going to get that done.”
