Kerry Pledges Oversight Of Business Lender

In light of new reports about the Department of Agriculture buying back $34 million in bad business loans made by Business Loan Center, LLC (BLX), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) raised concerns and promised aggressive oversight of the country's largest
small business lender, according to a statement released by the panel Kerry leads, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee.

Last month, Kerry held a hearing to examine the Bush administration's oversight of small business lenders in the wake of a $76 million fraud scheme with loans originated by BLX, the statement says.

"I'm gravely concerned that there is a pattern of bad loans from BLX. When BLX testified last month, they said they were victims and the bad loans were isolated. BLX and the administration claimed they've got the lending problems under control. I don't think they do. Here they are again costing the taxpayers millions," says Kerry, chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. "The Administration needs to do better oversight and act fast to recover this money and prevent more losses. I will continue to push BLX and the Administration to get to the bottom of this and ensure that small business and rural economic development
financing is available to eligible and deserving firms that drive our economy and keep America competitive."

The Small Business Lending Oversight and Program Performance Improvements Act (S. 2288) will ensure that the Small Business Administration fully assesses the quality and performance of lender portfolios so that these loan programs remain strong and benefit small businesses to the greatest extent possible, the committee statement says. The National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders and the National Association of Development Companies both support the bill, the statement adds.

Watch more breaking news now on our video feed:



Bookmark http://onthehillblog.blogspot.com/ and drop back in for more news from the nation's capital.