ASTA Offers Conditional Praise of Economic Stimulus Plan

ASTA is offering tepid praise for the $787 billion stimulus package, noting that the final version of the bill omitted a key provision to help restore small business lending. The provision, which was contained in the House-passed version of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, would have provided travel agents and other small business owners with rapid access to much-needed capital without having to face the administrative delays posed by the current SBA lending process.

Colin Tooze, vice president, government affairs for ASTA, said that ASTA had been working for a new Small Business Association loan. It had proposed that, in certain situations, the SBA be the direct lender, as opposed to being the entity backing loans small businesses get from banks.

A version of this was passed after 9/11 and Tooze says that ASTA believes saved hundreds of travel agencies. A provision for this type of SBA loan was in the House version of the stimulus package but not in the Senate version or in the version that ultimately passed and was signed by President Obama.

ASTA, however, is continuing to press for this type of loan. Chris Russo, ASTA’s president and chair, asked President Obama to call for the swift passage of legislation to expand the authority of the Small Business Administration to lend directly to small business owners.

The letter also praised the bill’s inclusion of provisions to increase secondary market liquidity for small business loans, increased funding for the “micro-loan” program, and fee reductions for existing SBA loan products.