June 2009 Franchising World
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (DNev.) told IFA President and CEO Matthew Shay that a new small-business stimulus package will be released within six weeks. Reid made the remarks in a response to a question from Shay during a National Journal “Power Breakfast” meeting last week in Washington, D.C.
Shay pointed out to the Majority Leader that of the $800 billion in the stimulus package recently passed by Congress, only one-tenth of one percent was allocated to help the smallbusiness sector. He asked the senator if he agreed that Congress and the administration should do more to help improve access to credit for small businesses. Reid responded that during a congressional briefing with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, most of the questions asked were how the administration was going to do more for small businesses. Geithner told the audience that a program would be up and running in six weeks.
“We look forward to learning more about the administration’s proposal to help small businesses and are hopeful that it includes many of the recommendations we have made to Congress and the administration,” Shay said following the meeting. “Leveraging the economic engine of franchise businesses will result in hundreds of thousands of new jobs and tens of billions of new economic output for our economy. That’s a return on investment that taxpayers deserve.”
Sponsored by IFA and three other trade associations, the Power Breakfast attracted nearly 200 policy insiders. It is a component of IFA’s intensive public awareness campaign, designed to showcase franchising’s economic impact among key national policymakers. The event coincided with the launch of the association’s 2009 advertising campaign, which will appear in premiere Capitol Hill media including National Journal, Congressional Quarterly and Roll Call. The ads, available for viewing on IFA’s Web site, feature Dunkin’ Brands Executive Chairman Jon Luther and Boston area franchisee Duke Carvalho and highlight new data from recently released study conducted by FRANdata Corp. for the IFA Educational Foundation that shows the importance of credit availability to the growth of franchising. The ads also call for Congress to focus on policies help banks resume small business lending.
A video presentation of the Power Breakfast that aired on C-Span is available here. Shay’s question to Reid is located at the 45:31 time mark.