billion small business lending fund. that would help increase the flow of credit to small companies that were hit hard by the decline in lending that followed the financial crisis. and last week i sent congress this legislation which now includes a new state small business credit initiative, an initiative that will help expand lending for small businesses and manufacturers at a time when budget shortfalls are leading a lot of states to cut back on vitally important lending programs. i ve also asked congress to work with us to extend and enhance sba programs that have helped small business owners get loans so they can create more jobs. that s our small business agenda, our jobs agenda. empowering small businesses so they can hire. now, i hear a lot of noise from some of our friends out there that say, this is nothing more than big government. i want everybody here to understand. i don t i, personally, don t think that giving tax cuts to businesses is big government.
following the financial crisis, and obviously small businesses are a major source of job creation. this morning we sent draft legislation to congress on this fund which now includes a new state small business credit initiative. this state initiative, which was designed with the help of governors and members of both the house and the senate, will help expand lending for small businesses and manufacturers at a time when budget shortfalls are leading states to cut back on vitally important lending programs. in addition, with state and local governments facing huge budget gaps, we re seeing lay layoffs of teachers, police officers, firefighters and other essential public servants which not only harms the economy, but also the community and the economy as a whole. so we are working with congress to find ways to keep our teachers in the classrooms, the police officers on the beat, and firefighters on call. a few months ago i also proposed giving people rebates to upgrade the energy efficienc
i called for a $30 billion small business lending fund, which would help increase the flow of credit to small companies hit hard by the decline in lending that followed the financial crisis. obviously small businesses are a major source of job creation. this morning we sent draft legislation to congress on this fund, which now includes a new state small business credit initiative. this state initiative, which was designed with the help of governors and members of both the house and the senate will help expand lending for businesses and manufacturers at a time when budget short falls are leading states to cut back on vitally important lending programs. in addition, with state and local governments facing huge budget gaps, we re seeing layoffs of teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other essential public servants, which not only harms the economy but also the community and the economy as a whole. so we are working with congress to find ways to keep our teachers in the classrooms
news and so our caroline schively is up early to explain this. hey, caroline. good morning, guys. just out this morning, the president has a new proposal that congress pass two temporary expansions of lending programs. now, there are a lot of numbers here. if you have a small business or work for one, it could really affect you. here s what he wants the small business administration to do. one, increase support for owner occupied commercial real estate loans and two, increase the cap on s.b.a. express loans from $350,000 to a million. when it comes to those loans, the government would take on a bigger share of financing off the hands of lenders encouraging them to basically loosen up the money. with the goal that almost 19 billion in real estate won t be foreclosed or liquidated. those two ideas on top of the president s proposal to eliminate capital gains for small businesses this year. a $5,000 tax credit for every new job, a raise given by a small business plus an extra $30 billio