President biden marked National Small business week with remarks on the white house on his administrations efforts to support Small Businesses. He addressed the sale of First Republic bank which government regulators seized and sold off to j. P. Morgan chase, the third major bank to fail in 2023. He was joined by Vice PresidentKamala Harris and Small Business administration administrator, isabel guzman. Please welcome they Small Business administrator, isabel guzman. Good afternoon and happy Small Business week. Welcome all of our Small Businesses to the white house. It is incredible to be here. It is one of the highest honors to be celebrated here in the white house rose garden and it demonstrates what i see every day serving as your voice in the biden harris administration, that this president and Vice President are committed to ensuring our economy works for Small Businesses and startups across the country and highlights our unwavering commitment to delivering the American Dream of Business Ownership to more americans. I am so excited to have this position. I told President Biden he gave me the best job, leading the Small Business administration, i grew up in a Small Business, there is no place more inspiring than any main street, any startup Innovation Hub or small Manufacturing Center where i get to hear inspirational stories from entrepreneurs like all of you who have overcome obstacles, never given up and have an outsized impact on our economy. I know how hard you work to do what you do best, which is create jobs, innovate and liver products and this National Small business week, we are celebrating your resilience. Congratulations s b a Small Business winners of 2023. Thats right. Congrats to you all. [applause] when President Biden took office, our nation was still reeling from the pandemic. You all faced unprecedented challenges, made hard choices and pivoted and adapted to survive. The president took swift action to fight the pandemic and helped millions of our Small Businesses survive with the American Rescue plan and its critical covid relief for Small Businesses. And your perseverance helped drive one of the most historic economic comebacks weve ever seen. And now this president and this Vice President are working hard to make sure our Small Businesses continue to survive and thrive by investing in america and creating billions of dollars of opportunity dollars in contracts and savings from poor Small Businesses that they will get from investments in infrastructure pathways to growth by making more in america with American Manufacturing and domestic supply chains and increased sustainability. As we build a Clean Energy Economy of the future, investing in america is driving a Small Business boom like no other in history. Millions of entrepreneurs with great ideas are taking that leap of faith to jump in and start up in america. The same leap that each of you took before during this National Small business week, we will amplify these Great Success stories. Learn and collaborate together to strengthen entrepreneurship in this country and inspire all of our great Small Businesses across the country to keep going as we need you all to spur the future economy and our nations global competitiveness. So everyone let the white house kick off of National Small business week begin. Thank you, the president of the thank you. [hail to the chief playing] the president of the United States, accompanied by the Vice President of the United States and ms jill scarborough. Good afternoon, everyone. Please have a seat. Good afternoon. Well, happy Small Business week to everyone and congratulations to all of you. [cheering] it is a great honor to be with these extraordinary americans who are our incredible Small Business leaders. And of course, it is great to be with our administrator, isabelle guzman. And i thank you for your work and a special thank you to our president joe biden. [cheering] our president has long been a leader on this and so many other issues, but hes quite passionate about this one. And i will tell you working with him and having the honor of doing that no matter what room he is in when the cameras are on or when they are off. President biden is always fighting for americas Small Business owners and entrepreneurs. And so we all thank him, of course, for his leadership in that regard, Small Business owners are the backbone of americas economy. [cheering] [applause] through your creativity, tenacity and determination, you help create prosperity and opportunity for millions of people in our country. Our Small Business owners are Business Leaders and our Small Business owners are Community Leaders and civic leaders. You train young people and hire locally. You support the local softball team. You are role models and mentors. And ill tell you, ive seen it my whole life growing up. My mother worked long hours and long days and weekends from time to time. And when she did, my sister maya and i would go a couple of doors over to miss sheltons house. So miss shelton ran a Nursery School and we actually lived in the apartment above the Nursery School. And mi shelton was our second mother. She was a Small Business owner and i would not be here today without her because you see mrs shelton was a fixture in our community. She gave support and advice to the young parents in the neighborhood and folks who were going through challenges just as so many of you do. And as District Attorney of San Francisco in my career as attorney general of california and the United States senator. And now as Vice President , i have worked with and met with thousands of Small Business owners, folks like you who are here who fight every day to build a Better Future for the people you love, for the community, you call home and for our country, you power, the ambition and aspirations of our nation. And that is why we are fighting every day to make sure you have the resources and the support that you need. For example, we know there are so many Small Businesses owners who hire employees but want to hire more because your business is growing, Small Business owners who want to stock the shelves and make sure you have enough in terms of the supply. So that you can do what you need to do in your community. Small Business Owners who need more capital because you want to design a new product or build a new store, but who cannot because you dont have access to capital. And so building on the work that i did as a United States senator, our administration is investing billions of dollars in community banks, which are the institutions that help provide capital and Financial Support to Small Business owners in particular, those in overlooked and underserved communities including our rural communities. Whats more . Last year, we built an historic Public Private partnership to help address this issue. We partnered with consumer banks, investment firms, Technology Companies and philanthropies to combine the expertise and experience of the private sector with the reach and capacity that can only be provided by the government. As a result, we have secured tens of billions of dollars in private Sector Investment for Small Businesses and communities across america and and we are just getting started. [applause] so with your support, President Biden and i will continue to fight to make sure every Small Business owner in our nation. And every aspiring Small Business owner has the opportunity to not only survive but thrive. And with that, please join me to welcome to the microphone, a leader who exemplifies the excellence of all the Small Business owners who are here today. Jill scarborough. [applause] hi, my name is jill scarborough and my business is Bright Futures learning services. I grew up a poor dyslexic girl in rural southern West Virginia and it was my familys passion and commitment to make sure that i got the services that i needed to be able to read that ignited my passion to help other children with specific learning challenges, get the services that they needed to. So i went to college at Marshall University as a special Education Teacher and as tends to happen with girls who go to college, i met a boy who changed my life. He was six years old and his name is mike mccoy and i think theyre watching today. So, hi, mike. Um and hi bev. Um mike was born with several health and learning challenges including a hearing impairment, a Mental Health impairment as well as autism spectrum disorder. But mike is blessed with an incredible mom named bev, who did the research to see how she could best help her child. And she through her research, learned about the power of applied Behavior Analysis a b and so, bev worked with another small group of moms in West Virginia to fly in. Experts from california who trained them who then recruited anybody they can find. So College Students like me and we trained in home to implement ad a therapy. And so with our hard work, mike made so much progress, he learned how to communicate at first through sign language and augmentative communication. And then yes, with his voice, he learned how to play. He learned how to connect and he learned how to read. And so after seeing what i could help someone like mike accomplish, i knew thats what i had to do. And so fast forward after going to graduate school and coming home back home to West Virginia, um we started Bright Futures learning services technically as a private school for mike in my grannys kitchen. Um and then a powerful group again of, of moms and women who work to pass legislation um largely thanks also to the Affordable Care act. Um our children with autism had coverage and then specifically applied Behavior Analysis coverage. Um and so with that Bright Futures was born and i wanna thank the president and the Vice President for your Small Business friendly policies that truly without the support of the s b a and the resources that were available to us, Small Businesses like mine would not have survived through covid. And so because of those resources, we now are employing 48 team members that are the hardest working, most caring people that make a difference in childrens lives. Every day. And so because of them and the families and the children that we have the immense pleasure to work with. I know that Bright Futures continues to have a very bright future. [applause] and now please join me in welcoming a true champion for Small Business. The president of the United States, joe biden. [laughter] [applause] good morning, good afternoon and start before we start. Ah, im pleased to say that the regulators have taken action to facilitate the sale of First Republic bank and im sure that all depositors are protected and the taxpayers are not on the hook. These actions are going to make sure that the Banking System is safe and sound and that includes protecting Small Businesses across the country who need to make payroll for workers and their Small Businesses. And so let me be very clear while depositors are being protected, shareholders are losing their investments and critically taxpayers are not the ones that are on the hook. As i said earlier, going forward, ive called on congress to give regulators the tools to hold Bank Executives accountable. And ive called on regulators to strengthen regulations and supervision of large and regional banks and folks. Ah, we have to make sure that were not back in this position again and i think were well on our way to be able to make that assurance. And, ah, as i said to, ah, my introducer jill a moment ago, shes really impressive. [applause] and, uh, and the guy sitting next to her, if you disagree with me, its her husband and you are in deep trouble. Welcome, man. Speaking of Small Business, you got your own Small Business. I thank you. Look, ah, folks, we, ah, weve got a lot to do and the most immediate thing we can do is ensure the continued reliance of our economy and the Financial System and most important thing we have to do in that regard is to make sure the threat by the speaker of the house to default on the National Debt is off the table for over 200 years. Off the table. For over 200 years america has , never, ever, ever failed to pay its debt to put in the capital and colloquial terms. America is not a dead beat nation. We have never ever failed to meet the debt and as a result, one of the most respected nations of the world, we pay our bills and we should do so without reckless hostage taking from some of the mega republicans in congress. M aga republicans in congress. And, ah, and folks, ah, now for the reason were here, were all here today because i want to thank jill and all of you and jill was last years widow, as winner as you all know, for her introduction and for the hope your business gives so many families that are so badly needed. They really do. My daughters a social worker working with abused women and philadelphia and, ah, its her passion, but theres so much we can do if we just have the wherewithal to reach out. You know, thanks to administrator guzman for leading this historic effort to support Small Businesses all across america. And i want to thank Vice President harris whos doing such an expanded entrepreneurship in underserved communities throughout america. Talking about what impact it has on those underserved communities. And congratulations and congratulations to the National Small business week award winners, your models of grit and heart drive and determination, all the virtues and its not hyperbole that literally built america. This week we celebrate that same unstoppable spirit in every entrepreneur nationwide. Small businesses are the engine of our economy, the glue, they really are the glue, the heart and soul of communities and most citizens dont know it is that you Small Business owners, you account for 40 . Let me say it again. 40 of the Gross Domestic Product of america, Small Businesses, not mega corporations, Small Businesses. You enjoy nearly half employ nearly half of all private sector workers. Thats i dont think people know that. I dont think they understand the cons