[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 43 (Monday, October 31, 1994)]
[Page 2151]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the Small Business Administration Reauthorization 
and Amendments Act of 1994

October 22, 1994

    Today I am pleased to sign S. 2060, the ``Small Business 
Administration Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 1994.'' This Act 
will reauthorize programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA) for 
fiscal years 1995 through 1997, make meaningful program revisions, and 
authorize important new initiatives. By doing so, the Congress and my 
Administration are carrying out the plans we began in 1993 to make the 
SBA a leaner, more efficient, more effective organization that is 
focused on meeting the needs of all small businesses.
    The Act will allow the SBA to continue to meet the growing demand 
for its loans and loan guarantees. This will help ensure that our 
Nation's small businesses have access to capital, which will enable them 
to prosper and create new jobs. The Act will also enable the SBA to 
expand and improve its innovative Microloan program, under which 
relatively small loans are provided to entrepreneurs by nonprofit 
intermediaries. Microloans are an important tool in the One-Stop-
Capital-Shops that the SBA is establishing to bring relief to 
disadvantaged communities in the Empowerment Zones and Enterprise 
Communities.
    With the changes provided by this legislation, the SBA will be able 
to harmonize its export loan program with that of the Export-Import Bank 
to carry out its role in the trade agenda I outlined in the Trade 
Promotion Coordinating Committee. Also of great importance is the new 
emphasis the legislation places on assistance to women business owners, 
who are now creating businesses at a faster rate than their male 
counterparts.
    Finally, S. 2060 will allow the SBA to provide relief from high 
prepayment penalties to borrowers under some of its programs. By 
revising the prepayment penalties and allowing the refinancing of these 
loans at more favorable interest rates, we will unleash the productive 
power of these companies by freeing up their resources for new 
production, new employment, and new contributions to our economy and tax 
base.
    Again, I am pleased to sign this legislation, which is of great 
significance to our Nation's small business women and men.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
October 22, 1994.

Note: S. 2060, approved October 22, was assigned Public Law No. 103-403. 
This statement was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
October 25.