Senator Chuck Grassley made the following comment after the Small Business Administration (SBA) responded to a letter sent by Grassley along with Senators Tom Harkin, John Kerry and Olympia Snowe regarding the rewarding of loans to victims of the historic floods and tornados. A copy of the letter from the SBA is attached.
Grassley said that he will continue to keep an eye on the Small Business Administration and encourages any Iowans who have had difficulty with the agency to contact his offices throughout Iowa or in Washington, D.C.
"Following the historic floods and tornados, we worked to ensure that Iowans were treated fairly and received the help they needed. We wrote to the SBA to determine if the high interest rates given by the SBA were a burden and a disincentive for many businesses seeking help from the federal government. While the SBA hasn't changed the policy, it's a positive development that they will go back with added urgency and sensitivity and look at the businesses that got the higher interest loans. It's important to ensure that the SBA isn't creating a hardship for those businesses."