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A small Lanham business that provides mechanical services for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems was the backdrop for President Obama's announcement Friday that he is proposing more federal help for such companies.
Since it opened in 2003, Oasis has already received government help in the form of two Small Business Administration loans, including a $35,000 loan through the American Recovery and Reinvestment stimulus package last year.
Owners Rick Cummings and Dennis Bean used that loan to pay off their high-interest debt. Previously, they used an SBA loan to get their business off the ground with startup capital and equipment.
Obama on Friday proposed legislation to help small businesses refinance real estate loans with help from the SBA and raise the cap on SBA loans. He spoke in the company's warehouse, where Cummings and Bean were joined by SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills and two more small-business owners, Ruth Gresser of Pizzeria Paradiso in Washington, D.C., and Willem Polak of Potomac Riverboat Co. in Alexandria, Va. Both Gresser and Polak have received SBA loans.
All four entrepreneurs spoke with the president during a private roundtable at Oasis before Obama's 10-minute talk.
He described Cummings and Bean as "experts" in their field and joked that he was "a little upset" with Gresser because she did not bring pizza samples.
"These folks know, as every living soul in America does, that these have been tough years," Obama said.
He spoke about progress made in overcoming the recession, pointing out new figures released today showing that the nation lost 20,000 jobs in January, compared with 800,000 jobs lost in January 2009.
Obama pitched the new initiatives for using SBA loans to help refinance owner-occupied commercial real estate loans and increasing the borrowing cap on certain agency loans from $350,000 to $1 million. He also pointed to his proposed $5,000 tax credit for every new hire for a business.
"There are limits to what the government can do to create jobs," Obama said, adding that real job creation lies in the hands of small businesses, the nation's economic engine. "What the government can do is fuel that engine.
"There's still people like Rick, Dennis, Willem and Ruth who haven't given up. In that determination, that resolve, you embody what's best in America and continue making America stronger," Obama said.