If you want to have prosperity here, we really have to see our small businesses able to grow and compete around the world.

The 2009 stimulus law got the ball rolling, allowing the agency to reduce and eliminate fees and raise loan guarantees to 90 percent of the total. I knew that we had the opportunity to use S.B.A. products to fill that gap in a rapid manner, as we ended up doing in the Recovery Act.

I saw the S.B.A. with just enormous potential, and that's what I told the president - this is really a jewel.

Karen Mills Quotes