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Focus on Small Businesses Will Aid Sluggish Economy (Sen. Olympia Snowe)

by Maine GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe - 01/22/08 12:43 PM ET

At the outset, I would like to say that I agree wholeheartedly with President Bush and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that we must respond to the current economic slowdown with a well-timed stimulus package.

Undoubtedly, we are confronted by myriad economic challenges. We have unemployment that surged from 4.7 to 5 percent in just the month of December alone and private payroll declined while employment in manufacturing and retail trade also “decreased significantly
Make no mistake, we must help hardworking individuals like this woman, and, as we do, we will also boost the economy – and in that light, the case for Congress to act could not be clearer. As Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke testified before the House Budget Committee this past week, “a fiscal stimulus package should be implemented quickly and structured so that its effects on aggregate spending are felt as much as possible within the next twelve months or so.