U.S. President Barack Obama has announced new help for small business owners who have been hard hit by the economic downturn. He is taking steps to ease the credit shortage that is prompting many small businesses to cut back operations or close their doors.
美国总统奥巴马宣布，政府将为在经济衰退中受到沉重打击的小企业提供新的帮助。许多小企业由于信贷紧缩而削减生产或关门，奥巴马将采取措施缓解信贷问题。
The president says small businesses are the heart of the U.S. economy.
奥巴马总统说，小企业是美国经济的心脏。
"They are responsible for half of all private sector jobs," said Mr. Obama. "And they created roughly 70 percent of all new jobs in the past decade."
他说：“小企业占整个私营领域的一半，在过去十年中，大约70%的新工作是小企业创造的。”
But across the country, small businesses are in trouble. Right now the biggest challenge many face is access to credit - the ability to get loans at affordable rates.
不过，美国全国各地的小企业正处于困境。目前，许多小企业面临的最大挑战是无法以它们能承受的利率获得贷款。
The government's Small Business Administration already provides some help by backing loans from community banks. The SBA recently expanded that program and cut lending fees. The president says as the next step, the Treasury Department will step in to buy small business loans from banks, giving them capital that can then be used for more loans.
为了帮助小企业，美国联邦小企业署已经在通过对社区银行贷款的支持来为小企业提供帮助。最近，小企业署扩大了这一项目，并降低了贷款费用。奥巴马说，下一步就是美国财政部购买银行为小企业提供的贷款，从而向银行注入资本，使银行能向外发放更多贷款。
"Any lender that provides SBA small business loans will have a buyer for those loans," he said. "And in turn, community banks will no longer have to choose between providing loans to credit-worthy small businesses and maintaining the required capital and liquidity."
他说：“所有为小企业贷款的银行都有一个买这些贷款的买主。这样，社区银行就不需要在下面两者之间作出选择：是贷款给信用好的小企业呢，还是保持必须的资本和流动性。”
The Obama administration has been especially attuned to criticism that it is not doing enough for small business, and focusing too much on helping big corporations and financial firms.
有人批评奥巴马政府帮助小企业不足，而是把过多精力集中在帮助大公司和金融机构上。奥巴马政府特别针对这些批评调整了政策。
As the president was preparing to make his remarks at the White House, outrage was building over word a major American insurance company, AIG, was going ahead with millions of dollars in bonus payments to its executives. Those payments were being made as the floundering company received billions of dollars in government aid to avoid bankruptcy.
就在奥巴马准备在白宫发表讲话时，人们对美国保险业巨头“美国国际集团”仍然准备给公司高管发放数百万美元奖金的消息表示愤怒。濒临破产的美国国际集团在支付这些奖金的同时从政府得到了数十亿美元的救助款。
The president said the Treasury Department will do what it can to block the bonuses.
奥巴马说，财政部将在其职权范围内尽力阻止美国国际集团支付这些奖金。
"In the last six months, AIG has received substantial sums from the U.S. Treasury," added Mr. Obama. "I have asked Secretary [Tim] Geithner to use that leverage and pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole."
他说：“在过去六个月中，美国国际集团从财政部获得了大笔救助款。我已经要求财政部长盖特纳利用些优势，并通过所有法律手段阻止美国国际集团支付这些奖金，确保美国纳税人的利益。”
Meanwhile, Mr. Obama's political supporters are launching a grass-roots effort to win public support for his economic policies. Working from an e-mail list of millions of voters who supported his presidential campaign, they will focus on putting pressure on Congress to approve his $3.55 trillion budget for 2010.
与此同时，奥巴马的许多政治支持者展开了基层行动，为他的经济政策赢取公众支持。他们向在总统竞选期间支持奥巴马的数百万名选民发送电子邮件，主要呼吁他们向国会施压，要求国会批准奥巴马的3万5千5百亿美元2010年预算案。
Republicans say that budget shows the president is not really serious about helping small business. The number-two Republican in the House of Representatives, Eric Cantor of Virginia, said Sunday Mr. Obama's budget would raise income taxes on many small business owners and entrepreneurs.
共和党人说，这一预算案说明，总统并不想尽全力帮助小企业。众议院共和党二号人物、维吉尼亚州议员坎特星期天说，奥巴马的预算计划将提高许多小企业主和企业家的所得税。
"We have got to do something to help these small business people. We know that they are the job creators in this economy," he said. "And the problem with, I think we are seeing out of the Obama administration, is a lack of focus on how to get things going again."
他在全国广播公司的“面对媒体”节目上说：“我们必须做点什么来帮助这些小企业主。我们知道，美国经济中的就业机会是靠小企业创造的。而奥巴马政府的问题是在恢复经济的过程中缺乏重点。”
Cantor spoke on the NBC news program Meet the Press. |