Bev Perdue meets with Obama twice, seeks small business lending pool
In Washington, D.C., with the nation’s other governors for high-level talks, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said Monday afternoon that she is pushing for creation of a small business lending pool to help spark economic recovery.
“Recovery for Wall Street never made it to Main Street,” Perdue told reporters in a conference call after three days of talks, including two meetings with President Obama.
Asked if that meant she believed the federal stimulus plan had misfired, Perdue said she thinks federal intervention in 2008-09 had “saved the country from a tremendous catastrophe.” It’s in planning for “year two” of the recovery that, Perdue says, government officials need to work on finding ways of extending more credit into the small business community.
Without elaborating on the details of the pool proposal, which would involve the Small Business Administration, Perdue said, “we need more capital on the street.”
Another key topic, the governor said, has been the need for additional federal help for expanding Medicaid bills. Medicaid is the joint federal/state health program for lower income people.
Perdue says without additional help, including a onetime $152 million federal allocation announced last week, North Carolina would be looking at rising Medicaid bills that would cancel out the state’s ability to invest any more money in education and jobs.
“”Medicaid money is very important” Perdue says.
Other topics have surfaced during the trip, the governor added have included money for infrastructure projects, including rapid rail, the need for ports expansion in Wilmington and Morehead City and changes in global business patterns.