WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski (both D-MD) today applauded the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) release of $5.7 million in loans to 24 Maryland small businesses.  The Maryland loans were part of SBA’s approval of 1,939 loans totaling $970 million to small businesses nationwide.

Today’s action follows enactment of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which was signed into law on September 27.   The law provided funding for the extension of increased guarantees and reduced fees in SBA’s two largest loan programs. Small business owners have been waiting for additional funding and putting applications in the queue since the end of May, which was when authority for higher loan guarantees expired and Recovery loan funding was exhausted.

Senator Cardin, a member of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, co-sponsored the provision extending the higher loan limits on the Small Businesses Administration’s (SBA) loan programs.

“Small businesses are the heart of our nation’s economy and their ability to continue to access higher loan limits are the key to pulling our nation out of this recession,” said Senator Cardin. “Today’s action will make a big difference to Maryland businesses struggling to succeed in this difficult economic environment.”

“I fought for the Small Business Jobs Act because I know how small businesses help weave social fabric – by hiring local workers, providing services a community needs and lending a helping hand to neighbors,” Senator Mikulski said. “We know we can count on small businesses to create jobs, to help people who are in the middle class stay there and those who want to get there do so through hard work. I am so happy to see these loans going to people with a dream in their heart and the grit and determination to create jobs and grow the economy with jobs that can never be sent overseas.”

According to the SBA, from the passage of the Recovery Act in February 2009 through the end of September, these incentives for borrowers and lenders helped support nearly $30 billion in SBA-backed loans to nearly 70,000 small businesses.

A list of Maryland companies receiving loans is below: