Biden tells Ohio factory crowd that banks will expand business lending

9/20/2011

SOLON, Ohio — Vice President Joe Biden used an expanding small business in Ohio to highlight a commitment by 13 big banks to increase lending for small businesses by a combined $20 billion over the next three years.

Biden toured the Wrap-Tite packaging supply company in Solon near Cleveland and spoke to a factory-floor crowd of small business owners and bankers.

The company that hosted Biden used a $1.5 million Small Business Administration loan to buy a new production facility five times bigger than its two old locations. The company also expanded in the past year from 17 employees to 22.

The Republican National Committees says the Biden visit highlights shortcomings in an economic stimulus program that it says left Ohio losing jobs and its economy sputtering.