Sen. Maria Cantwell laid out a route for Washington state’s economic recovery Friday, and she said it’s marked with two important signposts.
Small businesses and the aerospace industry.
Cantwell addressed business leaders at an Everett Chamber of Commerce luncheon Friday. She talked about the Mariners a little — delicately sidestepping a question about whether this season can be saved — and bantered with Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson.
But niceties aside, the senator said she has two priorities: getting community banks lending to small businesses and keeping the aerospace industry competitive.
Both issues hit close to home for Snohomish County businesses. Two community banking companies — Frontier Financial Corp. and City Bank — were shuttered and sold by regulators this spring.
Meanwhile, the Boeing Co. continues to war with other aerospace companies. And losing that war could result in lost jobs for local engineers and technicians.
“We have a challenging economy — no doubt about it,” Cantwell said.
She’s urging the federal government to help community banks invest in small businesses, a prospect that has grown more difficult since regulators placed more stringent requirements on bank investments.
That dynamic between capital requirements and small-business lending is “our continual challenge,” said Cantwell.
She said small banks tend to be overshadowed by financial giants, many of which are under harsh pressure to increased small-business investment after taking government bailouts.
“If we are going to help protect business here in this state, we need to make sure there is an equal investment into community banks,” she said.
She also reiterated her stance on Boeing competitor Airbus, which the World Trade Organization recently said is improperly subsidized by the European Union.
“It distorts what true competition is,” she said.
Know a small business we should write about? Contact Herald writer Amy Rolph at arolph@heraldnet.com.
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