Lending To Small Businesses | featured news

President Barack Obama says Senate Republicans are playing politics with bills that would extend benefits to the unemployed and increase lending to small businesses.

Most banks have stopped toughening their lending standards for consumers and businesses, and manufacturing activity is at the highest levels in five years—both further signs of a strengthening U.S. economy.

President Barack Obama chastised Wall Street firms on Tuesday for resisting tighter regulations of their industry and said they had not done enough to boost lending to small businesses.