to, you know, the corner office, being a doctor or lawyer, so that's been the aspiration, particularly in the last 50 years for families for their children to be successful. and i think that's beginning to break down to the point where even the haves, if you think of the haves and have-nots, even the haves are recognizing the degree -- the four-year degree is not necessarily achieving the american dream for them or their children. and it's becoming the afford ability issue -- it has kind of reached a fever pitch. and we're kind of looking at how jobs are changing and how quickly skills become obsolete. >> kathleen delaski, author of "who needs college anymore" on c-span's q&a. listen to q&a and all the podcasts on the c-span now app

or wherever you get your podcasts. >> small business administrator kelly love letter, senator joni ernest and senator roger williams announcing new regulations to double the amount of loan guarantees through the small business administration from $5 million to $10 million. here are their remarks from capitol hill. >> good afternoon. thanks for coming out. without further adieu, we'll get started. and it is wonderful to be here today alongside chairman williams and clarence to take a major step forward to rebuild american manufacturing on liberation day, president trump made a commitment to stand with american workers, rebuild our industrial base and our domestic supply chains. and it is already restoring our

national strength. just one month later 75 countries are at the negotiating table restoring fair trade. this administration is taking more steps to supercharge manufacturing. chair williams and ernest will introduce a new bipartisan bill that will double the s.b.a.'s maximum loan size for small manufacturers who represent 99% of all manufacturers across the united states. the made in america manufacturing finance act of 2025 will help accelerate the return to made in america, empowering small manufacturers with new capital for expansion and hiring. it means we'll accelerate production and expanding the new collar boom with manufacturing and millions of great jobs across communities that have been left behind.

our small businesses will be at the heart of restoring american industry, helping to restore our economy, and reduce our reliance on foreign adversaries like the chinese communist party. thank you to president trump, we are ending the tragic economic experiment over the last 30 years that hollowed out our communities, cost us millions and millions of jobs and closed down 70,000 factories. it's a new day. and at the s.b.a., we see the momentum in president trump's first 100 days, we've seen a 74% increase in manufacturing loans to small businesses. that represents about a hundred manufacturing loans approved each and every week during his term so far. now with the level playing field, our manufacturers will grow. and we're helping them with more capital to fuel a historic comeback. on behalf of the s.b.a., i want

to thank chairman williams and clarence for championing this bipartisan legislation. and we are so grateful to president trump for putting the american worker at the heart of his agenda by working with congress, this administration will restore made in the u.s.a. and put america's small business first. now i'm proud to enterostomy good friend and chairman of the house small business committee, roger williams. mr. williams: i want to say thank to you kelly l,o effler and senator ernest and working with friends and being a small business owner myself and a main street employer, i can't think of a better time to be involved in our business and start a business. i want to say thank you again to our leadership. i want to thank you as an event

to drive the america first agenda and main street america again. president trump gets it. we're lucky to have him as our leader. none of us have the idea how good this economy is going to be and the s.b.a. will have a large part in it. the benefits of this bill will advance the president's america first agenda and support s.b.a.'s made in america manufacturing initiative as we heard and strengthens the s.b.a.'s ability to support manufactureers' steep capital requirements. if you travel around the country, i think we all agree the small business, the one thing they're concerned about is access to capital it. this will have a chance to fix that. they'll have a chance to modernize their equipment and expand their operations and their work force development will grow and we'll put more people to work with more taxpayers and more revenue and supply a chain that will be better. the supply chain will come here from america which will be fantastic. so this whole thing supports good paying jobs and supports

good people and supports capitalism and supports entrepreneurship and the idea you can take risk in america and get reward again is back and what this country has always offered through the years and always will. i want to say it's going to be great working with senator ernest and administrator leffler. we're going to do great things. i know i'm not a pilot but they talked about cavu, seeing america without limit. and i want to say god bless my two friends and god bless main street america and god bless president trump and the greatest country in the world, america. sen. ernest: thank for you being here today. i'm so proud to join with president donald j. trump, administrator loeffler and my dear friend and baseball coach, roger williams. thank you, chair, very much. we are unleashing american

production and we are supporting our small businesses. so i am the very proud daughter of an iowa farmer and small business owner, and we have already seen a domestic -- whoa! there go my talking points. thanks, palmer. so we have -- thanks, chair. you weren't quick enough and why we have young staff members. >> i was getting it in my head. sen. ernest: we've seen a domestic manufacturing explosion under president donald j. trump in iowa and all across the united states. since he took office as ad mine straighter, loeffler said the s.b.a. reported a 74% surge in manufacturing loans. meanwhile, administrator loeffler has restored financial responsibility to s.b.a.'s loan programs. expansion on main street should

not be limited by government. and that's why our made in america manufacturing finance act doubles the loan limit from $5 million to $10 million. this gives our small manufacturers access to capital, the capital that they need to invest in new equipment and hire new employees. boosting american manufacturing strengthens the economy and our national security, which is something that's very important to all of us by decreasing our reliance on foreign nations and our adversaries. so you know what, folks, let's make made in america the norm instead of the exception. so thank you all very much. we look forward to taking a few questions. ok. we'll go ahead and open up. yes, sir. thank you.

[inaudible question] sen. ernest: absolutely. i can answer part of that and then toss is it over to administrator loeffler. for us this is the carrot. we know many of our small businesses and small manufacturers, this is for the little guy, not the big guy. so our small manufacturers really need access to capital. in the last administration we saw bidenflation and drove costs of expanding our businesses up so doubling the amount of loans, those individual loans, will make a huge difference. it is a carrot to bring manufacturing back into the united states. i'll toss it to administrator

loeffler to speak about the tariffs. #e ms. loeffler: what we're doing is using the stick with our allies and adversaries alike who have taken advantage of our country for far too long, and hollowed out small communities p. so we're looking at the tariff, the monetary and nonmonetary tariffs that impact the ability of small businesses to compete on a level playing field globally especially for american small businesses, export markets have closed because of the nontariff and monetary trade barriers. we have to get that back p. we're very focused on making sure we're providing the capital so they can grow. we just talked about a hundred manufacturing loans a week in the last 13 weeks. the other thing i'll say is tariffs are one part of the

economic agenda that president trump is so effectively executing p. we're talking tax cuts, deregulation under biden, $1.7 trillion in excessive regulation was piled disproportionately in the backs of small businesses and manufacturers and tariffs are one part of it. taxes, deregulation and ensuring we have a killed work force, low energy prices, these are things that willing benefit small businesses in the near term and the long term. chairman: i'm a car dealer and you want to talk about tariffs, you're talking about the guy here. chairman williams: let me say something more important. this is for the little guy, main street america. i travel all over the country and talk to people in business like me, they're not talking about tariffs, they need access to capital. they've got the idea and need the capital. this bill does that plus you

coupled it with tax cuts they're going to get. now you're cooking. so tariffs are one thing but most importantly, this access to capital is the biggest thing we can do for main street america. [inaudible question] he ms. loeffler: absolutely. we've taken a hard look both from a capital access lender perspective which means we work with our private sector partners. keep in mind, all s.b.a. loans come out through our local lenders across our communities in america, about 2500 banks do a thorough underwriting process and the banks, these are government backed loans but the banks would take the first loss.

these are loans that meet stringent underwriting standards of any banker. and then we've also evaluated our own loan portfolio in terms of how manufacturing loans perform, particularly the larger ones, some of the very best performing loans because they have access backing them up and typically used for growth. that's exactly what we're seeing across this country right now. we've met with over 250 manufacturers so far and we're just seeing tremendous demand for locally sourced, american sourced products. and the consumer wants to buy made in america and we're going to be continuing to roll out additional initiatives that support onshoring these supply chains so critical to our economic and national security. [inaudible question] sen. ernest: yes, absolutely. we have it introduced in the

house and senate. it is a bipartisan bill in the senate and i'm pleased to see senator chris koonce is my democratic co-sponsor. we'll have a democratic sponsor in the house as well p. we anticipate this is something we all do agree on and should move very quickly. i'm hopeful we can get this over the finish line and give it to the president as soon as possible because this is something american manufacturers need. again, it's for the small businesses, the small manufacturers and will make a difference in bringing back american manufacturing. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] sen. ernest: thank you, skipper. do you have a announcement about june 11? sen. williams: june 11 is our congressional baseball game that's been in place since 1909. you need to buy your tickets. they went on sale at 1:00 and i'm projecting, write it down,

we'll have 40,000 people here this year to watch the democrats and republicans. i'm not going to tell you who is going to win but i think you know who is going to win. sen. ernest: thank you, skipper. thanks, everybody, for coming. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2025] >> c-span, democracy unfiltered, funded by these television companies and more, including media com. >> dear future, we're on a mission to make small town america bigger than anyone dreamed. that's why at media com we're always pushing limits and increasing speeds and increasing liability and doing whatever it takes to happen. >> media c supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> c-span's washington journal, our live forum inviting you to

discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy, from washington to across the country. coming up friday morning, clyde wayne cruz, a fellow at the competitive prize institute discusses his organization's annual survey on the cost, scope, and transparency of federal regulations. and then jordan schwartz with the harvard youth poll talks about the latest survey of youth opinions on politics and what constitutes engagement and rachel jangafaza, talk about how generation z is responding to the trump administration. c-span's washington journal, join in the conversation live friday eastern, on c-span, c-span now, our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> n