Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship chair Mary L. Landrieu lauded President Barack Obama's budget proposals for the Small Business Administration this week.

Obama has proposed increased funding for SBA and its programs for the second year in a row, following the preceding eight years of cuts. Funding would increase by $170 million to $994 million.

"As part of his budget, the president again showed his support for increasing the caps on small business loans as a way to provide small businesses with immediate capital to grow and hire workers," said Landrieu. The proposal originated with Landrieu and Olympia Snowe last year.

Landrieu also pledged her commitment to increase funding for critical counseling programs and the Federal and State Technology Partnership Program, which promotes small business innovation, particularly in rural areas.

The Obama administration and the SBA's proposal would increase the maximum loan size from $2 million to $5 million.

"When you talk to small businessowners in places like Allentown, Pennsylvania, or Elyria, Ohio, you find out that even though banks on Wall Street are lending again, they're mostly lending to bigger companies," said Obama in his State of the Union address last week, when he first outlined his plans for small businesses.