COP is holding a hearing on Wednesday, April 29 at 10:00 am at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Union. The hearing, “The Credit Crisis and Small Business Lending” examine credit markets for local small businesses, with a focus on the impact of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), on lending in Wisconsin.  The Congressional Oversight Panel will hear testimony from Wisconsin business owners and representatives of regional banks.

The Panel chose Milwaukee as the site of the hearing because the region is particularly vulnerable to tighter credit restrictions on small businesses, and thus is an ideal location to determine what, if any, impact TARP has had to this point on the availability of credit.  As a Midwestern manufacturing center, Milwaukee’s economy has struggled during the recent economic downturn.  112,000 jobs have been lost in Wisconsin during the last year, more than any year-to-year comparison since 1939.  Unemployment reached 9.4 percent in Wisconsin in March, surpassing the national rate, and bankruptcies are up 35 percent.    

Watch the Hearing