Reuters
WASHINGTON The Treasury is working on "a number of fronts" to use the government's $700 billion bailout fund to boost lending to small businesses, a senior Treasury official said on Wednesday, adding that tax incentives to boost hiring should be considered.
Gene Sperling, counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, told Senate Democrats that Congress should "consider with an open mind ideas to encourage small businesses to hire new workers."
"In so doing we should look at the jobs cycle, and ask whether at this moment as growth is reappearing there are tax incentives that could accelerate the pace at which companies move from adding hours for existing workers to hiring new employees," Sperling said in prepared remarks to the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
Sperling did not identify specific uses for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which has seen its resources grow in recent weeks as large banks scramble to repay tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout funds.
Geithner recently extended the bailout program until October 3, 2010.