Washington, DC -- The following is a statement by Printing Industries of America in response to the Obama administration’s announcement of initiatives to assist small business economic recovery.

Printing Industries of America is encouraged by President Obama’s plan to unlock credit for small businesses. While some of Printing Industries of America’s members are large corporations with plants around the globe, most are smaller, locally focused businesses. Seventy-five percent of print plants employ fewer than 20 workers.

According to Printing Industries of America’s “Economic & Print Market Flash Report” (January 2009), which assessed printers’ credit availability, “One in five printers experienced either a modest or major reduction in credit to either finance equipment or expansion or fund expansions.” This finding was consistent with other metrics indicating the print market was on a downward slope toward recession, predicting “2008 will also be the worst year for print markets since 2001,” even during a year of increased workload from election-cycle printing.

However, yesterday’s announcement is only the beginning of several steps needed to relieve printers and businesses from an escalating credit crunch. Printers and other businesses need significant incentives for the investments necessary to fuel an economic recovery. These incentives must be coupled with significant short-term tax relief to help small business printers and their employees through the current economic crisis and then build a sustained recovery in the future.

Certainly, some of the administration’s initiatives are a step in the right direction. The proposal includes guidance and calls for implementation of the Recovery Act’s tax package for small business such as net operating loss carry-back, business expensing, bonus depreciation, and support for SBA lending programs. These provisions are a good start, but in the current economic climate, it's simply not enough.  We encourage the administration to consider additional tax proposals to help jump-start the industry’s economic recovery.

The Printing Industries welcomes President Obama’s interest in small business issues and will continue monitoring the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and will also call upon the administration and Congress to consider policy solutions that promote small business growth and success.