Springfield, PA – Representative Bryan Lentz, the Democratic nominee for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7^th Congressional District, and U.S. Senator Bob Casey hosted a roundtable discussion for small business owners in Brookhaven on Monday. The meeting was attended by owners and executives representing a range of industries from around the region, including banking, renewable energy and manufacturing. The round table was the fourteenth stop on Representative Lentz’s 10-week, 25-stop economic listening tour of the District.

During the meeting, Senator Casey called for Congress to pass the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010, legislation that provides small businesses with access to loans that is still pending in Congress due to a Republican filibuster earlier this summer.

Senator Casey and Representative Lentz used the roundtable to field concerns of local business owners and to share their ideas for encouraging small businesses to create jobs. Many of the business owners at the meeting from companies like American Crane & Equipment, Community Energy and Container Research Corporation, said that they wanted to make investments in their businesses to expand and improve their operations but were having difficulties accessing capital from local banks.

“Our small business owners are the largest providers of new jobs and we need to make sure we have policies in place that encourage them to continue to innovate and grow and create more good-paying jobs,” Lentz said. “Access to capital is a key part of that effort, and we need to make sure that we are passing legislation, like the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act, that meets that need.”

Senator Casey has been a leading advocate for Wall Street reform and programs that have helped generate jobs. He has introduced and supported legislation that has provided companies with tax breaks for hiring new workers, loan guarantees for small businesses, funding for job training, and help for homeowners struggling with the threat of foreclosure.

“Small businesses are the engines of our economy and job growth,” said Senator Casey. “Representative Lentz understands the imperative to listen to and then advocate for small businesses.”

Lentz has been touring local businesses as part of a 10-week, 25-stop economic listening tour that he launched at the end of July. The next stop on the tour will be a town hall forum on jobs and the economy in Crum Lynne tomorrow night.

Lentz has already introduced a five-point proposal for generating job growth, including giving companies incentives to invest and expand, and providing educational opportunities to train employees in fields where demand is growing, like math and engineering. He said he would use the ten-week tour of businesses in Delaware, Chester and Montgomery counties to further fine tune his proposal to target the demands of local businesses and working families.

Lentz has made saving and creating jobs the cornerstone of his campaign for Congress. He is the only candidate with a published plan to get our economy moving again and the only candidate who supports Wall Street reform and the creation of a consumer financial protection agency to ensure another collapse does not happen.  Lentz has also pledged to end tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas while his opponent Pat Meehan has signed a pledge that has bound him to oppose legislation that has been introduced to end those tax breaks.

A former Airborne Ranger, criminal prosecutor and Iraq War veteran, Bryan Lentz currently serves in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Delaware County. He was awarded both the Bronze Star for Service and the War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal for his military service. He lives in Swarthmore with his wife Jennifer and their son Thomas.