President Obama stops for breakfast with Iowa small business owners

8/17/2011

To kick off the second day of his Midwest bus tour, President Barack Obama attended a breakfast with a group of small business owners at Rausch's Cafe in Guttenberg, Iowa.

The five guests at the President's morning meal included the owners of the Rolling Hills Greenhouse and an IT entrepreneur. Obama's plans for fostering small business growth and stability were discussed, and according to the White House, it was an "opportunity for the President to hear directly from rural small business owners about their experiences and highlight the steps his administration has taken to assist them, including the new jobs initiatives announced today."

Those new plans include boosting investment funds to the U.S. Small Business Administration to bring SBA lending to more fledgling and expanding companies. The administration also plans to improve the Department of Labor's job searching and training services for rural areas - the White House estimates it will expand the programs to 2,800 locations across the country.

The next stop on the bus tour is the Rural Economic Forum at Northeast Iowa Community College in Peosta, Iowa, where he will be joined by SBA administrator Karen Mills to discuss economic growth and employment in rural communities.