WASHINGTON

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) made the following statement in response to President Obama’s speech today on the credit problems facing small businesses: “The President is exactly right to focus on getting credit flowing again by extending aid to our economy’s number-one job creator, America’s small businesses. But it would be a shame to see these potential gains erased by his plans to increase taxes on Americans. Pushing now, in the middle of a recession, for what is effectively a national sales tax on electric bills and on gasoline purchases would increase costs to small businesses.”