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WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he welcomed a Senate cloture vote to clear the hurdle for a bill of setting up a $30 billion fund to help small US businesses tide over a credit crunch.
Tuesday's vote with a tally of 61-37 brought the two parties one critical step closer to ending the month-long partisan blockade of the bill. This would "cut taxes and help provide loans to millions of small business owners who create most of the new jobs" in the United States, Obama said in a statement.
Obama urged all members of the Senate to support the final passage as soon as possible.
The Senate had taken a vital step forward to help provide small businesses with "the critical support they need to expand and hire in their local communities," US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday.
This bill is one part of the targeted initiatives that the administration put forth in recent weeks to shore up the US economy and speed up job creation.