WASHINGTON – President Bush signed into law Thursday a bill sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, that aims to aid National Guard and Reserve veterans who own small businesses.

“As alarming numbers of our Guard members and reservists continue to selflessly answer their nation’s call to duty, we in Congress must similarly fulfill our responsibility to protect their livelihoods back home,” Snowe said.

The new law is intended to augment government spending on veterans and increase their access to procurement and franchising opportunities; increase the number of veteran outreach centers across the country, including ones specifically for small businesses; streamline and expand the loan program for veterans, including offering loans of up to $50,000; and improve outreach and business training available to women veterans.

Snowe, the senior Republican on the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, sponsored the measure along with committee chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., last year and it was passed earlier this year.

“This new law gives America’s veterans and reservists some deserved economic security after they’ve put their lives on the line for our national security,” said Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine, a member of the House Small Business Committee and a supporter of the new law.

The law includes a Michaud-authored provision intended to improve the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program by increasing the time in which a returning reservist may apply for a loan from 90 days to one year.

“Extending the time our returning reservists have to apply for this loan is crucial. Many reservists are small-business owners and they often need more than three months to get their small businesses back up and running,” Michaud said. “An arbitrary deadline shouldn’t stand in the way of any returning soldier.”

In Maine, there are 142,205 veterans, according to the Census Bureau.

Reservists who own their own businesses lose 55 percent of their income when they go overseas, said Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., a member of the House Small Business Committee and the sponsor of the House bill. Often soldiers come home to find their businesses in debt because of their absence and they struggle to sustain their companies and their families. Others return to find that their company went belly-up while they were gone.

“Our veterans who put their lives on the line for our national security deserve economic opportunity when they come home,” Kerry said. “This bipartisan achievement is one small way we can repay them for their hard work and sacrifice.”