WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden has sworn in Maria Contreras-Sweet as the new head of the Small Business Administration.
President Barack Obama also attended part of the ceremony on the White House campus. He says Contreras-Sweet knows the challenges businesses face first-hand and has a track record in helping them.
Contreras-Sweet says entrepreneurs are the difference-makers in the U.S. economy and that SBA plays a pivotal role in helping them overcome hurdles.
The Senate easily approved Contreras-Sweet last month on a voice vote. The Mexican-born Contreras-Sweet immigrated to the U.S. when she was five years old, and founded a Latino-owned bank in Los Angeles.
Biden says Contreras-Sweet is living proof that anything can happen in America. He says the Hispanic business community is "absolutely central" to economic growth in the U.S.
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