Jamie Dimon: Small Businesses Remain Cautious
By David Benoit
April 12, 2013
J.P. Morgan and its Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon painted a bleak picture of the consumer and small business lending environment Friday morning.
The bank broadly beat estimates, with a 33% jump in profit to $6.53 billion for the first three months of the year. But the boosts didn’t come from the… Read more »
CQ Roll Call: SBA: GOP Favors Spending Cuts But Frets Over Tax Impacts
By Emily Holden
April 11, 2013
Fiscal conservatives are pleased that the president’s budget would trim spending on the Small Business Administration by nearly 12 percent, but Republicans say the proposal’s overall tax policy could counteract the SBA’s efforts.
Obama’s fiscal 2014 request includes more than $1… Read more »
Don't Expect Growth from Small Businesses; They've Hit a Wall
By Kent Hoover
April 9, 2013
The little engine that could just ran out of steam -- after three months of gains, an index of small business indicators dropped in March.
The National Federation of Independent Business reports its Small Business Optimism Index fell 1.3 points to 89.5. That's below the… Read more »
Tax reform has consistently been at the top of the list of priorities for small business owners. Over time our tax code has become increasingly complex and confusing and represents a burden to economic growth. Tax complexity is… Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C.—This morning, House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) appeared on Fox News to discuss the Obama Administration's recent proposal to delay the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOPs), which was touted as a key catalyst to spur competition and help reduce health care costs for small businesses. Many of the major provisions of the… Read more »
Small-Business Insurance-Shopping Feature Is Delayed
By Sarah E. Needleman and Louise Radnofsky
April 1, 2013
The Obama administration plans to delay a piece of the federal health law designed to help small businesses shop for insurance policies, citing the need for additional time to prepare.
The Small Business Health Options Program, or SHOP, is supposed to… Read more »
WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, House Small Business Subcommittee on Health and Technology Chairman Chris Collins (R-NY) appeared on the Fox Business Network to discuss yesterday's hearing on small businesses and cyber security. Although attacks on small businesses don’t make the headlines, a recent report shows nearly 20 percent of cyber-attacks are on small firms with less than 250… Read more »
No-Bid U.S. Government Contracts Jump 9% Defying Obama Direction
By Danielle Ivory
March 15, 2013
President Barack Obama in 2009 told federal agencies that no-bid contracts were “wasteful” and “inefficient.” Four years later, his administration spent more money on non-competitive contracts than ever before.
Federal agencies awarded $115.2 billion in no-bid contracts in… Read more »
Bloomberg BNA: Witnesses Tell House Panel Agencies Fail To Measure Rules' Small Business Impacts
March 14, 2013
By Stephen Lee
Federal regulators are not paying enough attention to the needs of small businesses and are ignoring legal requirements to modify their rules accordingly, witnesses and House Republicans said during a March 14 hearing.
The hearing before the Small… Read more »
Wall Street Journal: Camp Steps Up Small-Business Tax Push
By John D. McKinnon
March 12, 2013
House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp stepped up his push for a tax-overhaul bill on Tuesday, releasing a draft of legislation that could simplify how millions of small firms organize and operate for tax purposes.
For small businesses, the high cost of complying with today’s complex tax… Read more »