E&E News: House GOP calls on admin to withdraw Clean Water Act rule until impact on small business is assessed By Annie Snider Friday, May 23, 2014 Republican members of the House Small Business Committee are accusing the Obama administration of ducking its obligations to assess the impact on small entities of a major regulatory proposal dealing with the scope of the Clean Water… Read more »

EPA Open to Revising Economic Analysis Of Proposed Jurisdiction Rule, Adviser Says By Amena H. Saiyid, Bloomberg Government The Environmental Protection Agency remains open to revising the cost-benefit analysis of the proposed rule that would clarify the extent of Clean Water Act jurisdiction over the nation's waters, an agency adviser said May 22. “Like all aspects of the… Read more »

Contracting Provisions in the House Defense Bill By David Hansen and Jeff Kinney, Bloomberg Government Service-disabled veterans would have to navigate less bureaucracy before winning government contracts under legislation that’s been folded into the House defense authorization.  The appeals process for small business programs intended to benefit those veterans would be… Read more »

House FY 2015 Defense Authorization Bill Includes Contracting Provisions to Help SBs Bloomberg Government The fiscal year 2015 defense authorization bill (H.R. 4435) the House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to mark up May 7 includes language to increase small firms' access to federal contracting programs. Included in the measure is language: • restricting use of reverse… Read more »

Week Ahead for the Committee: April 28-May 2 Committee to Hold Hearing on Duplicative SBA Initiatives WASHINGTON, DC – The House Small Business Committee, chaired by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), today announced the schedule for the week of April 28, 2014:   On Wednesday, April 30, at 1:00 p.m., the Small Business Committee will conduct a hearing titled SBA-created Initiatives: Necessary… Read more »

‘Waters of the U.S.' Rule Burdens Small Business: House Committee Bloomberg Government On its website to alert small businesses to burdensome federal regulations, the House Small Business Committee added April 23 the recently proposed rule that would assert Clean Water Act jurisdiction over the nation's waters and wetlands. The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps… Read more »

House Panel Says ‘Waters of the U.S.’ Proposal is Burdensome to Small Business By Amena H. Saiyid, Bloomberg Government The House Small Business Committee April 23 added the recently proposed rule that would clarify Clean Water Act jurisdiction over the nation's waters and wetlands to its website alerting small businesses to burdensome federal regulations. The Environmental… Read more »

Graves seeks to boost small-business contracting By Austin Wright, Politico In his latest bid to boost the federal government’s work with small businesses, Rep. Sam Graves is seeking to hitch a measure to an upcoming must-pass defense policy bill. The chairman of the House Small Business Committee wants to raise the government’s target percentage for prime contracts awarded to… Read more »

Committee Urged to Attach Small Business Contracting Bills to DOD Annual Authorization » Contracting Bills By Deborah Billings, Bloomberg Government Members of the House Small Business Committee April 9 made a case to the House Armed Services Committee for using the annual defense authorization bill to increase small firms' access to federal contracting programs. Small… Read more »

Complexity, Changing Language of Tax Code Plague Small Businesses, New Study Says» Contracting Bills By Marc Heller and Casey Wooten, Bloomberg Government Key Development: Small businesses report that the time and money spent complying with the tax code drags down their bottom line. Next Steps: Congress works on a tax code overhaul, while a separate bill to renew certain tax… Read more »