Washington, D.C., June 11th - Friends: The economic crisis that began in 2008 has highlighted the importance of improving regulation of our financial markets.  The House and Senate have both passed versions of financial regulatory reform legislation.  Yesterday, bipartisan Members of the House and Senate met to begin working out a compromise bill that reconciles the two pieces of… Read more »

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar; Associated Press Over and over in the health care debate, President Barack Obama said people who like their current coverage would be able to keep it. But an early draft of an administration regulation estimates that many employers will be forced to make changes to their health plans under the new law. In just three years, a majority of workers—51… Read more »

Friends: While the House Small Business Committee was celebrating hardworking entrepreneurs for National Small Business Week, Congressional leaders in Washington continued to ignore one of their most basic responsibilities: passing a budget for Fiscal Year 2011. Instead, the House Majority spent the week before Memorial Day recess fighting to push through a tax extenders bill that adds… Read more »

Wall Street Journal President Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill are publicly fretting about the dangers of spending and debt, which can mean only one thing: Another big spending "stimulus" bill is in the works. And sure enough, the House plans to vote this week on $190 billion in new spending, $134 billion of which it won't even pretend to pay for. Sander Levin, the new Ways and… Read more »

By Jay Heflin; The Hill A study by the National Center for Policy Analysis shows that tax credits in the new healthcare law could negatively impact small-business hiring decisions. The new law provides a 50 percent tax credit to companies offering health coverage that have fewer than 10 workers who, on average, earn $25,000 a year. The tax credit is reduced as more employees are added… Read more »

By Robert Pear; New York Times About one-third of employers subject to major requirements of the new health care law may face tax penalties because they offer health insurance that could be considered unaffordable to some employees, a new study says. The study, by Mercer, one of the nation’s largest employee benefit consulting concerns, is based on a survey of nearly 3,000 employers.… Read more »

Washington, D.C., May 21st - Friends: National Small Business Week begins May 24th.  It’s a great opportunity for us to commend small business owners and highlight their contributions to our economy and workforce.  In honor of National Small Business Week, the House Small Business Committee has invited small business owners from across the country to participate in a hearing on… Read more »

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar; Associated Press Zach Hoffman was confident his small business would qualify for a new tax cut in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law. But when he ran the numbers, Hoffman discovered that his office furniture company wouldn't get any assistance with the $79,200 it pays annually in premiums for its 24 employees. "It leaves you with this feeling… Read more »

By Meredith Whitney; Wall Street Journal The next several weeks will be critically important for politicians, regulators and the larger U.S. economy. First, over the next week Capitol Hill will decide on potentially game-changing regulatory reform that could result in the unintended consequences of restricting credit and further damaging small businesses. Second, states will approach… Read more »

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar; Associated Press Attorneys general and governors for 20 states won't be alone in their legal challenge to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. The nation's most influential small business lobby is going to court with them. The National Federation of Independent Business will join the argument that Americans cannot be required under the… Read more »