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Small Biz Straight Talk (6/26/09)
Washington,
June 26, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009 News from Ranking Member Sam Graves and Committee Republicans: • Ranking Member Graves on SBIR awards to VC-owned firms Must-Reads from the Week: • This week, the Small Business Administration (SBA) made a permanent change to the 504 loan program to help small businesses refinance if they plan to expand or buy new equipment. According to a SBA spokeswoman, the change is designed to help business owners restructure debt under better terms and "improve their cash flow and enhance their viability so that they can grow and create jobs.” The Wall Street Journal reported that, “Previously, business owners could only take advantage of the SBA's 504 program when they sought new loans to buy real estate, upgrade machinery and make improvements. Now, borrowers can refinance their existing SBA-backed loans as long as the amount is 50% or less than the total cost of expansion. Review of House Activity: • On Wednesday, the House passed H.R. 2892, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2010, by a 389-37 margin. This legislation provides the Department of Homeland Security with $42.6 billion in funding for FY10, which is a $2.6 billion increase above last year’s level. Republicans were outraged when Democrats broke from tradition and decided to bring the bill to the floor under a structured rule that limited amendments. As a result, Republicans staged procedural protests that lengthened consideration of the bill. Republicans predicted that this could be the norm moving forward on appropriations bills and other legislation. However, Republicans won a battle as their motion to recommit to improve the E-Verify program passed. • On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, by a 389-22 vote. This legislation authorizes $680 billion in spending-$550.5 billion for the Department of Defense and $130 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan war costs. • On Friday, the House considered historic energy legislation to curb global warming, H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. Earlier in the week, the bill’s sponsor, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), was able to strike a deal with Agriculture Committee Chairman Colin Peterson (D-MN) that ensured his support and the support of many conservative Democrats by granting a series of concessions to rural states. Republicans continue to express serious concerns about what this legislation will do to energy bills, rural communities, and business in general. During a hearing before the House Small Business Committee in April, witnesses highlighted how this legislation will raise input costs for many small business owners. *At the time of publication, deliberation for H.R. 2454 was ongoing on the House floor. • On Friday, the House passed H.R. 2996, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2010, by a vote of 254-173. This legislation provides $32.2 billion to fund various environmental agencies and programs. This is 17% or $4.7 billion above 2009 levels. Legislation and Letters Circulating Around the House: • Rep. Turner (R-OH) Seeks Cosponsors for the “Preserving Capitalism in America” Constitutional Amendment- Please encourage your boss in joining 97 Republicans as a cosponsor to the Preserving Capitalism in America Constitutional Amendment. The Obama Administration is exercising an unprecedented amount of control over private industry. They have fired CEOs, set compensation levels for private sector employees, and are taking control over the domestic auto industry. The Administration’s increasing influence on private industry raises serious concerns about federal ownership of private enterprise. This amendment addresses this issue by limiting the amount of ownership that the Federal Government may exercise over private enterprise. Specifically, this amendment would: Prohibit the acquisition of any stock or equity interests; preserve the right to provide loans to private enterprise or to acquire equity interests in the following only: to any public authority corporations, or to any public use corporations, or as investments by any government pension fund. For further information or to cosponsor, please contact M. Joseph Heaton, Esq. at joseph.heaton@mail.house.gov. Review of Senate Activity: • On Tuesday, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee held a field hearing entitled “Missed Opportunities: The ARRA and the NIH/SBIR exclusion.” According to the Committees press release, local and national experts in biotechnology testified about the important research and development projects that could be funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, creating jobs and helping to stimulate the economy in Maryland and across the country. House Small Business Committee hearing summary this week: • On Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 10:00 am in Room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare of the House Committee on Small Business held a hearing entitled, “Health IT Adoption and the New Challenges Faced by Solo and Small Group Health Care Practices.” The Subcommittee heard testimony from David Blumenthal, M.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Jim Fetzner, CEO, Comfort Care, Erie, PA; Rob Jackson, CEO, Grove City Medical Center, Grove City, PA; Susan Kressly, M.D., Warrington, PA; Charles Stuckey, D.O., Executive Director, Pennsylvania Optometric Association, Harrisburg, PA; and Carladenise Edwards, Ph.D., Chief of Staff, Georgia Department of Community Health, Atlanta, GA. The hearing examined the health information technology (HIT) incentives and penalties contained in the stimulus package, which are intended to spur adoption of electronic medical records. Witnesses expressed particular concern that solo and small group practices may be disadvantaged, since HIT systems are costly, and small practices have been slow to adopt them. Dr. Blumenthal said that the stimulus package incentives should help small group practices to implement HIT. Currently, 21% of physicians have adopted electronic medical records, but only about 13% of small providers have done so. Barriers that face small group practices include initial and ongoing expense of HIT systems, practice downtime for installation time and staff training, and fear of adopting a system that will not be interoperable, or will soon be obsolete. The witnesses representing long term care providers and optometrists expressed concern that their professions will be overlooked or left behind in HIT adoption. Solo and small group practices are also worried about the Medicare reimbursement penalties that will take effect in 2015 for practices that have not implemented HIT. These penalties will hit small practices that have large Medicare patient loads particularly hard. In order to receive the Medicare reimbursement incentives, and avoid the penalties, health care providers will have to demonstrate “meaningful use” of HIT. Meaningful use will be defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during an upcoming rulemaking. Dr. Blumenthal was questioned by Ranking Member Westmoreland about the adequacy of the comment period on the meaningful use rule, and the need to protect the security and privacy of electronic medical records. This is the second hearing on health information technology, and another in a series of hearings on health care generally. • On June 25, 2009 the House Small Business Committee held a markup on legislation reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. H.R. 2965, the “Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009,” passed the Committee an overwhelming 22-0 vote. The legislation makes a wide variety of important changes to bring the programs into the 21st century by increasing the award sizes, enhancing data collection and reporting requirements for better oversight, and providing federal agencies with a mechanism by which they can meet and share best practices. One of the major provisions (Section 102) of H.R. 2965 corrects a change made by the SBA in 2003. This section ensures that America’s small businesses continue to be the world leaders in innovative research and development, and provides the best small companies with the greatest commercialization potential access to the SBIR and STTR programs. Under Section 102, the SBIR program will remain open for competition among all small businesses, and federal agencies will choose the best small businesses to win the awards. Additionally, at a time when access to capital is a real concern for small businesses across all industries, the provision provides small companies with another path to acquire the capital they need to be successful, create jobs, and improve our economy. Other Small Business off the Hill: • The Heritage Foundation responded to the CBO’s cost estimate of Cap and Trade legislation. Looking Forward:
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