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Straight Talk E-News
Small Biz Straight Talk
Washington,
May 22, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009 News from Ranking Member Sam Graves and Committee Republicans: (Please send any member media activity to angela.landers@mail.house.gov) • Ranking Member Graves Op-Ed in the Hill: “Obama’s tax plans would devastate small businesses” Must-Reads from the Week: Administration and the SBA: • Small Business Administrator Karen G. Mills announced this week that beginning on June 15, the SBA will start guaranteeing America’s Recovery Capital (ARC) loans. According the SBA press reports, ARC loans are deferred-payment loans of up to $35,000 available to established, viable, for-profit small businesses that need short-term help to make their principal and interest payments on existing qualifying debt. ARC loans are interest-free to the borrower, 100 percent guaranteed by the SBA, and have no SBA fees associated with them. • President Obama signed two bills into law this week including the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act and the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act gives the federal government more tools to crack down on the kind of fraud that puts families at risk of losing their homes. The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act expands on the Making Home Affordable Program first announced in February by helping to reduce foreclosure around the country. • President Obama announced this week a new national fuel-efficiency and emission-control standard. The standards establish high fuel efficiency targets for new vehicles that would set a 35.5 mile per gallon average for new passenger vehicles and light trucks by 2016, four years earlier than current law requires. New passenger cars would have to average 39 mpg; light trucks, 30 mpg. (The current average for cars is 27.5 mpg; for trucks, 23 mpg.). Review of House Activity: • On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 915, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act. The bill authorizes $70 billion in funding for FAA programs. Conservatives have raised concerns over costly labor provisions, foreign repair station requirements that threaten American jobs, and a host of other issues that damage U.S. carriers’ global competitiveness. The bill would also raise consumer rates. • On Wednesday, the House concurred with the Senate on the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights. As reported earlier, this legislation prohibits a creditor, with some exceptions, from increasing any annual percentage rates (APR) on the existing balance of a credit card, requires written notification for increasing an APR, and prohibits double-billing or charges on preceding billing cycles. The bill is expected to be signed by the President today. • On Thursday, the House passed the conference report for the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009. The legislation made significant changes to the Department of Defense major acquisitions programs to lower cost to the taxpayer, save time, and add transparency to the procurement process. Legislation and Letters Circulating Around the House: (If you would like to publicize your small business effort in Congress, please email Paul J. Sass at Paul.Sass@mail.house.gov) • Rep. Johnson Seeks Cosponsors for the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2009- Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) is seeking cosponsors for the Small Business Fairness Act, which is identical to HR 241 from the last Congress. This legislation will help reduce the high cost of health insurance for small businesses and uninsured working families by creating Association Health Plans (AHPs). AHPs increase the bargaining power of small businesses, giving them access to plans and benefits that many large corporations already enjoy. This legislation aims to get more workers access to health insurance at lower costs, and employers who currently don’t offer coverage will be able to afford quality health care for their uninsured workers and their families. If you have any questions regarding this legislation or if you would like to become a cosponsor, please contact Jenifer Healy in Rep. Johnson’s office at 5-4201 or jenifer.healy@mail.house.gov.
Review of Senate Activity: • The Senate this week approved a $91.3 billion war supplemental by an 86-3 margin. Differences are expected to be reconciled with the House shortly after the Memorial Day District Work Period. In honor of Small Business Week, each of the witnesses described their inspiring personal success story. Two witnesses were government contractors, one was a business development specialist, one has a real estate business, and another is a heating and air conditioning business owner. Many of the witnesses expressed concerns about health care reform, the tax burden and government regulations and paperwork. When asked about the possibility that the government could mandate that employers offer health care, several witnesses asked who would pay for it. Rep. Luetkemeyer asked about proposed legislation that would raise energy prices, and nearly every witness said higher energy prices would adversely affect their business. This hearing was a significant way to honor small businesses that drive the economy, create the jobs, and contribute substantially to our nation’s GDP.
• On May 21, 2009 the Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare held a hearing titled ““Impacts of Outstanding Regulatory Policy on Small Biofuels Producers and Family Farmers.” Witnesses on Panel One included Cheryl Cook, Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development at the United States Department of Agriculture and Margo Oge, Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Witnesses on the second panel included Mike Noble, President of Lake Erie Biofuels, LLC in Erie, PA; Ben Wootton, President of Keystone Biofuels, Inc. in Shiremanstown, PA; Gregory L. Bafalis, President & CEO of Green Earth Fuels, LLC in Houston, TX; Ray Gaesser of Corning IA, Executive Committee Member of the American Soybean Association; Zippy Duvall of Green County GA, President of the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation; and K.C. Das, Ph.D., P.E. of Athens, GA, Associate Professor and Director of the Biorefining and Carbon Cycling Program in the Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering at the University of Georgia. The focus of the hearing centered around the Environmental Protection Agency’s May 5, 2009, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) to implement the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS-2) as enacted pursuant to the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 (P.L. 110-140). The program creates a minimum use requirement for “Biomass-based Diesel” (conventional biofuels, cellulosic biofuels, and co-processed renewable diesel do not qualify as “Biomass-based Diesel”). In order to qualify for the Biomass-based Diesel program, the fuel must reduce green house gas emissions by 50% compared to the baseline green house gas emissions of the fuel being replaced (in the case of Biomass-based Diesel, petroleum diesel fuel). These emissions include land use changes which contribute to green house gas emissions. The law requires that such emissions be considered in green house gas emission calculations. While the biofuels industry supports considering “significant indirect emissions” attributed to the renewable fuel use they have concerns about how broad of a range of emission should be included. EPA included emissions from international land use change (LUC) in its lifecycle green house gas analysis of ethanol for the RFS-2. In doing so, EPA has attempted to calculate indirect emissions that occur as a result land use changes and other factors occurring domestically as well as internationally. For example, EPA will consider the carbon dioxide emissions from clearing forests worldwide to make land available for crops used to product biofuels. While Director Oge stated that her office maintained an open door policy to industry leaders while promulgating this rule, nearly all of the witnesses on the second panel stated that the science the EPA used to include indirect land use in the formula to determine green house gas emissions was at best, incomplete, and at worst, faulty. The witnesses on the second panel stated that should this rule become final, it could be the final nail in the coffin for biodiesel producers across the country who are already facing difficult economic conditions. Looking Forward:
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