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Straight Talk E-News

Small Biz Straight Talk

Washington, D.C., October 9, 2009 | Angela Landers ((202) 226-1581)

News from Ranking Member Sam Graves and Committee Republicans:
(Please send any member media activity to
angela.landers@mail.house.gov)

• Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) op-ed in The Hill: “This Halloween has tricks but no treats for small businesses”

• Ranking Member Sam Graves appeared on “The Steve Malzberg Show.” Listen here.

• Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)“Seeks to Create New Jobs by Expanding Small Business Investment Act”

• Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) appeared on “The Lars Larson Show”

 

Must-Reads from the Week:

• Wall Street Journal: House Republicans Press Obama on Jobs Creation

• The Washington Times: Killing the entrepreneurs

• Kansas City Star: Small businesses wrestle with burden of red tape

• CNN Money: The government's fuzzy small biz math

Administration and the SBA:
• U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that USTR is requesting an investigation by the International Trade Commission to better understand how many of America's small- and medium-sized enterprises export.  The investigation will include their role in generating employment and economic activity in the U.S., and how increased trading opportunities might benefit these businesses and their workers.  At the same time, Kirk is convening a USTR-wide working group to ensure that the lead trade agency's policymaking and enforcement efforts immediately seek to better serve small- and medium-sized enterprises.  USTR will also be working with other agencies tasked with trade promotion including the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration to expand on export opportunities for small businesses.      

Review of House Activity:

• On Thursday, the House passed the Defense Authorization conference report by a 281-146 margin.  The measure supports operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the general war on terrorism by authorizing $680.2 billion in spending.  The conference report also included controversial provisions that would expand the definition of federal hate crimes.  

• On Wednesday, the House passed the Agriculture Appropriations conference report by a 263-162 margin.  The total price tag for the package was $121.2 billion - $23.3 billion in discretionary spending and the rest in mandatory spending for such programs as crop support and food stamps.  According to CQ, “the total spending is about $264 million more than the 2009 level, but $2.6 billion less than the administration’s request and the House-passed version.”

Legislation and Letters Circulating Around the House:
(If you would like to publicize your small business effort in Congress, please email Paul Sass at
Paul.Sass@mail.house.gov)

• Rep. Biggert (IL) Seeks Co-Sponsors for Two Homebuyer Tax Credit Bills – Both Fully Offset by Reclaiming Unspent Stimulus Funds - Rep. Biggert is seeking original cosponsors of two fully offset bills that would extend the popular first-time home buyer tax credit, which is set to expire at the end of November.  The first bill would provide a six-month extension – until June 1, 2010 – of the existing FTHB tax credit.  Biggert’s second bill would extend the credit for a full year, raise the maximum amount of the credit to $15,000, expand it to include non-first time buyers, and eliminate restrictions that exclude individual buyers earning $75,000 or more annually and couples earning above $150,000.  Unlike the existing credit, the second bill also ensures that members of the military who are transferred to a new location or deployed overseas are not required to pay back the credit on their home.  By strengthening the impact of the credit in higher-cost housing markets and including growing families looking to trade-up, the bill would amplify the economic benefits of the credit and help stabilize the housing sector.  Both bills are fully offset by reclaiming unspent portions of H.R.1, the economic stimulus.  For more information or to cosponsor one or both bills, please contact Nicole Austin at (202) 225-3515 or vial email at Nicole.austin@mail.house.gov.

• Rep. Broun (GA) Seeks Cosponsors for the IMPROVES E-Verify Act - Rep. Broun seeks cosponsors for H.R. 3676 - The IMPROVES (Improving Methods to Promote Regular Occurrences of the Verification of Employability Status) E-Verify Act of 2009.  Currently, employers are not allowed to check the work eligibility of an individual until after they are hired and not allowed to check the status of employees that were hired prior to that employer’s participation in the E-Verify program.  It can take DHS up to10 days to confirm the legality of a hire, potentially costing businesses thousands of dollars in training, salary, and other associated costs.  This legislation would allow businesses to confirm an individual’s identity and work eligibility before beginning to pay or train an individual.  It would also allow employers to uniformly check the status of prior employees for a period of 14 days after initially signing up for E-Verify.  This legislation also clarifies that employers who use E-Verify in a law-abiding manner will receive civil and criminal immunity if the person checked is later determined to be undocumented.  Any employer who knowingly provides or accepts fraudulent documentation regarding immigration status must pay an enhanced civil penalty of at least $200 and not more than $2,000 for each individual violation under this legislation.  Current law requires every participating business in the E-Verify program to display English and Spanish versions of the E-Verify Participation and Right to Work posters in plain view at the hiring site.  This legislation would remove the Spanish language requirement, and allow businesses of less than 25 employees to simply hand out a pamphlet with the same information that is contained in the poster version.  Please contact Stephen Kraly at 5-4101 or Stephen.Kraly@mail.house.gov if you would like to cosponsor.

• Rep. Gingrey (GA) Seeks Co-Sponsors for the Health Care Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 3700) - Throughout the greater health care debate, the American people have been loud and clear about the type of health care reform they want.  H.R. 3700, the Health Care Bill of Rights Act: 10 Prescriptions for a Healthy America, simply echoes the strong sentiment of the public.  H.R. 3700 would safeguard the health care of the over 80% of the people who are satisfied with their current coverage.  It does so by prohibiting Congress from enacting health care reform legislation that creates a government-run health care plan, cuts Medicare benefits, adds to the deficit, raises taxes, rations health care, imposes either an individual or employer mandate, or that provides coverage to illegal immigrants.  Additionally, H.R. 3700 would require Congress to enact before the end of the year the following: meaningful medical liability reform, market coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions, and other measures to reduce the overall cost of health care.  For more information or to become a cosponsor, please contact Robert Horne at 5-2931 or via email at robert.horne@mail.house.gov.   

Review of Senate Activity:

• On Tuesday, the Senate passed the FY10 Defense Appropriations measure by a 93-7 margin.  According to CQ, “the Senate’s version of the legislation includes $636.3 billion in discretionary spending for programs and provides $128 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would be $3.8 billion less than President Obama requested, but $4.4 billion more than the current level, which includes supplemental.”  The House passed its version of the bill, 400-30, on July 30 and now the two bills go to conference.

• On Tuesday, the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee held a hearing examining the small business provisions in the stimulus bill.  Concerns addressed by members of the Committee were related to greater access to capital and government contracts.

• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its cost estimate of the health care legislation moving through the Senate.  According to CBO, the Senate Finance Committee’s draft bill would cost $829 billion over a decade and reduce the deficit by $81 billion over that period.  According to House Leadership, although CBO recently estimated that the Baucus bill as amended would lower the deficit by $81 billion in its first ten years, this "deficit reduction" comes solely from an increase in payroll tax revenues on the middle class.  Moreover, most of the new payroll tax revenues will eventually be paid out in the form of additional Social Security benefits, raising further questions about the Baucus bill’s "deficit reduction" potential.  After an initial review of the report, Republicans still raised concerns over the $829 billion price tag, the likelihood that insurance premiums would rapidly rise, impose big costs on states for an expansion of Medicaid, and increase taxes.

House Small Business Committee hearing summary this week:

• The House Committee on Small Business held a hearing Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 1 P.M. entitled “The State of the Nation’s Housing Sector:  An Examination of the First Time Homebuyers Tax Credit and Future Policies to Sustain a Recovery.”  Testimony was offered by Joseph Canfora of Century 21, East Islip, NY, on behalf of the National Association of Realtors; Mickey Jacob of Urban Studio Architects, Tampa, FL, on behalf of the American Institute of Architects; Joe Robson of Robson Companies, Broken Arrow, OK, on behalf of the National Association of Homebuilders; and Michael B. Pryor of Lenders Title Company, Little Rock, AR on behalf of the American Land Title Association.  The Republican witness was Pamela Volm, the owner of Annapolis Contracting, Annapolis, MD.

This hearing was an opportunity to evaluate the current health of the housing market and the effectiveness of recent policies, such as the first time homebuyer’s tax credit.  It was acknowledged by all witnesses that the first time homebuyer’s tax credit helped jump start the housing market and an extension of the credit is needed to continue further growth.  Some witnesses also advocated for an expansion of the credit to include all potential home buyers. However, Ranking Member Graves remarked that as Congress continues to examine this program it is important to keep in mind that an expansion of this program will result in additional costs in an already overburdened budget. 

The Home Valuation Code of Conduct was also discussed during this hearing.  The Home Valuation Code of Conduct is to prevent individuals in the housing industry from manipulating home values; however, witnesses testified that it appears to have increased red tape for those trying to sell their homes and for those who work in home sales on a daily basis. 

• On Thursday, October 8, 2009, The House Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Finance and Tax held a markup for legislation affecting the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) capital access programs. The bills that were marked up included:

o H.R. 3723: “The Small Business Credit Expansion and Loan Markets Stabilization Act of 2009” (Rep. Halvorson D-IL)

o H.R. 3739: “The Job Creation and Economic Development Through CDC Modernization Act of 2009” (Rep. Buchanan F-FL)

o H.R. 3737: “Small Business Microlending Expansion Act of 2009” (Rep. Ellsworth D-IN)

o H.R. 3740: “The Small Business Investment Company Modernization and Improvement Act of 2009” (Rep. Luetkemeyer R-MO)

o H.R. 3722: “The Enhanced New Markets and Expanded Investment in Renewable Energy for Small Manufacturers Act of 2009” (Rep. Kirkpatrick D-AZ)

o H.R. 3014: “The Small Business Health Information Technology Financing Act” (Rep. Dahlkemper D-PA)

o H.R. 3738: “The Small Business Early Stage Investment Act of 2009” (Rep. Nye D-VA)

o H.R. 3743: “The Small Business Disaster Readiness and Reform Act of 2009” (Rep. Griffith D-AL)

Other Small Business News off the Hill:

• The Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy issued a study on the effects of military activations on small and large employers.

• The Kaiser Family Foundation issued a side-by-side comparison of major health care reform proposals.

Looking Forward:
House Small Business Committee hearings next week:

• Full Committee Hearing, October 14, 2009, 1:00 pm entitled, “Increasing Access to Capital for Small Businesses.” 2360 Rayburn House Office Building.