WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Committee on Small Business is holding a full committee markup on seven bills.

Chairman Roger Williams’ opening statement as prepared for delivery:

Good morning, and welcome to today’s markup where we’ll be discussing 7 bills that highlight our nation’s small businesses and the burdensome regulations imposed on them by this Administration. I am going to be speaking on each of the bills we bring up today in much greater detail, so I’ll keep these remarks very brief. 

To put it bluntly, Main Street America has been crippled by the over 1.68 trillion dollars in new costs imposed by new regulations during President Biden’s time in office.

My colleagues and I on this Committee have the privilege of being Main Street’s voice in Washington and began investigating how these staggering numbers are possible. We sent letters to federal agencies and questioned how they were adhering to the laws on the books that are supposed to insulate small businesses from the most damaging regulations coming out of Washington, D.C.

The markup we are having today is a result of the information that we gained through our investigation and the various hearings we have had on the impacts of these actions throughout this Congress.

These bills are intended to prevent this type of harmful regulatory regime from being implemented by future administrations. By requiring government agencies to assess and limit the direct and indirect costs of their rules and regulations, federal agencies are forced to consider the interests of small businesses.

Main Street America cannot afford more red tape, nor can they afford to spend any more valuable time on compliance. They need a regulatory environment they can survive in so they can continue to fuel our nation’s economy, and that’s exactly what these bills seek to give them.

I’d like to thank our members for bringing these bills forward for consideration in today’s markup. Every piece of legislation we’re going to look at today is the product of hearings and investigations we have conducted.

Here on this Committee, we know it is our job to put forward meaningful policy solutions that will help – not harm – our nation’s job creators. They are already dealing with enough thanks to the current economic landscape.

The policy solutions we plan to markup here today have received statements of support from fifty stakeholders including the American Farm Bureau, who is the voice of 5.9 million farmers across the country, to the National Federation of Independent Business, who represents 325,000 small businesses. They recognize these bills are not duplicative and are vital for small businesses to survive in the harsh regulatory environment brought by the Biden-Harris Administration. I’d like to ask unanimous consent to enter this letter into the record. Without objection, so ordered.

We must continue the fight for Main Street America, and these pieces of legislation are a great step in the right direction. I am extremely proud to see how our Committee is generating sound and responsible legislation that will free up our nation’s small businesses to focus on their core operations.

With that, I look forward to today’s markup, and I yield to the distinguished Ranking Member from New York, Ms. Velasquez.

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