If small business owners could have just one wish this holiday season, it would be economic certainty. Certainty is everything for a small business, and Washington can play a substantial role in providing that certainty - or uncertainty. When business owners don’t know what’s on the horizon, they are forced to curtail hiring and halt reinvestment in their business in order to start saving for a possible new law or regulation from the federal government.

This is why it is crucial for Congress and the President to pass a full year of payroll tax relief—instead of just a two month extension as the Senate is insisting.

In an effort to cultivate this much-needed certainty, I am pleased that in 2011 the House Small Business Committee was able to pass legislation, such as the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. SBIR and STTR programs are two of government’s most effective programs for spurring innovative ideas among the small business research and development community— without any additional taxpayer funding. The House also passed our Committee’s Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011 (H.R. 527), a bill that would force agencies to consider how their actions affect small businesses and other small entities and if the effects are significant, agencies, not small entities, will have to develop less burdensome and less costly alternatives.

As we look forward to 2012, our Committee will continue working with small business owners to find more ways to instill economic certainty and foster an environment where small companies can thrive without burdensome government intrusion.

I wish you a wonderful holiday season and a very happy New Year.

Sam Graves
Chairman

House Small Business Healthcare and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Renee Ellmers (R-NC) Named by Speaker Boehner as a Conferee to Serve on House-Senate Conference Committee on the Payroll Tax Cut Extension Bill  

News From Washington

On Tuesday, the House voted 229-193 to affirm that the House disagrees to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3630, the Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act, which would extend the payroll tax holiday for only two months. The House bill calls for a year-long extension (which the President and Majority Leader Reid have also called for) that would provide certainty for job creators and stability in the economy. This vote also formally request for a conference with the Senate on the bill, the process used by Congress to resolve differences and agree on solutions.

Also on Tuesday, the House voted 226-185 on H.Res. 501, that expresses the sense of the House that any final measure regarding the Middle Class Tax Relief & Job Creation Act should: extend the payroll tax holiday through December 31, 2012; extend and reform federally funded unemployment insurance benefits; eliminate for two years the dramatic cut in reimbursement for physicians who provide care to Medicare beneficiaries; reduce spending from areas throughout the federal government in order to protect the Social Security Trust Fund, whose solvency would otherwise be diminished as result of the payroll tax holiday; and provide immediate job creation through final approval of the Keystone XL pipeline; expensing for capital assets placed in service in 2012; and redrafting of EPA’s onerous regulation of boilers.

• WSJ: Small Employers Fret Over Payroll-Tax Uncertainty
• WSJ: China Hackers Hit U.S. Chamber
• WaPo: U.S. Franchises Anticipating Growth in 2012
• Bloomberg: EPA Final Rule for Coal Plants Deemed ‘Unfortunate’ by Industry
• LA Times: Small Businesses Still Find Big Banks to be Reluctant Lenders

• Coffman Calls on Senate to Negotiate Differences and Create Certainty
• West on the Temporary Extension of the Payroll Tax
• Ellmers Reacts to Senate 2-Month Extension Proposal
• Walsh Votes to Create Economic Certainty
• Schilling Seeks Year-Long Extension of Tax Relief for American Families and Job Creators

• Small Biz Trends: How Small Businesses Invent the Future
• WSJ:How-to-Guide for Small Businesses