| Weekly Update from Sam |
Dear Friends,
This week House Republicans made great strides in reducing job-killing and costly federal regulations on our nation’s best job creators— small businesses.
One example is the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011 (H.R. 527), which passed the House yesterday by a vote of 263-159. House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and I introduced this legislation back in February to force federal agencies to fully examine the impact of their proposed regulations on small businesses and consider less burdensome alternatives if those impacts are significant.
The federal government has gone too far on many nonessential regulations that are harming small businesses— and this legislation will help remove these barriers. Economic recovery begins with our small businesses, but that will not happen unless we rein in the mass of regulations coming from Washington.
House Republicans have put forth an aggressive pro-growth agenda this year, passing 25 bipartisan jobs bills, but unfortunately all of this legislation lies idle in the Senate. I hope the Senate will put politics aside and take up this legislation, so that we can give small businesses the certainty and relief they need to help our economy grow.
Sam Graves
Chairman
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Latest Committee Action
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On Wednesday, Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) held a full committee hearing to examine the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) programs that provide long-term disaster recovery assistance. The hearing focused on the SBA’s implementation of the Small Business Disaster Response and Loan Improvements Act of 2008— which the Government Accountability Office (GAO) continues to report has not been fully implemented. The Committee received testimony from SBA Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Assistance James Rivera and GAO Director of Financial Markets and Community Investment William Shear.
On Thursday, Healthcare and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Renee Ellmers (R-NC) held a subcommittee hearing to examine the issues faced by small businesses in combating cyber security threats, the role of the federal government in this challenge and best practice solutions. Security software company Symantec reports that 40 percent of all targeted cyber attacks were directed at small businesses. Congressman Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chair of the House Cybersecurity Task Force, testified before the Committee to discuss the recommendations of the task force on what Congress could do right away to increase cyber security protections for small businesses and the country.
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Small Business Leadership Hour
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| On Wednesday evening, House Small Business Committee members, led by Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC), spoke out from the House floor against job-killing government regulations and in support of the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011 which passed on Thursday 263-159.
On Thursday, Chairman Graves also spoke from the House floor on the Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act:
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News From Washington
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As part of the House Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators, this week the House passed three bills to repeal harmful regulations that affect job creators: the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 3094) that passed 235-188, the aforementioned Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act of 2011 (H.R. 527) that passed 235-190, and the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2011(H.R. 3010) by a vote of 253-167. Each of these bills are common-sense measures that will help get government out of the way so that small business owners are free to grow, create jobs and lead us to long-term economic growth.
On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 3463 to reduce Federal spending and the deficit by terminating taxpayer financing of presidential election campaigns and party conventions and by abolishing the Election Assistance Commission. In total, this bill would reduce spending and deficits by $480 million over five years. The bill passed 235-190.
This week, the House also took action to honor Gabriel Zimmerman, a congressional staffer to U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and one of the six people to lose his life when a gunman attempted the assignation of Rep. Giffords in January. H.Res. 364 passed unanimously on Thursday and will designate Room HVC 215 of the Capitol Visitor Center as the “Gabriel Zimmerman Meeting Room.”
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| December 2, 2011 |
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| What We're Reading |
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| Member Highlights |
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| Small Biz Resources |
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