| Weekly Update from Sam |
Dear Friends,
The Keystone XL Pipeline has been delayed by President Obama for 1,700 days. The delay prevents the creation of an estimated 42,100 new jobs, many of them with small businesses. The delay also prevents a means of strengthening our nation’s energy independence from some of the world’s most unreliable and dictatorial governments. And the delay prevents an opportunity to lower our energy costs.
Brent Booker of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department testified last week in a Small Business Subcommittee hearing that unions “emphatically support” the pipeline and its jobs for various skilled labor occupations, urging Congress to disregard the “narrow and misguided political agenda” attempting to derail it. Last Friday, President Obama visited a small business whose owner testified before the Committee in favor of building the pipeline. A witness invited by the Democrats supported building the pipeline for environmental reasons, noting that it “might actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” A host of newspaper editorial boards across the country are urging the administration to get out of the way. The list of supporters for the pipeline continues to grow, and the list of reasons in favor of the project are many.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 241-175 on Wednesday to pass H.R. 3, the Northern Route Approval Act to allow the privately constructed pipeline to go forward. This would put more Americans to work in good jobs, improve our nation’s energy security and lower energy prices – a boon for small businesses. Now, it’s time for the Senate to act.
Sincerely,
Sam Graves
Chairman
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Latest Committee Action
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On Thursday, the Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce held a hearing exposing problems faced by small construction, architecture and engineering firms seeking to do business with the federal government. These small firms face ongoing challenges with four key issues: surety bonds, the use of reverse auctions for construction services, subcontracting credit allowances, and the procurement process for design-build contracts. The Committee is considering legislative solutions to these problems, and Small Business Subcommittee Chairman Richard Hanna (R-NY), a former construction contractor, sponsored H.R. 776 to improve access to bonds for small companies.
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News from Washington
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On Thursday, the House voted to pass the Smarter Solutions for Students Act, H.R. 1911. The bill strengthens the nation’s student loan programs, and helps students and parents plan more accurately for the costs of higher education. It would move all federal student loans, minus Perkins loans, to a market-based interest rate to alleviate the need for Congress to act each year to set interest rates. If new legislation isn’t signed into law before July 1, interest rates on subsidized federal student loans are set to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.
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| Notable Op-Ed |
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| May 24, 2013 |
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| What We're Reading |
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Small Biz Resources
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| Tweet of the Week |
| @SmallBizGOP Graves: Only in DC would a project to create 42K jobs & reduce dependence on Middle East oil fail to be approved. |
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