| Weekly Update from Sam |
| Dear Friends,
The credibility of the President’s health care law suffered another blow this week, when President Obama unilaterally decided to delay the mandate on companies with 50-99 employees until 2016. While the President uses unprecedented executive action to choose who gets relief from this burdensome law, he and his Senate allies ignore efforts in the House to provide relief from the law to everyone.
Each of the delays – now a pattern – is a sign that the law is bad policy. It is doing more harm than good to our economy and health care system. Small businesses are grappling with health care costs that have doubled as a result of the law, and many businesses have already made hiring decisions based on the law’s requirements.
Last month, I asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to update Congress about the enrollment progress of Obamacare’s Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP). The state-run SHOPs are off to a very sluggish start, and there is no data available for the federally-run program. The administration has not yet provided this important information, but the President’s repeated decisions to delay parts of the law’s requirements reveal that the health care law just isn’t working.
Sincerely,
Sam Graves
Chairman
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Latest Committee Action
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| On Tuesday, the Committee held a hearing on the impact of wireless technology on small businesses, and the potential challenges and barriers that could limit growth. The Committee received testimony from small businesses that create or rely on innovative wireless technologies about the economic benefits of these advances, and the need for spectrum so that expansion continues. Demand for mobile data soared by 62 percent in 2012. Rapid innovation and new capabilities in wireless devices are driving this growth. A McKinsey Global Institute report estimates that one trillion devices and machines may be connected across the globe by 2025.
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News from Washington
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On Tuesday, by a bipartisan vote of 412-4, the House passed the Small Cap Liquidity Reform Act (H.R. 3448), which is designed to benefit emerging small companies with more liquidity. The bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to provide for an optional 5-year pilot program so that certain emerging growth companies, publicly traded and with a market capitalization of less than $750 million, can increase the “tick sizes” of their stocks – the minimum increment of pricing enacted in 2000 – from a penny to five or ten cents, if these companies believe the change will help spur trade activity.
Also on Tuesday, by a bipartisan vote of 326-90, the House passed S. 25, a bill that restores funds for scheduled Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) for military retirees. The bill reverses a provision in the bipartisan budget deal that had required a one percent cut in the annual COLA for working age veterans.
This week, the House and Senate voted to extend the nation’s borrowing authority for one year. The national debt is over $17 trillion and contributes to economic uncertainty, which is why we need meaningful spending restraint coupled with job-creating economic growth policies to improve the nation’s fiscal health.
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Small Biz Reg Watch
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| Don’t forget about “Small Biz Reg Watch,” our web tool that alerts small businesses of federal regulations that could affect them, while those proposed rules are still in the pipeline, so that small firms can have their voices heard. We’ve add some proposed regulations that may affect your business.
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| February 14, 2014 |
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| What We're Reading |
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Small Biz Resources
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| Tweet of the Week |
| @SmallBizGOP "All it's doing is delaying the ultimate for another 12 months," delaying the inevitable #SmallBiz and the health law http://on.wsj.com/1lC8GXi |
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