| Weekly Update from Sam |
Dear Friends,
An old (amusing but grim) observation attributed to Benjamin Franklin is that the only things certain are death and taxes. How ironic – with January barely over three months away – that Americans are still not certain what their tax rates will be by then. The House has voted to stop tax increases and provide certainty. President Obama and the Senate are defaulting on this duty.
We don’t look to the federal government to create private sector jobs, but rather to create an environment that fosters growth. Conversely, the government can stifle growth through bad decisions like this uncertain tax environment. As the nation slogs through the worst recovery since the Great Depression, there can be little doubt that President Obama’s unreasonable policies are playing a role in preventing robust recovery.
Uncertainty is paralyzing for small businesses, many of which operate on razor thin margins. The United States needs tax reform because small businesses should never be put in this fix again. The complicated tax code has become bulky and too prone to picking winners and losers in our economy. The first step toward fiscal soundness is stopping the threat of tax hikes on small businesses. The Senate and the President should put aside their tactics of division and end this costly and needless uncertainty.
Sam Graves
Chairman
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Latest Committee Action
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On Thursday, the Committee examined how the President’s default “plan” to deeply cut national defense and other programs, known as sequestration, will devastate many small businesses. Expert witnesses, citing this study, testified that 956,000 small business jobs will likely be lost, among 2.14 million jobs at risk. The House is working to prevent these chaotic, indiscriminate cuts to national security.
Back on May 10, 2012, the House passed the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act of 2012 (HR 5652) to replace these cuts with responsible spending reductions spread throughout other federal programs. Rep. Allen West of the Small Business Committee sponsored the National Security and Job Protection Act (HR 6365), which the House passed Sept. 13, 2012, to require President Obama to submit a plan to Congress by October 15, 2012 to prevent these harmful cuts and implement thoughtful reductions. The Senate has not voted on either of these bills. |
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News from Washington
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The House continues to pass bills that would spur growth and jobs only to see them languish untouched in the Senate, despite the unemployment crisis. More than 40 such bills have now been sent to the inactive Senate by House Republicans, such as support for building the Keystone Pipeline to lower fuel costs and create jobs. Most urgently, the House is striving to protect national security and job creators from the looming fiscal cliff of massive sequestration cuts to defense and other programs along with tax hikes on January 1, 2013. A George Mason University study found that sequestration's indiscriminate cuts will cost $215 billion to the economy. After 43 months of unemployment of 8 percent or higher, it’s time the Senate got to work.
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In Their Own Words
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Small business owners all over America are giving us their insight through our interactive online forum, Small Biz Open Mic. Here's what they're saying:
"Small companies like mine, however, do not have the fiscal resources to stay in business while the government sorts out the issues surrounding sequestration… I understand that the country must do something about getting its debt under control. But I cannot see how throwing over a million people onto the unemployment rolls will aid in that endeavor.”
– Perry Casto (Warrenton, VA) Allied Associates International, Inc., 9/17/2012
“But the overall economic outlook is a huge concern for me as a CEO... These budget uncertainty issues are causing us to fear problems with awards of contracts for which we have submitted proposals… Tax increases would hit us at a very inopportune time of what should have been planned growth and hiring.”
– J. Mulrooney (Clifton, VA) J P Systems, Inc, 9/16/2012
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| September 21, 2012 |
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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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| Tweet of the Week |
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@RepAaronSchock House Republicans have a plan to restore confidence and certainty to the economy and create jobs
http://bit.ly/lLZaRb #4jobs
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