National Small Business Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Speaker, this week we recognize National Small Business Week and, with it, the incredible contributions of our many small business owners, workers, and entrepreneurs across Pennsylvania and the United States.

These individuals, Mr. Speaker, deserve more than recognition; they deserve our support and applause. Small businesses aren't just a line in an economic report; they are the lifeblood. They are the employers, the mentors, and the community leaders, and they are the ones giving to local charities and sponsoring youth sports, putting their names on the back of Little League jerseys in communities across our Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

We also recognize the critical role of our local chambers of commerce in assisting small businesses. Throughout Pennsylvania's Ninth Congressional District, we are blessed with some of the best chambers in Pennsylvania, if not the country.

Throughout my district and Pennsylvania, from Schuylkill County to Wyoming County, to the Susquehanna Valley to Lebanon, from Luzerne to Lycoming, these chambers are working every day to support job creators and bring small businesses together. They serve as a bridge between the private sector and government, and they help ensure that entrepreneurs have a voice. Their efforts deserve our thanks.

As someone who worked in small business, I understand the challenges entrepreneurs face, and while I was fortunate to help grow a small business into a larger business, I never lost that small business mindset. That mentality, grounded in what we call the WIT principle, Whatever It Takes, is built on hard work, results, teamwork, and customer service. It continues to guide my work here in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, that work, on behalf of small businesses, starts with regulatory relief. Small businesses don't have compliance departments or teams of lawyers. Every hour spent on paperwork is an hour not spent on growing their business.

That is why House Republicans and the Trump administration have taken important steps to roll back burdensome regulations that never should have applied to small employers in the first place. We fought to eliminate the Biden administration's imposed Beneficial Ownership Rule, which would have forced small businesses to submit sensitive ownership information to FinCEN, adding compliance burdens and creating legal risk with little benefit.

We pushed back against the CFPB's 1071 rule, which mandated that lenders collect and report demographic and financial data on small business loan applications, raising costs and potentially limiting access to capital.

To ensure we are hearing directly from those affected, the Small Business Administration has also now launched recently a red tape hotline, giving small business owners and manufacturers a direct channel to report excessive or unworkable Federal regulation so we can act on them. As a matter of fact, their hotline phone number at the SBA is 1-800-827-5722.

Beyond regulatory relief, we are advancing smart legislation to support growth and innovation. I introduced the Investing in All of America Act, which expands access to capital for small manufacturers and startups in economically underserved and rural areas by raising the leverage cap on small business investment companies.

My 7(a) Loan Agent Oversight Act improves transparency and accountability in the SBA's most widely used lending program by requiring annual reports on loan agent activity. This bill ensures Congress has the data needed to provide proper oversight, protect taxpayer dollars, and keep the program strong for small businesses that rely on it.

The Regulatory Review Improvement Act, which I also introduced, ensures that Federal agencies take into account the real-world impact of their rules on small businesses. It requires agencies to regularly review existing regulations already on the books and evaluate whether they should remain in place based upon their effect on small businesses. That and ensuring access to capital are some of our major focuses here in Congress.

Finally, through reconciliation--also known as the one big, beautiful bill--we are committed to extending the provisions of President Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which helped countless small businesses invest, expand, and hire.

Provisions like section 199A, bonus depreciation, and the R&D tax credit have had a direct, positive impact on small businesses. These provisions, and the broader income tax reductions, must be extended to maintain growth and protect jobs.

By voting for this plan, we are simply continuing the tax plan that stimulated the strongest economy in the past 50 to 100 years. A ``no'' vote on this plan is a ``no'' vote for small business. Anyone who says this reconciliation package doesn't help small businesses either doesn't understand it or is choosing to ignore what is in it. This legislation is progrowth, proinvestment and pro-small business.

Separate from the small business provisions, if the individual tax cuts are allowed to expire, the average Pennsylvania family, Mr. Speaker, will face a tax hike of over $2,500. If my Democratic colleagues oppose this bill, they are voting in favor of the largest tax increase on working families in American history, plain and simple.

Frankly, we need Pennsylvania's executive office and State agencies to get on board with this progrowth initiative, as well. Mr. Speaker, let's thank every entrepreneur, employer, team member, and small business for all they do to deliver for America.

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