Straight Talk: Reduce Red Tape and Free Up the Economy

Statement

Dear Friends,

Regulations cost time and money. Small business owners tell us this constantly. Excessive regulations are one of their major hurdles to growth and hiring. While small business owners know this from real-world experience, statistics back them up. Mounting regulations total 80,000 new pages a year. That led House Republicans to a simple solution. Let's just call time out. Press pause. Let the economy recover.

So the House of Representatives did just that, voting to call a halt to all non-emergency regulations until the unemployment rate is back down to 6 percent. It's a great idea. The unemployment rate has been at least 8 percent for 41 straight weeks. If the Senate joins us to take a break from new regulations, this step will genuinely help small businesses. In a recent survey, 78 percent of owners of small firms said the tax and regulatory burden makes it harder to hire. The burden of regulatory costs on small firms is 36 percent higher than on larger businesses. It makes sense. Bigger businesses are more likely to be better equipped with expert staff and lawyers that cut through red tape. Small business owners are often going it alone, and it's a massive drain on their time and budgets.

When owners invest in their small businesses, it stimulates the economy more than the federal government ever could. Keep telling us about the businesses you've built right here at our Small Biz Open Mic.

Sam Graves
Chairman

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