Does Anybody In Congress Know What Micros Need?
Jul 20th, 2010 | By Dawn Rivers Baker | Category: Politics & PolicyAt a press conference held in Washington last week, Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-LA) took the podium to talk about what Congressional Democrats have done for small businesses and to plug their latest efforts in the current jobs bill that is, they say, being held up by Senate Republicans. Joining her for this spin-fest were Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), SBA Administrator Karen Mills and Terry Gardiner of the left-leaning Small Business Majority.
The bill they were plugging is still more of the same, as lawmakers continue working on making debt capital available to small businesses, in addition to dishing up $12 billion in tax cuts and raising loan limits. At the press conference, Administrator Mills spoke of “giving small businesses the tools they need” to grow and lead the way to economic recovery. But do they really know what we need? Or are they even talking about us? Are loans and tax cuts all that is necessary for the small business sector to get cranking once again? Probably not — at least, it hasn’t worked so far. Certainly, loans and tax cuts might work nicely for larger small businesses but most microbusinesses (and certainly most nonemployers) probably aren’t in the market for a loan right now. If policy makers want the vast microbusiness segment of the economy to contribute to recovery, they are going to have to think of something else to get us there.
