Last month, during Small Business Week, the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship used the occasion to hold an oversight hearing on implementation of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2009. According to the opening statement of Committee Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-LA), the Small Business Jobs Act included tax breaks, increased loan limits and more support for both exporting and procurement. The legislation did other things that were helpful for small businesses (like establishing a line item in the SBA’s budget for the Office of Advocacy, for instance) but the hearing focused on these items as being most likely to reward lawmakers by helping small businesses to create jobs. The bulk of the hearing was focused on federal agency oversight, with panel members grilling representatives of the Treasury Department and the SBA about why implementation seemed to be taking such a long time.

The second panel consisted of one actual small business owner, one representative of a state-level small business capital access program and our old friend, Kristie Darien, executive director of the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE). After both Mr. Blinderman’s testimony and Mr. Woodie’s testimony, Senator Landrieu spoke fervently about how happy she was to learn about how the Small Business Jobs Act has proved helpful in both their circumstances. On the other hand, she had almost nothing to say about the NASE testimony. Ms. Arslan told Members that the self-employed were largely misunderstood, ran real businesses that make a significant contribution to the U.S. economy, and create jobs for themselves that provide for families and contribute to communities. Overall, her testimony on behalf of the nation’s microbusinesses was outstanding and it really is too bad that the response from the Chairwoman amounted to a wide yawn. On the other hand, it is certainly a vivid illustration of exactly what microbusiness advocates have been complaining about for a long time.