Here in Southwest Washington, the need to restart our economy and grow jobs is as great as any other region in the country.
I went to Congress to help make job creation its number one priority. From the Gifford Pinchot Forest to Long Beach, our region has a reputation for our tremendous resources – but the greatest resource of all is our people. It’s time Congress focused on getting these folks to work.
Small business and private enterprise act as America’s engine for job creation, but right now these job creators are struggling to survive. We know that big-spending government programs, bailouts and new taxes haven’t helped. In fact, stimulus packages paid for by businesses and families have hurt jobs. Yet Congress has a central role to play in restarting Southwest Washington’s economy.
Removing Barriers to Job Creation
Reverse government overspending: The first step Congress can take to empower job creators is stop government’s disastrous habit of overspending. Right now, the federal government is borrowing too much money and adding to a federal debt that is more than $16 trillion. That level of spending continues to result in more and bigger tax burdens on small business.
Did you know? Small businesses
(500 employees or fewer) have
created nearly 3 out of every 4
new jobs in the last 15 years.
By reversing the trend of overspending, we’re allowing businesses to leverage more of their capital, grow their operations, and hire people.
Reduce harmful and unnecessary regulations: Entrepreneurs and job creators rank overregulation as one of the biggest hurdles to building their business. Regulatory burdens cost businesses more than $1 trillion each year in this country.
For example: In 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court decided last year that every forest land owner must obtain new permits for forest roads on their land, undoing the 35-year protection and adding a costly and unnecessary job-killing rule onto employers and business owners. Such a move would the US Forest Service alone 10 years to obtain the 400,000 permits it would need for public lands – at the expense of the taxpayer. Private landowners would face the same magnitude of regulations. I have introduced a bipartisan jobs bill that would solidify 35 years of Clean Water Act protection for forest roads that would help protect the 110,000 Washington state jobs generated by our forest products industry.
Also, in 2010 Congress and the President passed a health care overhaul that impacted several areas that have nothing to do with health care. One piece of the bill caused an outcry among the business community because it requires companies of all sizes to file more forms with the IRS. What is known as the “1099 mandate” would have required a business to file an IRS 1099 form for any purchase over $600. Picture a small business with four or five employees having to meet this new paperwork burden. Again, that’s taking their time away from growing their business and hiring. One of my first acts as a Member of Congress was to cosponsor a bill to repeal this job-killing mandate, and I'm proud to say that three months later the President signed it into law.
When small businesses in our communities have to obtain federal permits, navigate complex rules and meet federal regulations, that means higher costs and fewer resources they could otherwise be using to hire people. Yet one well-known federal agency has issued 900 new rules in one year.
I will continue working hard to reduce and eliminate unnecessary and over-burdensome regulations wherever possible. Small- and medium-sized businesses should spend their time expanding and creating jobs – not navigating a maze of government rules.
