Congressman Chris Collins to Chair Subcommittee Focused on Small Businesses’ Healthcare Costs

House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves tapped Congressman Chris Collins (NY-27) to chair the subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology. 

Collins says this appointment will give him an opportunity to determine the impact ObamaCare is having on small businesses across the country.  As a small businessman on the Small Business Committee, Collins is in a unique position to understand how federal policies are helping businesses to grow or building obstacles to growth.

“Throughout the campaign, small businessmen and women told me over and over again about their fears associated with the implementation of ObamaCare,” said Collins. “Owners who currently employ under 50 people are afraid to expand, even if business demands, because they would be subject to ObamaCare.  Those employers with over 50 people are worried about how they are going to absorb the costs of implementation.  We have to make sure the regulations imposed by ObamaCare don’t become a wet blanket on small businesses when we need them to be growing and hiring to improve in the economy.”

Collins was appointed to the Small Business committee by House leadership. 

“Being a member of Congress may be new to me, but I’ve spent my entire adult life in the small business world,” said Collins.  “After a 35-year career in the private sector, I am all too familiar with the hurdles the federal government places in the way of small business owners. The federal government needs to be laser focused on knocking down as many of the hurdles as possible, not putting up new ones.”

The main charge of the Subcommittee is to address how healthcare policies help or hurt economic growth and small business job creation.  Specifically, the subcommittee focuses on the following areas:

• Oversight of the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
• Oversight of availability and affordability of healthcare coverage for small businesses.
• Oversight of general technology issues, including intellectual property policy in the United States.
• Oversight of United States telecommunications policies including, but not limited to, the National Broadband Plan and allocation of electromagnetic spectrum. 

“I want to thank Chairman Graves for placing his trust in me with this Subcommittee Chairmanship,” said Collins.  “I look forward to working with Chairman Graves and my fellow committee members on the important work of strengthening America’s small business community.”

Collins is also a member of the House Agriculture Committee.