Senator Heitkamp sits on both the Senate Small Business Committee and the Senate Banking Committee, and she has used her role on those committees to fight for workers and businesses in rural America, like those across North Dakota’s communities.

To keep North Dakota’s communities strong and safe, Senator Heitkamp's economic plan aims to fight for North Dakota workers and their families from the beginning of their careers to their retirement. Read more about "A Plan to Reward Hard Work: Standing Up for Workers Throughout the Course of their Lives."

Supporting Small Businesses

Small businesses are the backbone of North Dakota’s economy. In North Dakota, small businesses represent 99 percent of all employers, and they employ almost 60 percent of all jobs in the state. North Dakota is well positioned for economic growth because of investment, innovation, and the entrepreneurial spirit of our small business owners.

To help startups and entrepreneurs in rural areas and small cities get the support to grow and thrive, Senator Heitkamp introduced the SEED Act to address challenges facing startups in North Dakota, as well as other rural states, by helping them get the early stage funding they need to grow their businesses. She also introduced a separate bipartisan bill to helping encourage investments in small businesses and startups in smaller communities, which became law. And another bill of hers, which also became law, will make sure small businesses and startups have a seat at the table when new federal rules are written on how they can raise funding and access the resources they need to succeed.

Senator Heitkamp has also worked to support women entrepreneurs across the state. She has held discussions across North Dakota over the past several years convening women small business owners to talk about the challenges they face, and discuss collaborative strategies to encourage and support women entrepreneurs. In 2015, Senator Heitkamp brought the then-head of the U.S. Small Business Administration to North Dakota and they met with women entrepreneurs.

Creating a Federal Paid Leave Policy

Senator Heitkamp helped reintroduce the FAMILY Act, which would create a federal paid family and medical leave policy. The bill would provide working families with the paid flexibility to care for their loved ones, while boosting the ability of small businesses to support and retain employees. In North Dakota, less than 35 percent of working adults are eligible for and can afford unpaid leave, and almost 46 percent of the state’s private-sector workforce cannot earn a single paid sick day. Those challenges can force hardworking families to choose between caring for their loved ones or their jobs – an impossible choice that often causes businesses to lose dedicated employees as well as money – in fact, businesses spend a nationwide average of one-fifth of an employee’s annual salary on replacing workers. 

Leveling the Playing Field for Small Businesses

For decades, Senator Heitkamp has led a nation-wide effort to level the playing field for brick and mortar shops. In 2013, Senator Heitkamp helped introduce the bipartisan Marketplace Fairness Act, one of the first bills she introduced as a U.S. senator. The legislation would give states the right to require out-of-state businesses or online retailers to collect and remit the sales and use taxes that are already owed under current law.

Senator Heitkamp led a bipartisan group of senators in submitting amicus briefs to the Supreme Court, urging the Court take up South Dakota v Wayfair, Inc. in an effort to overturn Quill v North Dakota—which Senator Heitkamp brought before the Supreme Court in 1992 as North Dakota’s tax commissioner. After her push, the Court ruled in June 2018 that states have the ability to require online retailers to collect sales tax. The decision finally levels the playing field for brick-and-mortar businesses in North Dakota and around the country. It will also help increase state revenues, adding much needed resources that can support critical investments in education, infrastructure and other state projects.

Providing Regulatory Relief to Small Lenders and Small Businesses

In May 2018, the President signed into law a bipartisan bill -- the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act -- that Senator Heitkamp helped write and introduce over several years to provide needed regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions in rural America so they can continue lending. As a result, the bill will cut red tape and free up credit in North Dakota communities so families can get mortgages, and so small businesses and farmers can get loans to operate. The bill will also boost economic growth in rural communities and protect North Dakota consumers.

Senator Heitkamp also introduced bipartisan regulatory reform legislation, the Regulatory Accountability Act, which would help cut the red tape businesses and families often encounter in their everyday lives while protecting the resources they rely on. The bill builds on Senator Heitkamp’s years-long bipartisan work to improve how regulations are developed. In her role as ranking member of the Senate subcommittee overseeing the federal regulatory process, Senator Heitkamp has helped lead over a dozen Senate hearings about how regulations are created and reviewed. The bill has the support of many business groups, including the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce.

Supporting Retirement Security

Senator Heitkamp has been vocal advocate for protecting the pensions of the 2,000 North Dakota workers and retirees, and 400,000 pension fund participants nationwide who paid into the Central States Pension Fund.  These workers and retirees, as well as a total of 1.5 million retirees nationwide who are part of various pension funds, could see deep cuts to their hard-earned retirement savings through no fault of their own, unless Congress acts. Senator Heitkamp helped write and introduce the Butch Lewis Act which would put the pension plans back on solid footing so current workers, retirees, and employers across North Dakota and the country have the security of knowing their pensions will be available for decades to come, without cuts.

Senator Heitkamp also introduced a bipartisan package of bills that would help boost retirement security for individuals and families during a time when nearly half of all American families do not have any retirement account savings. The bills would help more workers set up short-term savings accounts, expand access to workplace retirement plans, encourage individuals to build emergency.

Senator Heitkamp has also fought to strengthen Social Security and pushed back against any efforts to privatize it.

Addressing the Federal Deficit

Senator Heitkamp is continuing to work with her colleagues on  both sides of the aisle to find long-term and bipartisan solutions that address the country’s federal budget deficit while also spurring economic growth, creating jobs, and promoting  innovation. Senator Heitkamp also believes we need to find a solution to replace the reckless across-the-board spending cuts – known as sequestration – which are slashing programs and resources that provide crucial support to struggling families. Senator Heitkamp wants to address federal spending and reduce the deficit, but not through blind cuts that disproportionately hurt the most vulnerable among us.