Washington, D.C.— Today, the House Small Business Committee convened for a hearing celebrating American entrepreneurs and surveying the current state of the small business economy. During the hearing, Ranking Member Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY) highlighted the progress small businesses have made under the Biden administration and their role in driving economic growth.
“Small businesses have been driving the robust labor market seen over this past year. While large businesses lost nearly 800,000 net jobs since April 2020, small businesses created a net 3.5 million,” said Ranking Member Velázquez. “Most importantly, more and more Americans are turning to entrepreneurship. After forty years of decline, small business applications shot up, with over 10 million submitted over the past two years. This goes to show, when you prioritize building the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, American entrepreneurs respond with results.”
The hearing also covered challenges that small businesses continue to face including supply chain disruptions, ongoing labor shortages, and higher energy prices due to the conflict in Ukraine. Witnesses also discussed how issues like lack of affordable childcare and tax laws skewed toward large corporations were limiting small businesses from reaching their full potential.
“What if our small businesses were fairly invested in according to the value they provide in goods and services to our local economy, increased ingenuity, increased competition, therefore increasing quality of those products and services along with the quality of life of our community members? What if we enforced our anti-monopoly and price gouging laws we have on the books? What if we taxed everyone fairly and reinvested it in paid family medical leave, universal childcare, and affordable health care for everyone?,” said Corrine Hendrickson, Owner of Corrine’s Little Explorers in New Glarus, WI. “Would we see an increase productivity, entrepreneurship, innovation, and reinvigorate our rural communities, and have higher quality of life satisfaction for everyone?”
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