“The business community is always complaining about regulations.”  —President Obama, June 29, 2011

Small businesses are complaining about onerous, job-destroying regulations for good reason.  According to the Small Business Administration, total regulatory costs for job creators amount to $1.75 trillion annually.  As of 2008, small businesses—which have created 64 percent of all new jobs in the past 15 years—face an annual regulatory cost of $10,585 per employee, which is 36 percent higher than the regulatory cost facing large firms.  While President Obama calls for “investing” more borrowed money, small business advocates are imploring Democrats to end the job-killing spending and remove burdensome regulations so small businesses can get free from red tape and begin creating jobs.

• “The failure to understand why small-business owners are not hiring or investing has resulted in a set of policies that have not been very effective, and Main Street is suffering. The icing on the cake: the growing debt, large deficits, threats of higher taxes, regulations… and the uncertainty of the new health care law—is it any wonder that optimism is down?”—Bill Dunkelberg, Chief Economist for the National Federation of Independent Business
  
  

• “The central barrier to business growth and job creation is bad government policies. Yet, the administration appears set in its way on moving forward with a costly health care plan, regulations and proposals that will drive energy costs higher, and a wide-ranging set of other policies that will impact the availability of capital and investment across sectors.”—Karen Kerrigan, President and CEO, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council
  
  
• “We need action by government agencies to clear out obsolete rules and streamline permitting to reduce delays and impediments for companies to invest and grow. The private sector is the only hope for future job creation. We need to recognize this and work together to let businesses, small and large, invest in people.”—John Engler, President of the Business Roundtable
  
  

The Republican Plan for Long-Term Job Creation and Growth

House Republicans have a plan provide lasting certainty and stability for small businesses while Democrats keep rehashing the same failed policies.

• Require congressional review and approval of any government agency regulations that have a significant impact on the economy or burden small businesses.
• Bring real certainty to job creators by ending Washington’s runaway spending and debt and putting on the path to balance the budget.
• Audit existing and pending regulations to identify and address those that hinder economic growth.
• Re-Authorize and improve federal programs and approval process to streamline development of new products.
• Increase American competitiveness by lowering tax rates in a deficit neutral manner and ensuring the job-destroying tax increase don’t take effect at the worst possible time.

House Republicans are committed to taking every possible step to spur job creation and get our economy back on track so that Americans can do what they do best: create, innovate and lead.