Julia Jamieson's blog

John Arensmeyer

Original statement issued Jan. 1, 2013:

The small business community and the nation breathed a sigh of relief today as lawmakers reached a bi-partisan 11th hour deal to avert the “fiscal cliff,” while taking significant steps to reduce our budget deficit. However, more work must be done to put our country on a responsible path toward long-term economic growth and fiscal sustainability.

Small business owners make hard decisions every day. They compromise on things they sometimes wish they didn’t have to, but they do it for the good of their business, their employees and their families. They do it because they have to if they want to continue running a successful business.

A look at the numbers makes it clear that America’s economy relies on small business. After all, they create a majority of new jobs and employ four out of six American workers. And it’s not often political leaders miss an opportunity to tout the importance of this critical constituency.

As Fairfax, Va., small business owner Mike Brey prepares to close the books on 2012, he’s also starting to make expansion plans. But he hasn’t sealed the deal on his two new Hobby Works stores yet — largely because of growing economic uncertainty as we race toward the edge of the “fiscal cliff.”

The politically charged debate over high-income tax cuts is reaching a fever pitch, and the question on everyone’s lips is whether small businesses’ hiring ability will suffer if these cuts expire. Scientific opinion polling released last week shows what real small business owners think, and it might surprise you. The majority of small employers in the poll — more of whom identify as Republican than Democrat, an important distinction given the partisan nature of this debate — believe allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent to expire at the end of the year is the right thing to do in light of our budget crisis.

They’ve been in the spotlight for months, and the attention small businesses got during the first presidential debate sent them into the stratosphere in terms of media coverage. So let’s try to answer the question a lot of people are asking: who are these small business owners everyone’s talking about?

As we move beyond the recession, it becomes increasingly apparent that our smallest businesses are the ones putting America back to work. These hardworking entrepreneurs deserve a chance to tell legislators in Washington what kinds of policies are going to help them grow and flourish. And that’s exactly what they got this week, when Small Business Majority flew 14 entrepreneurs from 11 states out to D.C. for their first annual network council trip.