President's Budget Focuses on Small Businesses' Top Concerns

The budget proposal President Obama released today keeps the spotlight trained on small businesses' key concerns: enhancing access to credit, investing in job-creating infrastructure projects and boosting small business provisions in the Affordable Care Act.

These issues are major areas of concern for small businesses, and we're glad the president is looking to address them in his long-term plan. Opinion polling we recently released found 90 percent of small businesses say access to credit is a problem and the same percentage support making it easier for community banks and credit unions to lend more. Additionally, more than two-thirds support investing in infrastructure projects.

We're especially pleased to see a proposal to expand and simplify the small business tax credit in the healthcare law. We know from our polling and from talking to countless small business owners across the country that many small employers don't know this provision to help them afford insurance for their employees exists. Some say it's too complicated to use and bypass it entirely. Expanding and simplifying the credit so more small business owners can take advantage of it is exactly what small businesses have been asking for to help combat ever-rising premium costs.

We also know from our polling that reining in the deficit is important for small business owners, but the only way to close the gap is to get the economy back on track. The president's plan recognizes the need to do both.