[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H661-H662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      NFIB, SMALL BUSINESS AGENDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RIGGS. Mr. Speaker, I take the floor here during special orders 
to bring to the attention of my colleagues a very important little 
pamphlet entitled ``NFIB, Small Business Agenda.'' NFIB, of course, 
standing for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, which 
is the largest nationwide small business advocacy organization 
[[Page H662]] in the country, with over 600,000 members.
  The NFIB, of course, with the transformation of the Congress and the 
ascendancy of the Republican Party and our opportunity to be in the 
majority and prove to our fellow Americans that we have the ability to 
govern and that we will, in fact, follow through on our commitments as 
expressed in the contract to perform and reform the way Washington does 
business, the NFIB has become a very important part, an integral part 
of our legislative efforts in Washington.
  I just wanted to bring that to my colleagues, because I will take 
time on future occasions under special orders to go into more detail on 
each one of these points.
  But I do want to stress to my colleagues the legislative priorities 
of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, as we proceed 
with the Contract with America for the first 100 days, and then as we 
develop and deliberate a legislative agenda for the second and third 
100 days.
  The pamphlet starts out by saying, ``America's small business owners 
have heard enough talk about what is good for the country. Now they 
want results. And small business owners believe that what is good for 
Main Street will be good for America.''
  And that really is the fundamental purpose and mission of the NFIB. 
They represent Main Street, not Wall Street.
  They represent the kind of mom and pop businesses and the small 
business owners who in fact really are the economic backbone of the 
communities that we are fortunate enough to represent here in the 
Congress.
  As we know, small business owners last year said no to mandated 
health insurance. They played a very critical role in helping to defeat 
President Clinton's health care plan. They rose up from the grass roots 
and sent a message to Congress that mandates cost jobs. And as a 
result, they helped us stop the President's health care mandates dead 
in its tracks.
  Again in November, small business owners rallied at the polls, and 
they turned out politicians who had supported anti-Main Street 
legislation--that is, in fact, one reason I am again serving in this 
body--and elected candidates who know the importance of small business 
to the American economy.
                              {time}  2010

  Small business owners sent the message that they want the security to 
pursue the American dream of entrepreneurship. Let me touch on that 
point for a moment, because I think that underscores how wrong things 
have become in America, because in the course of the election campaign 
I recall meeting with a small business owner, an expert machinist who 
employed about somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 people, which 
frankly is the average size of the American small business.
  He told me on that occasion, he said, ``You know, Frank, things have 
really gone awry in this country, because for the first time in our 
history, the risks of owning your own small business actually outweigh 
the rewards.'' Again, small business ownership is a part of the 
American dream.
  I think we need to change that equation, and when we do, we will know 
that our economy is moving in the right direction again. If we want to 
help grow our small businesses--and by the way, study after study has 
indicated that small and very small businesses give us most of our new 
job creation in the private sector--if we want to grow these type of 
businesses and create new jobs, then we need to support five actions:
  One, we need a regulatory revolution here in Washington; two, we have 
to cut and simplify taxes, particularly on entrepreneurs and small 
business owners, the people who are taking the financial risks to 
create the jobs and to provide their fellow Americans with economic 
opportunity; three, we have to make health care available and 
affordable to small businesses; four, we have to end the legal 
nightmares and reduce and hopefully, to the extent possible, eliminate 
the regulatory maze that small business owners have to navigate.
  Lastly, a very important subject that we are debating on this floor 
today, tonight, and tomorrow, we have to force the government to stop 
spending more of our tax dollars than it takes in. This, Mr. Speaker, 
is the small business agenda, and it dovetails very nicely, of course, 
with our Contract With America, which goes to the heart of the concerns 
of small business men and women across this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend this little pamphlet, which again I will be 
talking about on future occasions under Special Orders, to your 
consideration: the NFIB Small Business Agenda.


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