[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4801-4802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO ALEX HECHT

  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, today I wish to honor one of my Small 
Business Committee staff members and trusted advisers, Alex Hecht, as 
he prepares to depart Capitol Hill for the private sector. Alex joined 
my office in March 2005--6 years ago--as regulatory counsel for the 
committee, after serving as a legislative analyst for the National 
Multi Housing Council. Since then, Alex has taken on a host of issues 
vital to our Nation's small businesses

[[Page 4802]]

and has been at the forefront of helping me craft critical legislation 
to assist these job generators.
  As regulatory counsel, Alex helped me develop an agenda to help small 
businesses fight the onerous regulations they face. And he has 
continued his work to this day. As has been noted frequently, our 
current Federal regulatory situation is outrageous. Small firms--our 
Nation's primary job creators--with fewer than 20 employees bear a 
disproportionate burden of complying with Federal regulations, paying 
an annual regulatory cost of $10,585 per employee, which is 36 percent 
higher than the regulatory cost facing larger firms.
  To reduce the burdensome task of complying with excessive Federal 
regulations, Alex helped me draft an amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall 
Street reform bill that created small business advocacy review panels 
within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, through the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act so that the CFPB fully considers small 
business economic effects when it promulgates new regulations. Alex 
also helped me move the Small Business Compliance Assistance 
Enhancement Act over the finish line in 2007 to ensure that agencies 
publish small business compliance guides for regulations in plain 
English and in a timely manner.
  Alex was also instrumental in helping me introduce the Small Business 
Regulatory Freedom Act of 2011 with Senator Coburn to help ensure that 
the Federal Government fully considers the small business economic 
impact of the rules and regulations that agencies promulgate.
  Since January 2007, Alex has served as my chief counsel on the 
committee, overseeing much of its policy work and specializing in a 
number of issue areas, including health care and small business energy 
policy, in addition to regulatory reform. Alex was crucial in helping 
me develop the Small Business Health Options Program Act--or SHOP Act--
in both the 110th and 111th Congresses. This bipartisan legislation 
would have made health insurance more affordable and accessible for 
small businesses and the self-employed, who represent a majority of our 
Nation's uninsured.
  Alex also helped me craft the Small Business Energy Efficiency Act of 
2007, which was signed into law as part of the Energy Independence and 
Security Act of 2007. This legislation is helping to combat climate 
change by using Small Business Administration, SBA, resources to assist 
in the development of energy efficiency projects.
  Additionally, Alex has been inextricably linked with our committee's 
efforts to reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research, SBIR, 
and Small Business Technology Transfer, STTR, programs. These critical 
initiatives foster an environment of innovative entrepreneurship by 
directing more than $2 billion annually in Federal research and 
development, R&D, funding to the Nation's small firms most likely to 
create jobs and commercialize their products. We are presently debating 
such legislation on the floor--legislation which represents an 
unprecedented compromise supported by stakeholders from all sides--and 
we are closer than we have been in 5 years to getting a bill to the 
President's desk. This is largely in part to Alex's consistent and 
dedicated efforts.
  As Alex prepares to leave the Senate, I offer him my sincerest 
gratitude for 6 dedicated years of service to my office and to 
America's small businesses. In particular, I want to thank him for 
serving as acting staff director of the committee in late 2006. Over 
his years on the Hill, Alex has developed a thorough knowledge and 
passion for Senate procedure and has been key in helping me formulate 
our committee rules each Congress. His absence will be regrettably 
notable. I wish him, his wife Amy, and his children, Chance and Marin, 
all the best as they begin this exciting new chapter.

                          ____________________