Saving Small Business: An Interview with U.S. Rep Lou Barletta

Date: August 15, 2016 Last Edit: August 16, 2016

Barletta: "Too many federal regulations to even name, as by the end of 2015, the list of rules, proposed rules, and notices numbered some 81,600 pages."

Representative Louis J. Barletta has small business in his blood. Literally. Before his political rise, the third-term congressman helped grow his family-owned road construction business into the largest of its kind in the state. Here, in an interview with NFIB, he talks about the regulations that are plaguing small business owners—and what he’s doing to reduce them. 

1. As a small business owner, you went from painting lines in parking lots with a can of $29.95 white spray paint to becoming the largest line painting company in Pennsylvania five years later, not to mention becoming the sixth-largest business of its kind in the entire nation. How did you do it?

As any small business owner can tell you, growing a business from scratch is a full-time job that takes all of your attention and effort, and it requires the dedication and support of your entire family.  When I worked in our family-owned road construction business, I knew we needed the lines in our parking lot repainted. I could either pay someone to do it, or do it myself.  That’s when I answered the ad for a line painting kit for $29.95.  After that, I thought that if I needed my parking lot painted, then other people probably needed theirs done as well.  The true inspiration in starting a small business is identifying a need that customers have, and then finding a way to fill that need.  In five years, our business grew to be the largest in Pennsylvania, and when I eventually sold it, it was the sixth-largest in the country.  But these things did not just happen by themselves.  It involved long days of hard work, surrounding ourselves with the best possible employees, and providing a service that people would value and recommend to others.  There is no other way to small business success, except through hard work.

2. In today’s regulatory climate, do you think you could still have grown your business so fast?

I think it would be very difficult to start a business these days in the face of all of the government regulations.  Beginning with local ordinances, moving through state rules and laws, and finishing with federal bureaucratic statutes and regulations, the maze of paperwork, licenses, permits, and certifications can kill a small business before it even gets off the ground.  Who knows how many great ideas have been stifled, simply because the beginning of the road is now paved with too many obstacles?   I fear that we are approaching a time when only those who have access to deep reserves of capital will be able to enter business for themselves.

3. What made you want to enter public service? Why not stay in the private sector?

I was a small business owner in Hazleton, Pennsylvania when I grew frustrated with the way that our city government was handling its affairs.  I decided that if I were in charge, I would try to run the government like a business.  So, I ran for city council, and then was elected mayor.  While I was mayor, I began to see that we had a problem with illegal immigration in our region: our population had grown by 50 percent, and the demands on our public services had increased, but our tax revenue remained flat.  So I turned to the federal government for help, since it had caused the problem in the first place by failing to enforce existing federal laws.  They listened to my story, but merely thanked me for coming, gave me a coffee mug and a lapel pin, patted me on the head and sent me on my way.  It was then that I decided to run for Congress, because it had occurred to me that common sense was not so common in Washington.

4. You recently co-sponsored The Small Business Healthcare Relief Act, H.R. 5447, legislation that will restore the ability of small businesses to reimburse their employees for the costs of health insurance premiums or other medical expenses. How significant a reform is that for Pennsylvania small business owners?

Restoring the ability of small employers to enter in to Health Reimbursement Agreements (HRAs) would be an enormous benefit to businesses and employees.  For decades, small businesses in Pennsylvania and across America had been providing reimbursements to their employees to offset the costs of health insurance and other medical expenses, but Obamacare did away with all that.  I have met with many employers from my district who asked that we restore their ability to actually be able to help their employees pay for health care again, and tailor their plans to their own families’ needs.  Here’s another case where the flimsy Obama promise of ‘if you like your plan, you can keep your plan’ turned out to be a falsehood.  Employers and employees were perfectly happy getting their health insurance with these reimbursements, so now we have to go in and clean up another mess made by Obamacare.  That bill passed the House and now awaits action in the Senate.

5. What are the three most onerous federal regulations Pennsylvania small business owners face?

There are almost too many federal regulations to even name, as by the end of 2015, the list of rules, proposed rules, and notices numbered some 81,600 pages.  How any small business is expected to navigate such a dense thicket of bureaucracy is obviously of no concern to government regulators.  There are many that I find objectionable, but these three stand out:  

Many facets of Obamacare, but in particular the Employer Mandate and the blocking of Health Reimbursement Agreements (HRAs) in particular.  The Employer Mandate requires that companies with 50 or more employees must provide health insurance approved by Obamacare, or face financial penalties.  The law also blocks employers from entering into HRAs with their workers, an arrangement which previously allowed companies to reimburse their employees for the costs of health insurance premiums or other medical expenses.  

The “Waters of the U.S.” rule from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) significantly expands the scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act over virtually all waters and wet areas in the country. The rule also would undermine the role of the states as partners and co-regulators of the nation’s waters. The EPA’s new definition of federal waters would force property owners to prove that large mud puddles and ditches on their property should not be federally regulated. The result would be a massive tangle of bureaucracy that increases the costs for farmers, home builders, manufacturers, contractors and pretty much anyone who uses land in the course of doing business.

The proposed Overtime Rule from the Department of Labor provides that any salaried worker who earns less than $47,476 is eligible for overtime pay.  This is an increase of more than 200 percent over the previous threshold of $23,660.  According to NFIB’s own numbers, this change will affect about 44 percent of small businesses, meaning that employers will have to make difficult choices in staffing – perhaps reducing the number of salaried employees in exchange for hourly workers, which affects bonuses, promotion potential, and workplace flexibility.

As always, my colleagues in the House and I continue to fight against these regulations by passing measures providing relief, but we rarely meet with cooperation from either the Senate or the White House.

6. How are you working to improve the state’s business climate for NFIB’s 14,000 Pennsylvania members? 

I am a firm believer in the adage that government does not create jobs in the private sector, but it can help create conditions in which private enterprise can thrive.  This means keeping taxes low, clearing regulatory hurdles, and reducing the number of requirements that stand in the way of small business success and job growth.

As an example, we continue to try to fix the countless problems that continue to emerge from the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.  I co-sponsored a bill to restore small employers’ ability to reimburse their employees to offset the costs of health insurance and other medical expenses.  Admittedly, it is a full-time job to face down an administration that is bent on increasing regulations on businesses at every opportunity.  Our goal is to finally repeal Obamacare and replace it with something that keeps health care costs low, provides excellent coverage, and allows for employers to continue providing health insurance for their employees.

The avalanche of regulations coming out of federal agencies is something that I continue to battle.  I have co-sponsored and supported a variety of bills that seek to overturn burdensome rules and regulations, and in some cases, have even lent my support to court challenges of those regulations.  In one notable case, I have used every means at my disposal to prevent a takeover of state and local waterways by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  The EPA is one agency that has gotten totally out of hand, and must be made to understand that sometimes a mud puddle is just a mud puddle and does not need to be regulated.  

7. What can NFIB/Pennsylvania members do to help ensure their rights to own, operate and grow their business? 

The best advice I can offer to small business owners who are concerned about the direction of government is: get involved.  Make sure your voice is being heard.  If it is a local issue, attend your local government meetings.  If it is a state issue, take it up with your representatives.  If it is a federal issue, call your member of Congress.  If you need to, you can do what I did and take the matter into your own hands by running for office yourself.  The truth is, you have already taken an important first step by joining NFIB, which truly is the voice of small business.

Related Content: Small Business News | Pennsylvania

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