Exclusive teleforum, public testimony deliver the small-business message
.Nevada NFIB members spoke. Congress and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin listened.
In a January 23 teleforum exclusively for NFIB members, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller gave Nevada small-business owners an update on recent congressional actions and informed them of initiatives ahead. During the call, members were asked to vote on a couple of questions. A week later, Senator Heller gave the answers to those questions to the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who was testifying before the committee. Both the teleforum and the committee hearing can be heard below.
“Putting our members in direct touch with the policymakers shaping the laws their enterprises must operate under is one of the better benefits of belonging to NFIB,” said Randi Thompson, NFIB’s Nevada state director. “That Senator Heller was able to share Main Street’s viewpoint with the rest of Congress was a bonus and a terrific way to amplify our message.”
What the senator shared with his colleges were the responses to two questions asked during the teleconference. The senator is most proud of Congress’ passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the benefits they are yielding across the nation. When asked how they were using the tax cuts, 90 percent said they were either increasing employee benefits, expanding their facilities, hiring more staff, making capital expenditures, or raising wages, or a combination of the five. Only 10 percent voted ‘none of these.’
“This is exactly what the bill [Tax Cuts and Jobs Act] was supposed to do … to create jobs in America,” said Senator Heller, who noted, “No state was hit harder in the economic downturn than the state of Nevada, but no state right now is ramping up quicker than the state of Nevada. If this bill would have been in place 10 years ago, there would have been 5,000 fewer companies that left the country to do business in other countries simply because they couldn’t afford the tax code and the regulations in this country.”
One measure of the improved economy was seen in the answers to the second question, where finding qualified workers is now the top problem facing small business, far outpacing taxes, health care, regulations, and uncertainty. In the audio below, Senator Heller details the accomplishments of the current Congress in response to a man who asked him, “What has Congress done for me lately?”
On health care, the next big issue, Senator Heller said there is a consensus building for getting it out of Washington, D.C. and into the states, but that effort must include allowing people to buy insurance across state lines. Heller likened the health-care initiative to welfare reform passed in the 90s, which ‘no one talks about anymore,’ because it was rightly given back to the states to solve.
On DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Senator Heller wants quick and long-lasting action. “Let’s solve this problem so we’re not talking about it five to 10 years from now,” he told Vice President Mike Pence when Pence visited Las Vegas.
Click the photos of Senator Heller below to hear an audio of the teleconference and a video of his remarks to Secretary Mnuchin.
