Pass this jobs bill

Finally, a jobs plan that actually helps the largest jobs-producing sector to create jobs—small business.

Advocates for small business were thrilled to hear President Obama speak these words last night.

Everyone here knows that small businesses are where most new jobs begin….So for everyone who speaks so passionately about making life easier for “job creators,” this plan is for you.

No more trickle-down proposals for job growth.  The American Jobs Act would infuse money into Main Street by putting more money in the hands of consumers, cut payroll costs for small businesses and reward them for hiring the unemployed especially veterans.

The tax credits for small businesses creating jobs is a particularly sound government policy.  It’s just not a tax cut to big business and cross your fingers that they will hire.  It’s a tax credit that a small business gets only if they hire.  No hiring, no expenditure of government funds.  It’s a pay to play plan government should use more often.

While there is more that needs to be said about how to make the President’s plan work, I’ll leave you with the following statement from my friend John Arensmeyer, CEO of the Small Business Majority.

President’s Jobs Speech Recognizes the Path to Recovery Starts with Small Business

Statement by John Arensmeyer, CEO, Small Business Majority:

Sept. 8, 2011

President Obama’s speech today on the American Jobs Act underscores the fact that all roads to a brighter economic future start with small business. We applaud the president for highlighting the need to cut taxes for small businesses and offsetting those cuts by closing corporate tax loopholes, which do no harm to small firms. Additionally, his focus on putting middle class Americans back to work and boosting their spending power is imperative for our entrepreneurs, as they are small businesses’ primary customers. We have an employment problem, and small businesses create 65 percent of all new jobs. Spotlighting small business will help create a cycle of prosperity that directly benefits the economy by putting America back to work.

However, there is more to do. We encourage lawmakers to develop and support programs that will provide small businesses with the cash flow they need to keep their doors open, pursue new business opportunities and hire more workers, and urge them to support small business innovation, which fuels economic expansion.

Implementing policies that help small businesses get credit, hire and put people to work will not only help unemployment, it will reduce government spending and boost revenue. Fewer unemployed workers means government needs to spend less on social programs and unemployment benefits.

We cannot emphasize enough the need for Congress to act quickly to secure small businesses in their traditional role as job creators, and as a result, get our economy back on the right track. Congress needs to put aside partisan bickering to focus on what really matters. We urge lawmakers to rise above the gridlock that has gripped them for too long and put the public good above politics.

Small Business Majority is a national nonpartisan small business advocacy organization focused on solving the biggest problems facing America’s 28 million small businesses. We conduct extensive opinion and economic research and work with small business owners, policy experts and elected officials nationwide to bring small business voices to the public policy table.