The House is currently in recess for the August District Work Period and will reconvene on September 5, 2006.

Boosting Small Business

On Wednesday, I hosted 100 small business owners, independent entrepreneurs, and chamber of commerce leaders for a Small Business Roundtable. The featured speaker was the new administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Steven Preston. This was is a unique opportunity for the small business community in Northern California to ask questions, convey concerns, share success stories, and hear directly from the White House’s top SBA advisor about the challenges and opportunities small businesses are facing in our region. With only seven weeks in the post, it was an honor that Administrator Preston paid a visit to the Fourth Congressional District.

Small businesses drive the U.S. economy. They generate more than 50 percent of our country’s nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP), make up more than 99.7 percent of all employers, and employ approximately half of all employees. Not only are there the small businesses we see on Main Street, but there is also a growing “hidden economy”. From high-technology garage start-ups to freelance writers to call center operators, home-based businesses account for 53 percent of all small businesses. Yet, despite their contributions to the economy, small businesses face a disproportionate regulatory burden. Very small firms with fewer than 20 employees (like many of those in Northern California) annually spend 45 percent more per employee than larger firms to comply with federal regulations. On Wednesday, Administrator Preston demonstrated that he was attuned to this and other significant issues challenging small business people. As he shared his vision, I came away very encouraged that the SBA will become an even more vital resource for the innovative and industrious among us that keep America at the forefront of economic development and quality of life.

Lesson Learned?

This week marks one year since Hurricane Katrina struck the southeastern part of the United States. The destruction wrought by it and Hurricane Rita captured the nation’s attention and demanded our assistance. Over the past year, Congress has passed legislation to provide disaster relief funds, assist schools and schoolchildren, grant assistance for small businesses, and provide tax relief to individuals in the Gulf Coast communities damaged by these devastating storms. In all, Congress has appropriated more than $122.5 billion for Katrina and Rita relief. And yet, the affected areas are many years away from full recovery.

With this perspective, it would seem obvious that any metropolitan area facing a similar or worse flooding risk than that of New Orleans would be more motivated than ever to prevent a similar calamity in its own community. Nonetheless, Sacramento is staring down a flooding threat several times as dire as what the Big Easy confronted pre-Katrina. For the past year, local media outlets have well documented the situation. And while the danger is clear, too many influential local officials suffer from a self imposed blindness to the only solution available – completing the Auburn Dam. For my part, I will continue to argue that we invest a few billion dollars into constructing a preventative measure that will preserve human lives, save many tens of billions of dollars of property, and which will pay for itself (through the sale of water and power) rather than suffer Katrina-like death, horror, and cost. As Ben Franklin put it, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Quote of the Week

“In truth, fostering democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq was not our first, but last choice. It was not a good option, only a bad one when the other alternatives had proven far worse. What the U.S. is trying to do in the Middle East is costly, easily made fun of and unappreciated. But constitutional government is one course that might someday free Middle Easterners from kidnappings, suicide bombers and dictators in sunglasses. That's in our interest and theirs alike.” – Victor Davis Hanson, RealClearPolitics, August 31, 2006.