Among the priorities highlighted in the introductory chapters of President Obama’s proposed 2014 Budget is a commitment to “a regulatory strategy that protects the safety and health of all Americans, while promoting continued economic growth and job creation.” The Budget claims that by carefully weighing the costs and benefits of new rules, “the net benefits of regulations issued through the third fiscal year of the first term have exceeded $91 billion. This amount, including not only monetary savings, but also lives saved and injuries prevented, is over 25 times the net benefits through the third fiscal year of the previous Administration.”

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(GW Regulatory Studies Center, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being Regulated,” by Susan Dudley)

Confidence among U.S. small businesses fell in March, the latest indication that economic activity lost momentum as the first quarter ended.

The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its optimism index fell 1.3 points to 89.5 last month. The overall tone of the survey was downbeat, with only two components of the index increasing.

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(Source: Fox Business, 4/9/13, “Small Business Confidence Sags in March”)

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson says less is more.

He’s pushing for fewer government regulations concerning small businesses.

Senator Johnson says when agencies consider public input as bills are written it leads to fewer regulations and fees to taxpayers.

Government agencies do have checks and balances called “Notices of Proposed Rulemaking” to inform the public but Senator Johnson says they’re not always followed.

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(Source: WQOW, 4/8/13, “Senator Ron Johnson Supports Less Regulation on Businesses,” by Michael Crusan)

Small business owners may have weathered the storm of the recession, but that doesn’t mean it will be smooth sailing for the rest of 2013. That’s because small business owners are still worried about the effects that new taxes and changes to health care will have on their business.

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(Source: Business News Daily, 3/27/13, “What Recovery? Small Biz Owners Pessimistic About the Future,” by David Mielach)

There have been bailouts aplenty during the last five years, but one group has been conspicuously overlooked: small-business owners. Now, they may finally be rebounding on their own. A variety of emergency measures in Washington have directly helped overdrawn banks, big businesses, the unemployed, underwater homeowners and millions of others survive the worst economic downturn in 80 years. But those sundry aid packages filtered down to small business the way water works its way through granite.

Read more here.

(Source: U.S. News & World Report, “Small Business Finally Turns the Corner,” by Rick Newman)

President Obama has pledged “an unprecedented level of openness” and “a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration,” and observed that public participation “enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions.” Unfortunately, evidence from the 2012 Unified Agenda suggests that many economically significant regulations may be put in place over the coming year without the benefit of public involvement.

Check out the entire article here.

(Source: Washington Times, “Government by Regulation,” by Susan Dudley, former OIRA Administrator and Director of GW’s Regulatory Studies Center, and Sofie Miller, Policy Analyst at GW’s Regulatory Studies Center)

Lakers don’t go out of their way to help Celtics. Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t run ads for Starbucks. And Ford doesn’t suggest that potential buyers should consider GM trucks instead. These are just a few examples of friendly competition in the marketplace. When it comes to Washington, there are several examples of government agencies that do an incredible job working with their various constituencies and few are better at serving theirs that the Small Business Administration (SBA).

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(Source: The Hill, “In defense of the SBA,” by former U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln)

Lakers don’t go out of their way to help Celtics. Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t run ads for Starbucks. And Ford doesn’t suggest that potential buyers should consider GM trucks instead. These are just a few examples of friendly competition in the marketplace. When it comes to Washington, there are several examples of government agencies that do an incredible job working with their various constituencies and few are better at serving theirs that the Small Business Administration (SBA).

Unfortunately, last week during a Congressional hearing, two organizations  launched an all-out assault on one of the small business community’s top government advocates, the SBA. In congressional testimony, the two lobbying groups accused SBA of straying from its core mission of advocating for small businesses, and instead fighting for the interests of corporate behemoths.

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(Source: The Hill, 3/21/13, “In defense of the SBA,” by former US Senator Blanche Lincoln)

Yesterday, Senator Blanche Lincoln was quoted in The Washington Post in response to recent attacks on the Small Business Adminstration (SBA):

Former senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), chair of the National Federation of Independent Business’s regulatory coalition, defended the SBA, saying small-
business employers do want “commonsense, sensible regulatory reforms” but that attacks on the agency’s work are “being driven by special interests who want to preserve an unaccountable, overreaching regulatory system.”

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(Source: The Washington Post, 3/15/13, “SBA watchdog under fire for allegedly backing corporate interests,” by JD Harrison)

It’s heartening to see the U.S. economy making a recovery as the stock market ticks up and the unemployment rolls slim down. And while this is encouraging, there is still a long way to go before our nation is back where it wants to be.

Nobody knows that more than entrepreneurs and small business owners across the country.

According to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all U.S. employer firms and continue to lead the country in job creation. Furthermore, small businesses employ about half of all private sector employees in the United States and account for about 60-70 percent of new jobs.

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(Source: UPI.com, 3/15/13, “Small businesses may drown in regulatory tidal wave,” by Nicholas Owens, former SBA Ombudsman)