Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the House Small Business Committee, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, held a hearing to discuss the highway reauthorization bill and how it affects small businesses. The Subcommittee heard testimony from small businesses in the transportation and construction industries.

The nation’s infrastructure is vital to the economy and small business. The maintenance and expansion of transportation infrastructure is critical for large and small businesses that rely on a modern infrastructure to deliver their goods to the consumer. However, with increasing users and rising costs of maintenance, highways are suffering.  While, Congress wants to pass a $500 billion highway reauthorization bill, it is clear that this means only one thing for taxpayers and small business owners: higher taxes.

Ranking Member of the Subcommittee Mary Fallin (R-OK) stated, “Our country’s infrastructure is critical to this economy and improvements are desperately needed. I believe that small businesses will benefit from efficient infrastructure spending. However, we must be careful about how we move forward.  Raising taxes to pay for this bill in a time when gas prices and unemployment are rising will be counterproductive.”

Recently, small business owners have been hit hard with President Obama and Speaker Pelosi’s bailout package that cost taxpayers $700 billion, a stimulus package that cost taxpayers $787 billion, an omnibus appropriation bill that cost taxpayers $410 billion, and estimates on the recently-passed climate change bill and healthcare proposal only point to more of the same. On top of that, a $500 billion highway reauthorization bill will devastate the very small businesses that could benefit from increased infrastructure spending. 

Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO) commented on the hearing, “This hearing has addressed small business owners concerns about excessive government spending and tax increases. It is important that Congress works together to sustain our national transportation system in an efficient and fiscally responsible way that will help small business.”