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WASHINGTON - Today, the House Committee on Small Business  met for a hearing titled, “Honoring the Nation’s Small Business Heroes.”  Ranking Member Steve Chabot (R-OH) delivered the following opening statement:  

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and thank you for having this hearing. I am sure it will be one of the best we have at this Committee in the 116^th Congress.  

I would like to welcome everyone, including our distinguished witnesses to National Small Business Week. This week celebrates and honors the hardest workers in our country.  They rise early and retire well after sundown on a daily basis, often wearing many hats throughout the day to ensure their customers are satisfied, their workers have what they need to get the job done, and that their company is a success.

You are the nation’s entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses and your stories often define the American Dream.  You deserve the ability to operate freely without the federal government causing roadblocks and getting in your way.

We want you developing that next product and service, not laboring over burdensome regulations. We want you creating jobs, not pouring over compliance paperwork.

You play an outsized role by representing over 30 million small businesses that operate in this country. You create nearly two out of every three new private sector jobs.

To put it simply, you are a driving force in our economy.  That is why it is critical for this Committee to continue its bipartisan work to create a small business environment that allows you to grow, create jobs, and transform our communities.

Main Streets across the country all look different.  But they all have one thing in common.They all have the most dedicated and innovative workers around.  From Ohio to Minnesota to Florida, the nation’s smallest firms are busy moving forward.

I want to take a moment to thank you for joining us today and sacrificing time away from growing your businesses.  Some of you traveled across our great country to speak with us and we appreciate your time and thoughts.  I look forward to talking with you, listening to your stories, and hearing about your successes. From retail to real estate and factories to farms, your impact is vast and important to America.

And before I yield back, I want to let all of those in attendance, especially our small business witnesses, that you’ve all got great Members of Congress representing you.  The members of our committee for the 116^th Congress, and I think the Chairwoman would agree with me on this, are the most engaged of any group we’ve had in a while, both Republican and Democrat alike.

Just about everybody is at every hearing, working across party lines to produce real, bipartisan legislation that benefits the American small business owner.  It’s an honor to serve with them and I hope you send them all back next Congress.

Once again, welcome to National Small Business Week and thank you, Madam Chairwoman.  I yield back.

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