Health care is going to be debated in Congress throughout the summer.  There is a lot at stake and most of the focus is around either we have a government run system or we don't.  Instead, I hope we can broaden the debate and focus on some other ideas such as: 

Controlling costs.  This month in a meeting with the President, key health care groups pledged to slow the growth of health care spending by 1.5% a year over the next ten years which is estimated to save about $2 trillion.  This is a good first step because any health care plan must address the rising cost of care.

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Congress is at it again, using the excuse of the swine flu to mandate paid time off.  This time the pig’s nose is under the tent.  And, this is the way to thank small business during National Small Business Week!?

On Monday congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would mandate employers to give workers seven paid sick days a year.  They argue that the outbreak of the swine flu has made it necessary to require employers to give their employees time off, suggesting that employers and employees aren’t able to make the determination when they should stay home.

Let’s see if we can follow this logic?

Swine flu + Inability for workers to take time off = People coming to work with swine flu = We need mandated paid time off.

But doesn’t this make more sense?

Swine flu + Inability for workers to take time off = Employers realizing it’s not profitable or productive to have employees coming to work with swine flu = Employers will voluntarily offer more flexible schedules.

Unfortunately this debate isn’t going to go away soon.   The bill has 100 co-sponsors and a hearing will be held in the House Education and Labor Committee on June 11^th.  This bill has been introduced before and this time there is going to be a push to include it in the health care reform package that the President wants to sign this year.  

This proposal is the wrong solution – increasing costs and mandates on our small businesses won’t help kick start the economy.  Instead, let’s look for policies that empower the employer and the employee.  Let’s support legislation that allows employees the flexibility to take time off in lieu of overtime pay.  We need policies that work for working families, not mandates that hurt our economy.

This is National Small Business Week!  Award-winning entrepreneurs from around the country will come together to be recognized for the important role they play in our economy.  Washington, D.C., will play host to these small business owners and advocates of small business.  The entire city will be focused on the importance of small business beginning May 17-23, 2009.

For the past decade, our nation's small businesses have produced 60 percent to 80 percent of the new jobs on an annual basis.  After 9/11 in 2001, small businesses produced 100 percent of all net new jobs to help pull us out of the doldrums.  Small business owners even employ about half of all U.S. workers.  Setting aside one week a year to honor successful entrepreneurs is meaningful.  On Wednesday, May 20, the national small business person of the year will be announced!

The public is invited to attend key forums during this week.  These public forums will feature leading experts discussing issues of critical importance to small businesses and to policy makers. Listed below are Town Hall moderators and speakers and if you can't attend in person, visit SBA's online webcasting at http://www.NationalSmallBusinessWeek.com/.

Every time you visit a small business this week, congratulate them on their success and thank them for taking the risk.

WHO:    
                Town hall and forum moderators and speakers include:

                JJ Ramberg, Host of MSNBC's "Your Business" and Town Hall Moderator
                Joseph Jordan, SBA Government Contracting and Business Development
                Sara Lipscomb, SBA General Counsel
                Brian Moran, Moran Media Group
                Raghav Lal, Visa Global Business
                Stacey Wueste, HP's Imaging and Printing Group
                Nancy Gioia, Ford Hybrid Vehicle Programs
                Rieva Lesonsky, CEO of GrowBiz Media
                John Jantsch, Creator of the Duct Tape Marketing for small business

WHAT:   
                TOWN HALL AND KEY BUSINESS FORUMS on critical issues that
                impact small business and the economy to include:

                 Town Hall Meeting: Successful Business Strategies in a Down Economy

                 Financial: Strengthening Small Businesses in a Challenging Economy

                 Innovation: Technology – Our Competitive Edge

                 Social Media: Transforming the Way You Do Business 

WHERE:   
                   National Small Business Week
                   Mandarin Oriental Hotel
                   1330 Maryland Ave., SW
                   Washington, D.C.

WHEN:   
                   May 18-19, 2009

Visit http://www.NationalSmallBusinessWeek.com/ for registration details and schedule

                                                         *Forums have a nominal $5 fee each to attend.

ATTENTION:  Are you awake out there?  Do you want your access to health care or lack of health care to be decided by the federal government?  The SHOP Act has been introduced in Congress.  The Small Business Health Options Program Act! 

Here is the background:

• Health and Human Services (HHS) would administer a health insurance program for small businesses and self-employed individuals to purchase health insurance through both state and national insurance pools.
• HHS would work with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to set rating requirement, administrative procedures, and standards of external and internal review.
• It prohibits the use of health status and claims experience for small groups, subject to the same pitfalls of community rating and guaranteed issue requirements that increase costs for everyone and discourage participation from younger, healthier groups and individuals.
• States could opt out and apply their own health benefit plans.
• The SHOP Act provides a tax credit to participating small businesses which distorts the market and increases the likelihood of crowding out private insurance, but does nothing to address the rising costs of health care.

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Mother's Day is a time to celebrate family whether it is being a daughter, wife, mother, sister, aunt or grandmother.  We need to celebrate the tremendous impact women are having in our communities, on our economy and within our families.

This Mother's Day our policy makers can give all mothers, especially working moms, a lasting gift – policies that make balancing work and family easier.

More and more women are successfully balancing work and family – many because they have to, some because they want to.  In 1955 only 27 percent of mothers in the workforce had kids under the age of 18, today that number is over 70 percent. 

For the first time in our country's history women outnumber men in the US workforce.  And, despite tough economic times, women business owners, remain optimistic about the future and are more inclined to expand their business.

Unfortunately while the demographics of our workforce are changing, our current laws and public policies are not.  Many of our labor policies are too outdated and too stringent for our 21^st Century workforce. 

One of the best gifts we can give mothers is more time.  More time with family, more time to run errands, more time to attend a soccer game or care for a sick parent.   But right now our federal laws make it more difficult for employers to offer working parents the flexibility they need in today's workforce.

Federal laws prevent private sector employers from providing working parents the type of workplace flexibility that could allow families more time to care for an elderly relative or meet the needs of their kids.  Legislation is needed to allow employers to offer their employees the option of taking "comp" time in lieu of overtime pay.  This is a benefit that federal employees have enjoyed for over three decades.  It is time to let all employees have this option.

In addition to flexible schedules, mom's need more flexible benefits.   Working parents, especially women, are forced to make difficult choices when it comes to their careers.  Many parents have to chose between a full-time position with full benefits but a 9-5 (or longer) straight jacket schedule versus taking a more flexible, part-time position but forgoing many of the benefits.   Policy makers should make it easier for employees to trade taxable wages for workplace benefits like health care or retirement.  Policy makers should realize that our tax code makes this difficult.   

Most of the new, small businesses started in the US are run by women.  We need policies that encourage our small businesses to invest in their employees, communities and grow their business.   Policymakers should think twice about expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act (as is being proposed) and reduce the urge to increase taxes on small businesses.  The President's budget would increase taxes on those making $250,000 or more a year.  Many small businesses who report income from sole-proprietorships, partnerships, and S-corporations on individual tax returns would be subjected to this tax increase. 

Finally, we need more portable benefits.  Policy makers should allow people to carry their health insurance from job to job (even while they are unemployed or temporarily out of the workforce) and allow small businesses to cross state lines to purchase a health care plan that works best for their employees.

The best gift our lawmakers can give mothers this Mother's Day is to recognize we need to update our labor laws to reflect the many changes we have seen in the workplace.  Those policy changes should be flexible, personal, voluntary, portable and above all fair.  I hope by Mother's Day 2010 we will make some progress on these important issues and allow Mom the flexibility she needs .

Seems almost everyone has been talking about the "First 100 Days" of the Obama Administration.  How about the "Next 100 Days" and beyond?

President Obama has taken up a lot during his first 100 days and has ambitious plans for where he wants to go in the future.  Here are a few of those plans:

• Card-Check legislation will make it easier for workers to unionize which will provide numerous complications for small businesses. Rather than supporting policies that will hurt small business, Obama should free up workplace regulations so that employees and employers can work out what workplace policies suit them best.
• Expansion of the Family Medical Leave Act and mandated paid sick leave are high on the agenda for President Obama and Congress. Arguments for these policies always allude to increased workplace flexibility and job security for working parents. However, these could have just the opposite effect.
• Creating national health insurance plans will consolidate health decisions in the federal government at the exact time when consumers would prefer more control over their health coverage.

What say you about these issues for the "Next 100 Days"?  How will they impact you, your family, your employees, your lifestyle, your business? Comments encouraged!