SBA Administrator on Obamacare: Unaware or Out-of-Touch?
By SBE Council at 27 November, 2012, 9:58 am
by Karen Kerrigan-
U.S. House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) recently penned a piece regarding a statement made by SBA Administrator Karen Mills on Obamacare where she seems to be in the dark about small business concerns with the new law. In his piece, Chairman Graves links to a video where Administrator Mills tells Joe Scarborough on “Morning Joe” that she has not heard small business owners express concern with Obamacare. Obviously, small business concerns with the new law’s costs, requirements, the failure of the tax credit and what Obamacare means for business operations (workforce reduction, for example) is well documented and has been reported widely by the media.
This may seem shocking to many in the small business community – that is, that the very person in charge of making sure that SBA and government programs, and to a larger extent government policy, are meeting the needs of America’s small business community is unaware of the vast concerns that entrepreneurs have with the new health care law. However, and unfortunately, it is not that surprising to SBE Council. The SBA Administrators of President Clinton and President Bush had regular meetings with a diverse and large cross-set of small business groups on a regular basis – monthly or bimonthly – to hear what their members were concerned about, or to give ideas and extend help to the SBA. This has not been the practice of the current Administrator.
Remember, Administrator Mills is on President Obama’s cabinet. That means she brings the voice of small business owners and entrepreneurs to the table at cabinet meetings and other gatherings. Either she is in a “protective bubble” as Scarborough charges, or she is not meeting with a broad enough cross-section of America’s small businesses. If she were, clearly she would be in tune with their concerns about Obamacare.