Small Businesses Need Lawmakers to Agree on Solution to Sequestration Now
Statement by John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO of Small Business Majority, on the onset of sequestration, across-the-board spending cuts taking effect today because Congress could not come to an agreement to prevent it
It's incredibly disappointing that lawmakers could not forge an agreement to avoid the onset of sequestration; drastic cuts that can harm small businesses and stifle our burgeoning fiscal recovery that begin today.
Sequestration will reduce funding for everything from infrastructure to defense to small business loan programs. Agencies will be forced to terminate contracts that are no longer affordable and halt the "quick pay" program, meaning small employers will have longer wait times to receive government payments. It could cost the nation 1.5 million jobs and half of our economic growth in 2013, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
There are areas in the budget where Congress can pick up revenue without hurting small businesses or the economy, and entrepreneurs want lawmakers to act now. According to Small Business Majority's national opinion polling, employers strongly support closing unfair tax loopholes that benefit large corporations, gas and oil companies and hedge fund managers as part of a plan to deal with our fiscal challenges.
However, there are some programs small businesses do not want lawmakers to touch. Our polling found small businesses strongly oppose cutting Social Security and Medicare as part of a plan to reduce the deficit. Without these programs, consumers and small business owners will have less money in their pockets to spend, which will negatively affect the economy and small businesses' bottom lines.
The sequester is, unfortunately, here. Policymakers̢??? No. 1 priority should be putting partisan differences aside and finding a solution now, before the economy and our small businesses slip back into recession.