NSBA leadership – and SBAM delegation – participate in fix the debt activities

Article courtesy of NSBA

By Molly Brogan

Yesterday, a number of the National Small Business Association’s executive committee members – including representatives from the Small Business Association of Michigan – and leadership participated in various activities on Capitol Hill in conjunction with the Fix the Debt Campaign.The first national small-business organization to partner with the Fix the Debt Campaign, NSBA’s leadership participated in a coffee at the Capitol and then moved along to a series of Hill meetings with key Members of Congress.

Partnered with a variety of state and local organizations and stakeholders, NSBA’s leadership represented the small-business community on the Hill, which culminated in a press conference where NSBA Chair (and SBAM member) Chris Holman and NSBA Vice Chair for Membership and Marketing Cookie Driscoll will speak out about the importance of reducing the deficit for small-business owners.

“We need Congress to pass meaningful legislation to ensure our long-term prosperity and economic growth. That is the only kind of security that will encourage entrepreneurs like me to continue starting and growing businesses,” Holman states in his remarks.

At the beginning of the 112th Congress, NSBA members voted deficit reduction and tax reform among their top priorities, and most recently ranked the national deficit as the number one thing they believe Congress and the administration should address.

Underscoring the broad agreement among small businesses that Congress must address the deficit, Driscoll’s remarks state: “I am involved in myriad small-business groups locally and nationally and the one thing we hear time and again is the fact that economic uncertainty is the biggest challenge facing our businesses.”

Joining Holman and Driscoll in the days events are: Todd McCracken, NSBA president and CEO; David Ickert, NSBA first vice chair; Pedro Alfonso, NSBA vice chair for communications; Rob Fowler, President and CEO of NSBA Affiliate, the Small Business Association of Michigan; Rick Murray, CEO of NSBA Affiliate, the Arizona Small Business Association; Tim Reynolds, NSBA vice chair for advocacy; and Larry Nannis, past chair of NSBA.

Founded by the architects of one of the most promising debt reduction plans offered to date, Erskine Bowles and Al Simpson, the Fix the Debt Campaign is working to build broad consensus among business, and, as such, has reached out to NSBA to help build small-business support of the efforts.

Given the looming fiscal cliff and coming debates in Washington, D.C., NSBA is proud to partner with the Fix the Debt Campaign and plans to aggressively seek small-business support for a broad and economically responsible solution to the deficit.