Most members of Congress claim to support small business owners and entrepreneurs through their work on Capitol Hill. However, when it comes to how U.S. Senators and Representatives actually vote on legislation that impacts the profitability and survivability of small firms, their actions sometimes don’t match up to all the talk.
SBE Council recently released its “Small Business Scorecard for the 111th Congress” to get beyond the “talk” and posturing.
Despite small business opposition, measures that hurt entrepreneurship steadily advanced in the 111th Congress, including: a massive health care bill that increases taxes, compliance burdens and the cost of health coverage; tax hikes with the threat of more to come; new workplace mandates that bring uncertainty and the opportunity for increased legal action against small businesses; initiatives that will drive the cost of energy higher; and excessive spending that will drive the U.S. further into debt while increasing the likelihood that taxes will increase in the future.
SBE Council’s “Small Business Scorecard” shows how U.S. Senators and Representatives voted on legislation that impacts the profitability and survivability of small firms. Each member’s score is used to determine the state’s average score, and the states are then ranked by those scores.
Along with North Carolina, Ohio was ranked 22nd.
The top five states included Wyoming (#1), Oklahoma (#2), Idaho (#3), Nebraska (#4) and Utah (#5). The 5 most anti-small business states were Rhode Island (#50), Vermont (#49), Hawaii (#48), Connecticut (#47) and Massachussetts (#46).
For the 111th Congress, SBE Council scored members of the U.S. Senate on 27 key votes, and members of the U.S. House of Representatives on 22 votes. The following is a list of Ohio’s politicians and their scores.
U.S. Senators
Sherrod Brown (D) 4%
George Voinovich (R) 73%
U.S. House of Representatives
Steve Driehaus (D) 0%
Jean Schmidt (R) 100%
Michael R. Turner (R) 100%
Jim Jordan (R) 100%
Robert E. Latta (R) 100%
Charles A. Wilson (D) 5%
Steve Austria (R) 100%
John A. Boehner (R) 100%
Marcy Kaptur (D) 14%
Dennis J. Kucinich (D) 23%
Marcia L. Fudge (D) 5%
Patrick J. Tiberi (R) 100%
Betty Sutton (D) 0%
Steven C. LaTourette (R) 95%
Mary Jo Kilroy (D) 0%
John A. Boccieri (D) 5%
Tim Ryan (D) 0%
Zachary T. Space (D) 27%
SCORECARD KEY
Champion of the Entrepreneur: 90% – 100%
Advocate of the Entrepreneur: 80% – 89%
Friend of the Entrepreneur: 70% – 79%
To read the entire Small Business Scorecard for the 111th Congress, go to www.sbecouncil.org