As a former small business owner I know small businesses are the engine for job creation and entrepreneurial expansion. Through my own experience and by talking to small business owners across our district I also know nothing kills jobs faster than a Washington regulation. Too often federal agencies impose rules without talking to the people who will be forced to live with them. As your representative in Congress I am working to give small business owners and job creators some relief from onerous regulations.

During my time in the House I have supported numerous pieces of legislation to strengthen our small businesses and create jobs including the Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012 which would extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that have helped hold down the tax rates of millions of small business people. The House has passed more than 30 jobs bills many of which would help small businesses. I am also part of the bipartisan call to repeal the president’s health care plan that would impose mandates that would be devastating to small businesses that currently provide employee health care.

Since taking office, the Obama administration has had under review more than 400 economically significant regulations. If every regulation the Obama administration has under review were to be implemented, job creators would be saddled with at least $40 billion in new regulations. Simply put – this is unacceptable.

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses have created 64 percent of all new jobs in the past 15 years. Small businesses truly do drive the economy. Unfortunately, Washington bureaucrats have imposed annual regulatory costs of $10,585 per employee on small businesses. The SBA estimated in a 2010 report that the total regulatory costs on small businesses amount to $1.75 trillion annually. That’s enough money for businesses to provide 35 million private sector jobs with an average salary of $50,000.

Across Arkansas’ First District and throughout our country, small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. This week I was honored to be recognized by the National Federation of Independent Businesses as a Guardian of Small Business. Regulations from the Obama Administration are deterring small business owners from hiring workers and growing the economy. In Congress I will continue fighting to create an environment that encourages small business owners to hire so our economy can grow and our nation can move forward.