On Dec. 4-5, NSBA’s Board of Trustees met in Washington, D.C. and heard from a number of high-level guest speakers as well as met with Capitol Hill staffers on key small-business issues.
The meeting’s activities began on Thursday, Dec. 4 with meetings of the NSBA Council of Regional Executives, which is comprised by the staffs of NSBA’s affiliated organizations throughout the country. NSBA’s Legislative Action Council also met to discuss key legislative initiatives as well as the upcoming 114th Session of Congress and where small-business issues are likely to fit.
Also on Thursday, a small group of NSBA leadership met with senior staff of the House Small Business Committee where they discussed the possible agenda for 2015 as well as key issues the Committee has been working on the past several months. The key topics of conversation were contracting reform, regulatory restraint and the Committee’s work in highlighting the small-business perspective on items such as tax reform and the Affordable Care Act. The NSBA group underscored their support of broad tax reform and the need to rein-in burdensome regulations, as well as key federal programs such as U.S. Small Business Administration lending and the Export-Import Bank.
The next day, the Board of Trustees held the full meeting, led by 2014 Chair Jeff Van Winkle, where they discussed a wide array of legislative initiatives for the coming two years. Highlighting the meeting were two guest speakers who discussed broad political reform and efforts to reduce the deficit.
Michele Nellenbach, director of the Governors’ Council for the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) spoke to the NSBA Board about the BPC’s Commission on Political Reform which outlined a series of recommendations to improve the political climate and get lawmakers back to governing. Nellenbach highlighted the Congressional schedule and lack of relationship building among lawmakers as two of the key issues adding to the partisan gridlock.
NSBA also heard from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget which partners with the Fix the Debt Campaign, with which NSBA has been actively involved. MacGuineas discussed a few of the upcoming “fiscal speed bumps” which pose both challenges and opportunities for action on major fiscal problems. A candid discussion between MacGuineas and the NSBA Board ensued on various tax reform proposals as well as pay-fors that would and would not work for small business.
The board also discussed in detail the upcoming Small Business Congress which will be held in Arizona on Feb. 19-20 and will offer a broad array of policy and business-focused speakers.