Most folks know that small businesses are the backbone of our local economies.  These small businesses provide good-paying jobs for families across East Alabama.

The week of April 30th – May 6th was recognized as Small Business Week where Congress takes time to take a look at the small businesses across the United States and the role they play in our economy and lives.

Did you know there are 29 million small businesses across the United States? In Alabama, according to the United States Small Business Administration, we are home to over 380,000 small businesses that make up 99.4% of Alabama businesses.  These small businesses provide over 700,000 jobs across our state.  That is 48 % of Alabama employees – so almost half of our state is employed by a small business.

Before President Trump was in office, I regularly heard from our small business owners that unnecessary government red tape and regulations were hurting their bottom line and forcing them to cut down on employees.  Now, with a strong advocate in the White House, Congress can move from defense to offense in working to help make the lives of these job creators better.

For example, in January, I voted for H.R. 5, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017, which included a provision that would focus on how regulations impact our small businesses and ways to reduce burdensome rules. This bill and our use of the Congressional Review Act are just common-sense solutions to undo some of the hardships that our small business owners dealt with.

I will continue to work with President Trump on supporting actions that help build up our small businesses and makes them stronger.

I want to hear from you on this or any issue. Please sign up for my e-Newsletter by visiting www.mikerogers.house.gov [8].  To stay up to date, you can also like me on Facebook at Congressman Mike D. Rogers, follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram at RepMikeRogersAL, on Tumblr at www.repmikerogersal.tumblr.com [9] and you can also subscribe to my YouTube page at MikeRogersAL03.