The fact that he didn’t succeed was probably one of the most consistently bipartisan things that happened in a Washington that had been taken over by rabid partisanship.

Looking back, it was quite remarkable, really.

I won’t argue with the principle that belt-tightening is a very much needed thing but it’s interesting that he should choose to tightening the federal government’s belt on the backs of the low-income entrepreneur.

That seems wildly inappropriate. In fact, it seems like something President Bush would have done.

Microloan has a lot of friends on Capitol Hill and, specifically, on the Senate Small Business Committee. It might even have some friends left on the House Small Business Committee.

Given the history, it will be interesting to see what happens here.

Besides that and this week’s lead story, we have a brief check-in with the economy and the curious way the unemployment rate has fallen when job creation remains startlingly low.

And, of course, this week’s Policy Matter’s column — all about adjusting expectations.

For more information:

• House Judiciary Committee (Hearing Archive)
• NSBA Budget Overview
• AEO Blog
• Bureau of Economic Analysis
• U.S. Department of Labor
• U.S. Department of Commerce
• National Federation of Independent Business
• The Conference Board

Raw Voice (owners of Blubrry.com, the podcast network to which the Microbusiness News Briefs belongs) and several other podcasting companies have joined with The Association for Downloadable Media (ADM) on the “Consumers Attitudes on Advertising & Sponsorship in Audio and Video Podcasts” research project.

The project is a survey that should take about 10 minutes to complete and does NOT ask for personal contact information. The survey will record audience reactions to topics such as ad style, delivery and placement. The research will help podcast producers best fulfill the expectations of their listeners and viewers.

If you are willing to take a few minutes to complete the survey (and I hope you will), please visit http://www.takethesurvey.com/rawvoice. And thank you for your help!

Health care reform is back and the number one topic of the week, with two of our three stories focusing on that very interesting topic. The Senate Small Business Committee leadership (Landrieu and Snowe) are concerned about some of the issues facing the self-employed that are not addressed in proposed reform legislation. The NASE is concerned about that, too.

I don’t know why but … you’d think that eventually people would get it that they don’t get it, wouldn’t you? Personal paradigms are powerful persuaders.

Rounding out the weeks news is a recent proposal that says to businesses, “We don’t need you to site your factory or call center in our community. We just need you to hire our rural and small town constituents to telework for you. Isn’t technology wonderful?” New wrinkle on an old economic development tactic.

For more information:

• Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)
• (THOMAS) Rural and Small Town Telework Tax Credit Act of 2009 (H.R. 3627)

(a) we begin anticipating the return of members of Congress and their activities, which will make it much easier for me to find things to report to you, and

(b) the items available to me to tell you about while I wait for that are rapidly becoming exhausted.

All of which puts me in the uncomfortable position of deciding whether I am going to attempt to put together a newsletter for next week or not. I’d rather not go on hiatus for a full two weeks (the Microbusiness News Briefs and The MicroEnterprise Journal will not be published on Labor Day).

On the other hand, I don’t do fluff or even much filler.

So, while I’m spending my week wrestling with that, I bring you this week’s microbusiness news.

More on micros (and specifically, the self-employed) and health care reform, plus a peek at a nicely resurgent SBA Microloan program and a glimpse at what the jobs numbers can tell us about how microbusiness employers are faring in this tough economy.

And, as always, this week’s Policy Matters column.

For more information:

• National Association for the Self-Employed
• U.S. Small Business Administration
• Association for Enterprise Opportunity
• U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics