House Small Business Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO) noted in his weekly Straight Talk newsletter that “the Senate successfully approved an amendment that would repeal the 1099 reporting mandate, illustrating that there is bipartisan and bicameral support for a repeal of the mandate.”

As to that, we shall see.

The operative phrase in that headline is “on its way”. It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings and she hasn’t even started warming up yet.

I know that not many microbusiness owners are thrilled by the politics — they are even less thrilled with that than they are with the policy — but this repeal effort is going to provide us all with an excellent opportunity to see how the dynamic between the Democratic leadership in the Senate and the Republican leadership in the House will shape itself during the 112th Congress.

You may think that isn’t interesting at all but that dynamic will dictate what sorts of things can be accomplished by either chamber of Congress and/or by President Obama himself.

Pass the popcorn.

Also this week, we have a pair of stories about how small businesses and microbusinesses are doing (more or less) right now in an economy that is taking a very long time to recover.

The employment picture looks different from different statistical perspectives. And small businesses look different when you listen to other people talking about them than they do when they talk about themselves.

Funny how that works, huh?

For more information:

• Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011 (THOMAS)
• NSBA 2010 Year-End Economic Report (PDF)
• Quarterly Data on Business Employment Dynamics release (PDF)
• Innovation | The White House

So, this week, I’m doing something a little different. Last week, I interviewed business author Ainslie Waldron while she was here in the States on a book tour. Normally, I’d post that interview separately as a Podcast Special: Unconventional Thinker or something along those lines.

But this time, I decided that since I had written an article for this week’s newsletter from the interview, I’d go ahead and post it as part of the regular podcast.

So, I’d like to hear from you on this one — because it’s a pretty big leap from the 10 minute podcast that you’re used to to a 30 minute podcast that might take longer than your average busy microbusiness owner can spare.

Did you like having this expert interview added in to the regular podcast?

Do you think I should never do this again?

I have an inquiring mind and I want to know.

This week is all about different perspectives on the still limping but soon to recover economy; the mood is captured pretty accurately in the title of this week’s Policy Matters column: Half Empty, Half Full.

For more information:

• National Small Business Association
• Ainslie Waldron, mba
• Government Accountability Office

That’s because Congress doesn’t seem to be doing much of anything these days, except those huge, earth-shattering Obama Administration priority items like health care and energy policy. So far, both the Small Business Committees have been fairly quiet since returning from recess.

We’ll see how long they keep that up.

If you decided to head over to flu.gov to check out the small business preparedness guide that the SBA was touting last week, you may notice that many of the suggestions and directions there are clearly inapplicable to microbusiness.

Basically, if you are a microbusiness and you decide to take the relatively uncharacteristic step of writing up your own flu season preparedness plan, you may have to get creative in places where the guidance offered is not precisely helpful.

The eight, soon-to-be ten, states with utility companies that offer on-bill financing for energy efficiency upgrades, by the way, are Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island, with programs under development in Illinois and Michigan.

For more information:

• House Committee on Small Business
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Flu.gov web site
• National Small Business Association
• Government Accountability Office (GAO)

This weekly ritual small business groveling that emerges from Washington every year is always a time of profound irony for me. It’s tough to take policy makers seriously when they spout off about the manifold wonderfulnesses of small businesses, when the actual economic policies they craft say something very different.

Or, to put it another way, if I had a choice between $787 billion and a proclamation from President Obama about how wonderful I am, I’d take the money. In a heartbeat.

There is good news for microbusinesses coming out of the Senate Small Business Committee, in the form of the open-mindedness of Chairwoman Mary Landrieu. Every time I have an opportunity to watch her in that capacity, she sounds as if she is prepared to do things differently, to seek alternatives when programs and services are not reaching segments of their target populations, to listen to innovative ways to get things done.

All of which is very encouraging. Granted, it’s not the first time I’ve heard stuff that seemed encouraging coming from the lips of lawmakers and I am usually disappointed. So, the jury is still out on Landrieu but … it does look promising.

For more information

• Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• National Small Business Association
• House Committee on Small Business
• National Association for the Self-Employed

One of the odd things about covering Congress at about this point in the peaceful transition of power — especially in a situation like this one, in which an incumbent president isn’t simply waiting for the formality of being sworn back in to serve a second term — is how disorganized everything seems.

There’s a limit to the number of “they’re getting their act together” articles you can write.

So, I guess it’s a good thing that both the House and the Senate seem to be scrambling to get as much done before Inauguration Day as possible. My only complaint is that the same sense of urgency does not seem to have gripped either the House or the Senate Small Business Committees.

The good news is that, over in the House, the first Small Business Committee hearing of the 111th Congress will take place later this week. By then, they might even have finalized which Members of the House will actually be sitting on that Committee.

For more information:

National Small Business Association
Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
National Association for the Self-Employed
Innovation Economics: Economic Profile Test

Lawmakers have been complaining about how well the SBA has handled the small business credit crunch but, really, how much can they do when all their loan programs are tied up with banks? Candidate Obama spent the last leg of the campaign talking about small businesses but we’re all still waiting for him to put his advisors where his mouth is. And then there’s all those nonemployer businesses, what we don’t know about them and why that matters.

Over the next two weeks, while the Microbusiness News Bries is on hiatus, I’ll have a couple of podcast specials for you – starting next week with Kristie Darien, legislative office executive director for the National Association for the Self-Employed, who joins me for a previous of small business policy in the 111th Congress.

Meanwhile, have a safe, peaceful and joyous holiday season. And let me take this opportunity to think you for adding this podcast to your 2008 business schedule.

The Microbusiness News Briefs is sponsored by GoToMyPC.

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For more information:

Article: Bailouts for the Big Three and a small business near you
U.S. Small Business Administration
Obama-Biden Transition Site
NSBA Think Big. Start Small.
Bureau of Labor Statistics