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

So, speaking of regulatory issues, I promised you the twelve categories of businesses that need to be compliant, as listed in the Americans with Disabilities Act:

1. an inn, hotel, motel, or other place of lodging, except for an establishment located within a building that contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and that is actually occupied by the proprietor of such establishment as the residence of such proprietor;
2. a restaurant, bar, or other establishment serving food or drink;
3. a motion picture house, theater, concert hall, stadium, or other place of exhibition entertainment;
4. an auditorium, convention center, lecture hall, or other place of public gathering;
5. a bakery, grocery store, clothing store, hardware store, shopping center, or other sales or rental establishment;
6. a laundromat, dry-cleaner, bank, barber shop, beauty shop, travel service, shoe repair service, funeral parlor, gas station, office of an accountant or lawyer, pharmacy, insurance office, professional office of a health care provider, hospital, or other service establishment;
7. a terminal, depot, or other station used for specified public transportation;
8. a museum, library, gallery, or other place of public display or collection;
9. a park, zoo, amusement park, or other place of recreation;
10. a nursery, elementary, secondary, undergraduate, or postgraduate private school, or other place of education;
11. a day care center, senior citizen center, homeless shelter, food bank, adoption agency, or other social service center establishment; and
12. a gymnasium, health spa, bowling alley, golf course, or other place of exercise or recreation.

So, now you know.

Besides that heads up for a new set of Justice Department regulations, this week’s microbusiness news includes a look at SBA initiatives for so-called “underserved” entrepreneurs and an annual research report on small business financing.

And, as always, my Policy Matters column.

For more information:

• U.S. Small Business Administration
• Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Accessibility of Web Information and Services of State and Local Government Entities and Public Accommodations
• NSBA: “Rule Requiring ADA-Compliant Websites Expected”
• SBA Office of Advocacy

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

I guess I figured the newly elected and re-elected Republican majority was so very gung-ho to get going that they would have gotten all that stuff done in record time. I guess some things never change.

I have to tell you, though, that while I was agreeably surprised by Chairman Sam Graves’ Web 2.0 savvy (although I expect I should really just be impressed by his staff’s Web 2.0 savvy), I am still longing for somebody in his position to really surprise me.

For all the partisan Capitol Hill scuffling and sniping that I’ve been listening to over the past seven years, policy makers on both sides of the aisle are very, very close in their views on what makes for good small business policy, what small businesses need and how best to meet those needs.

I haven’t heard anybody volunteer the information that they’ve learned enough about microbusinesses to warrant a bit of investigation, perhaps a hearing or two that will create the beginnings of a record to document the unique needs of microbusinesses.

I also haven’t heard anybody say that maybe we need a better understanding of how microbusinesses and nonemployers fit into the overall economy.

For that matter, nobody on Capitol Hill has even noticed the changing nature of the labor force.

Any of that stuff would be truly, eye-sparklingly exciting! Ah well …

I also wanted to once again draw your attention to the heads-up in this week’s news about the FTC being poised to formulate some industry self-regulation (that may turn into actual legislation down the road) on consumer privacy and behavioral advertising.

The FTC needs to hear from microbusinesses and their advocates on this one. There are links below (in the For more information section below) that will get you to the preliminary report and the page to submit comments. I doubt this is going to be one of those sets of regulations that won’t apply to microbusinesses, so let them hear from you!

Also on this week’s agenda: regulatory reform from the right and the left, and this week’s Policy Matters.

For more information:

• House Small Business Committee
• Executive Order: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
• Presidential Memorandum: Regulatory Flexibility, Small Business, and Job Creation
• Federal Trade Commission preliminary report on consumer privacy (PDF)
• Federal Trade Commission questions for comment (PDF)
• Federal Trade Commission comment submission page

Consider yourself forewarned.

About this week’s lead article, I’m also expecting to have a bit of followup that I can post about Congressman Mike Michaud (D-ME) and his crusade to get more funding for the SBA Microloan program. This was information that I had tried to get on Friday but didn’t hear from the relevant staffer until this morning. So, I’ll let you know what I find out.

Also in this week’s podcast, Plain Language might come to the federal government after all, and we’ll try one more time to improve the Regulatory Flexibility Act and strengthen the SBA Office of Advocacy.

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

For more information:

• House Committee on Small Business
• Center for Plain Language
• Sunshine Week
• National Small Business Association
• SBA Office of Advocacy

It’s pretty typical of the questions I get asked by microbusiness owners, too: why is the government so quick to rescue the big boys but not us little guys down here.

The way the feds throw resources at already-resource-rich parts of the economy while leaving the rest of us to struggle on our own is what you might call the ultimate uneven playing field.

Then again, when you stop and think about things like that passel of idiot regulatory proposals targeting independent contractors and the firms, you start wondering if maybe it’s a good thing to be ignored by the federal government.

For more information:

• Friedman Associates
• Association for Enterprise Opportunity
• Independent Contractors [Survey] from the NASE Staff Blog
• SBA Office of Advocacy

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

It’s terrible to have to say this but I’m almost afraid to get my hopes up in thinking that maybe Senate Small Business Committee Chairwoman Mary Landrieu is different, less wedded to the idea that bigger is automatically better and that microbusinesses are worth nothing more than lip service.

I’ve been in this spot before and always wound up being disappointed.

I’ll have to confirm this but it looks like the lone real friend to microbusinesses that there was on the House Small Business Committee is gone — not bumped by losing an election but, presumably, senior enough to be considered by the leadership as wasted there. So, I’m not looking for any miracles from that end of the world.

And that’s why Mary Landrieu’s interest in microbusinesses, in discussing whether the SBA should have more precise size standards than “large” and “small,” in the pride expressed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq about what a difference microenterprise development made there and how much of a difference it could make here …

Well, of course, all that got my hopes up! I’m not made of stone, you know.

We’ll have to see how she does, won’t we?

For more information:

Roundtable Archive: Investing in Small Business: Jumpstarting the Engines of Our Economy
SBA Office of Advocacy
House Small Business Committee

As much as small business owners complain about regulations, that’s a real shocker. And poor Tom (Sullivan, former Chief Counsel of Advocacy) was so excited about what did sound like a great program … !

This is what happens when the guy with the vision leaves the implementation to others. And it’s a good example of the role passion plays in moving people to get things done.

Speaking of getting things done, there has been lots of yelling about including small business and microbusiness in the economic recovery bill but, without an advocate inside the Obama Administration, don’t hold your breath.

And we’re still waiting for word that prospective SBA Administrator Karen Gordon Mills’ confirmation has been scheduled. Stay tuned.

For more information:

Small-Mart.org
SBA Office of Advocacy r3 Initiative

Now, I’ll admit it. I have opinions. I take sides. And, I’m told, it’s pretty clear how I’m inclined to vote based on the things that I write.

Among other things, my admiration for Mr. Sullivan can serve as a refutation of those who have sometimes accused me of partisan bias. Not that I’m saying I’m not biased, because I am.

I’m biased in favor of microbusinesses.

As for Tom, he is smart as well as shrewd, and perhaps one of the most outstandingly qualified individuals who has served in the Bush Administration. The only down side is that what he has been doing is relatively obscure and un-sexy, and far too few people pay attention to it.

Yet, his work has impacted the bottom line of millions upon millions of small business owners, who have been able to save billions of dollars in regulatory compliance costs over the last seven years through Advocacy’s … um … advocacy.

And the research funded and published by his office in that time has accomplished a very great deal for our overall understanding of small businesses, of microbusinesses, and of how both groups make critical contributions to the economy.

And you wonder why I’m a Tom Sullivan fan.

Best of all things to you, Tom. We’ll miss you.

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