Mark Kelly: “I represent New York's Hudson Valley, where small businesses are absolutely critical to our local economy. Our local…”

“I represent New York's Hudson Valley, where small businesses are absolutely critical to our local economy. Our local small business owners and self-employed workers have repeatedly confirmed to me that the recent tax cuts are working and helping our small businesses create new jobs in our communities. But they also tell me time and again that one of the toughest challenges they face is being able to have affordable health care coverage for themselves and their workers. This is frustrating, because we have passed the Small Business Health Fairness Act in the House to address this very problem, yet the politics of obstruction in the other body have kept the bill from passing into law. Solving the problem of America's uninsured begins with helping small businesses. The facts are clear: Six out of 10 small businesses don't offer health insurance because they can't afford the high costs on their own in the private market. The Small Business Health Fairness Act would provide them with lower costs, giving them the same group health insurance purchasing power already utilized by unions and large corporations. It will give 8 million currently uninsured small business workers the affordable health insurance they need. Let us work with the other body to give small businesses on Main Street the same health insurance coverage as large firms on Wall Street. ____________________”