John Tierney: “Personally, I represented small businesses for 20 years. I was a small business. I was president of the local Chamber of…”

“Personally, I represented small businesses for 20 years. I was a small business. I was president of the local Chamber of Commerce. There is no belief in my heart or soul that small businesses, on the whole, that people try to comply with the law, but I try to recognize fully, Mr. Chairman, that there are those who do not. My colleague's bill does nothing for that law-abiding small business person who continues to comply with paperwork filing requirements because they, first of all, do not reduce the amount of paperwork to be filed. And if we want to do that, then why do we not get our committee to start sitting down and sifting through those blocks of paper and weeding out those that should not be filed any longer and those that should be consolidated? That would be a worthwhile effort. But to have an absolute disincentive for those who do not want to be a law-abiding business and to put the law-abiding businesses at a disadvantage is not the way to proceed.”