On the recordFebruary 23, 2010
I rise today, with my colleague Senator Pryor, to introduce the Job Impact Analysis Act of 2010, a bipartisan measure that will help ensure that the Federal Government--both Congress and agencies of the executive branch--fully considers small business job creation in the bills we pass here in Congress and in the rules and regulations that agencies promulgate. As the former Chair and now Ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, I believe there is no more urgent imperative than job creation in our country. With 25,000 additional unemployed in my State of Maine alone, since the recession began in 2007, and twenty-three million Americans unemployed or underemployed, it is more paramount than ever that everything we do must focus like a laser on jumpstarting our economy. Furthermore, the fastest route to recovery runs through Main Street small businesses, which over the past 15 years have generated 64 percent of all net new jobs in this country, and so we must foster an entrepreneurial environment where small businesses can take risks and invest in the future to preserve and create more jobs.
