On the recordMay 22, 2012
Mr. President, this week we celebrate National Small Business Week. Small businesses are so important to job creation in this country. So much of the innovation that takes place in this country happens as the result of the work of small businesses. Two- thirds of the jobs we expect to be created to lead us out of the recession and through this recovery are going to be created by small businesses. It is important that in this Chamber we do everything we can to support small businesses. I am pleased that I have been able to be a member of the Small Business Committee. I applaud the leadership of Senator Landrieu and Senator Snowe, the chair and ranking member, for all of the good work they have done for small business. I can tell you from my own personal experience just how important small businesses are. My husband and I started our married life and for 8 years ran a family business. It put us both through graduate school and gave us a downpayment on a house. It employed a number of young people for 8 years. It taught me a lot about meeting a payroll and making sure we could take care of our employees, help make sure they had good jobs. So I have had that personal experience to make me understand just how critical small businesses are to our economy. I am here on the floor also to talk about bipartisan legislation that my colleague from New Hampshire, Ms. Ayotte, and I are introducing today to boost small business exporting.…





