Congressman Tim Huelskamp

At a town hall meeting in Larned this past week a question was asked: “How do you create jobs?” My answer was simple: “Get government out of the way.” 

It was that same day that President Obama attended a small business forum in Ohio.  The President spoke about what small businesses mean to the economy, but unfortunately his words were empty because this administration and the last Congress have only stood in the way of job creation.  They have fostered a climate of uncertainty for and hostility toward business, particularly small business. 

Though I was excited to hear that Boeing will create thousands of jobs in Kansas as a result of winning a new Air Force contract, it is important to remember that small business job creation is what drives economic recovery.  Between 1993 and 2009, 65% of new jobs were created at small businesses.  To stifle their growth is to choke our economic future.

The best way to spur job creation is not to give businesses more from the government or find a way to insert government into their operations, however innocuous it might seem.  What small, medium, and large businesses alike need is Washington to loosen its grip on their affairs and to remove its hands from their coffers.  Jobs are created when taxes are lowered and unnecessary and cumbersome regulations are lifted, not when Washington finds more ways to indebt taxpayers (employers and individuals alike). 

Certainly it is much easier to put a law on the books than it is to take one off.  But, it has been done before.  During President Reagan’s first term the Federal Register, the publication of record for federal rules, actually shrunk.  It is estimated that the cost of business compliance with federal regulations is now more than $10,000 per small business employee; it is time to eliminate this burden on America’s employers.  

To get some direction on what regulations help and which hurt, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has set up a new website – www.americanjobcreators.com.  This website asks visitors to share their real-life triumphs and tribulations in the workplace as it related to job creation.  The information provided by employers across the country will be used to guide the policies and priorities of this Congress. 

The U.S. House has already responded to one major concern of business owners, and that is Obamacare.  The law imposes major financial burdens on employers and taxpayers.  As one of the first acts of this Congress, the House voted to repeal the job-killing Obamacare law.  Let’s hope the Senate will have the courage to repeal as well.  The regulatory nightmare from this law has already begun; less than a year after passage, the government has already issued more than 6,000 pages of regulations. 

It is a complete act of hubris for the federal government to feel that it should have a role in the day-to-day operations of a business.  And it would be a complete act of humility for the federal government to realize it needs to take a step back.  But removing government from the corner office is the quickest route to long-term economic prosperity.