The purpose of the forum was to listen to the concerns of job creators in an effort to better inform potential legislation in Congress and improve the regulatory conditions for job creation.
The panel consisted of a diverse group of professionals, including:
- Robert Skunda, President and CEO of the Virginia Bio Technology Research Park in Richmond, VA
- Neil Amin, CEO of Shamin Hotels of Chester, VA
- Elizabeth Bentley, EVP of Retail Banking for Union First Market Bank in Ruther Glen, VA
- John Biagas, President and CEO of Bay Electric Co., Inc. in Newport News, VA, and
- Fletcher Magnum, Managing Partner at Magnum Economic Consulting in Richmond, VA
The words used consistently by all throughout the entire forum: over-burdensome regulations and uncertainty.
When speaking about the National Labor Relations Board, Biagas said that “It’s unconscionable that we are discriminating against 90% of the workforce, which is non-union, for the betterment of union contracts. These project labor agreements are very discriminatory, and they hurt us.”
Biagas went onto say that regulations have forced six of his subcontractors off of a project. “All the regulations coming down from Washington are very tough,” he said.
Amin said that capital from banks to invest in building projects is effectively frozen, with new loans not being granted and existing loans being renegotiated
“What it does is there is a certain level of uncertainty; that we don’t know what’s coming down the line at the end of the tunnel in terms of the banking industry or regulatory industry. What are they going to ask from us next?” he said.
The forum continued on the same theme for the better part of an hour, dealing with everything from the complexities of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill to the burdens placed on small businesses by the ever rising costs of fuel and out-of-control federal agencies.
Ultimately, what the forum came down to is the stark reality regarding government that’s debated on this website everyday: what is its proper role in job creation and the protection of the consumer?
Magnum was very quick to point out that government can, indeed, create jobs. But he went onto say that it is only the private sector that can sustain jobs, growth, and an economy.
And regarding regulation, it was noted that there are more than 22 federal agencies that touch job safety.
Other issues were also addressed in the discussion, including accelerating the patent process and protecting intellectual property rights, as well as eliminating the estate tax, or “death tax”, which Cantor views as a double-tax on business-owners.
Cantor is clearly laying the groundwork for the next round of Congressional activity. While the debate still rages over debt ceilings and trying to get the federal government’s “fiscal house in order”, Cantor promises that generating private sector growth will be the next legislative priority.
To view the entire forum, please visit UStream (skip to about the 3 minute mark due to volume).
To hear Congressman Cantor’s closing remarks (about six minutes) listen here – this is my recording from the mult-box, so it’s good.
[display_podcast]
Finally, I had the opportunity to participate in the press conference following the forum where Cantor spoke on a wide range of topics from energy, to regulation, having the United States go into default, to the purpose of the forum, to FEMA, to Osama bin Laden. You can listen to that entire press conference here (about 10 minutes). For what it’s worth, I find what Senators Webb and Warner have done the past two days unhelpful regarding advancing Virginia’s domestic energy production.
Update: Here’s a transcript of some of Cantor’s remarks at the event –
On Washington Partnering with Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs: “Start-up businesses, as we know, are disproportionately responsible for job creation. In fact, I think most people would say job creation comes from small businesses. The Kauffmann Foundation did a study about a year ago which demonstrated that it’s not just small businesses; it is the three to five year old small businesses that are disproportionality responsible for job creation. So if we know that to be the case, and if you take Fletcher [Mangum’s] statement that it’s not the government jobs we are after – it’s those jobs that are economically sustainable that we’re after – why wouldn’t we be tilting our policies towards making it more favorable for start-ups?…That’s exactly what the focus in Washington needs to be. We need to be looking at policies that help start-up entrepreneurs grow jobs.”
On Creating Economic Growth: “That’s really what we are about, an incentive based economy where people don’t have any hindrance, as far as government is concerned, to go about taking the risk and creating wealth. For too long the attitude from Washington has been – we have to seek revenues from wherever we can to fund this behemoth of a federal bureaucracy. And we have come to the point where we can’t do it anymore. The more the government takes out of the private sector, the less incentive there is for small businesses to grow. We need that growth engine. The country won’t be the country we know without that growth engine.”
On Securing Our Energy Future: “We believe firmly that in order to secure an energy future for the country you have to start with maximizing energy production here at home, and that includes fossil fuels. We have gotten into a pretty robust debate at the federal level about whether it is appropriate for us to continue to tap into our resources both on and off shore. I always like to say that the Virginia legislature and our Governor have led the way, because we are the only state on the East Coast that has said we want to see deep sea exploration off our coast, because not only does it help contribute to a national energy policy and our national security, it will also help promote jobs in the Commonwealth.”
On Regulatory Reform: “We know that the SBA has admitted that regulations are impacting $1.75 trillion worth of economic activity yearly. If that’s not bad enough, in 2009, the number of new regulations coming down the pike from Washington were 184 new ones in the work place. That is why we in the House are committed to bringing to the floor a bill that will require congressional approval of any regulation coming out of a federal agency that negatively impacts the economy in a significant way. We just can’t continue to have unintended consequences play out the way they have.”
On Bringing Down Corporate Tax Rates and Making America Competitive: “We are in a global economy, we have to realize that we are not just competing against North Carolina or Tennessee; we are competing against the world now. We have some really strong competitors in Asia, China, India and elsewhere. We have to take a look at ourselves and say we are Americans, but that isn’t enough to attract businesses any more. If you ask CEOs that run businesses, they are going to question our tax laws, our regulatory environment, our litigation environment, as to whether we are still the best place to locate a business. We have to redouble our efforts and central to that is tax reform. That is why we are proposing to bring down and cut corporate tax rates to 25% so we can create more jobs. We are also looking at individual rates as well because many small businesses operate as pass through entities and we want equal incentive there so that entrepreneurs can begin to grow again. So with that I think you will see some activity throughout the rest of year on tax reform.”
