Small Business, Big Impact

Statement

As a young man, I had the opportunity to take over my family's small plumbing business. It wasn't easy, but with the support of my family and years of hard work, we managed to grow a business that continues to be successful today. None of our success would be possible without the hard work and dedication of the team we built over the years.

One of my favorite things about being the representative of Oklahoma's Second District is the fact that I have the opportunity to help small business owners. Many small businesses fail in the first few years, and even the ones that are passed down from one generation to the next aren't guaranteed to succeed. Any time I get a chance to vote on a bill that will affect businesses, I ask myself, "What will this do to the little guys? To businesses like mine?"

I got involved in politics because I wasn't happy with the fact that 40 cents of every dollar in my company was going towards complying with government regulations. Agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set unrealistic and costly standards that strangle business owners until they have no choice but to fold, eat the cost, or pass the cost on to the consumer.

For example, in 2008, the EPA revised an air quality regulation that made changes to county-by-county ozone standards. The final regulation wasn't published until seven years later in March 2015. In October 2015, the EPA yet again revised the ozone standard. This change requires counties across America to simultaneously implement two separate ozone standards which would cost Oklahomans, and small business owners in Oklahoma, billions of dollars.

I saw what this was going to do to businesses and families in Oklahoma, so I voted in favor of the Ozone Standards Implementation Act (H.R. 4775) to make sure the EPA does not impose a harmful, unworkable regulation on Oklahomans. The bill passed the House by a vote of 234-177, and is now in the Senate, one step closer to being signed into law.

I will continue to vote for legislation that help our businesses because they keep America growing. The jobs created by small businesses inject vital dollars into local economies, and that is especially true in rural Oklahoma. In eastern Oklahoma, you will still find mom-and-pop stores, small town groceries, and men who start their own welding business with nothing more than a single welder and a beat up truck. I hope that when my kids are grown, they will still be able to find all of those small businesses right here in eastern Oklahoma.

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