Dr. Benishek: "Costly Federal Regulations Kill Job Growth in Northern Michigan"

Press Release

Dr. Dan Benishek (MI-01) today met with Northern Michigan farmers at Johnson Potato Farm in Sagola to discuss the negative impact of costly federal regulations on farms and small businesses.

"Federal bureaucrats in Washington are imposing costly regulations that hurt our farmers and small business owners in Northern Michigan. I've been meeting with job providers all over the First District and they are telling me that the cost to comply with new federal rules is preventing them from hiring new employees. We need jobs in Northern Michigan. Washington needs to get out of the way so small businesses can start hiring," said Dr. Benishek, a general surgeon from Iron River.

During the meeting at Johnson Potato Farm, local farmers discussed how the cost of complying with new regulations coming from Washington, DC, is hurting their businesses and making it more expensive for them to operate. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), small businesses in the United States currently face annual regulatory compliance costs of over $10,000 per employee. Additionally, the SBA reports that small business nationwide face total regulatory costs of $1.75 trillion annually. That is enough money for businesses to provide 35 million private sector jobs with an average salary of $50,000 per year.

"Families in Northern Michigan are struggling to make ends meet right now and a lot of our small businesses are wondering if they will be able to stay open another year. The last thing we need is for Washington regulators to impose new rules and take money out of the pockets of hard working people in Northern Michigan. I support polices that will ease burdensome federal regulations, create jobs and bring some common sense to Washington," added Dr. Benishek.

Since coming to Congress, Dr. Benishek has supported numerous pieces of legislation that will ease costly regulations on local farmers and small business owners, such as the "Preserving America's Family Farms Act," a bill that will stop a new federal rule that would have banned farmers' own children from doing many everyday chores and jobs on family farms.

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