Blumenauer Meets with Main Street Alliance, Discusses Small Business Issues

Small businesses are the backbone of communities across the country. As a part of National Small Business Week, Congressman Blumenauer met with "Wake up and Smell the Coffee" to talk about issues that concern small business owners. The discussion was convened by The Main Street Alliance of Oregon, an organization made up of small business owners promoting vibrant businesses and healthy communities as well as fostering leadership development among socially responsible business leaders. About 20 small business owners from various sectors, including real estate, software, and nursery agriculture were in attendance.

National Small Business Week gave The Main Street Alliance an opportunity to address many of the challenges facing small businesses, help them grow their ventures, and create good, well paying jobs. "Listening to the claims of some of the biggest business lobby groups, it would be easy to conclude that the primary concerns of small business owners are cutting taxes and gutting regulations. This would be a serious mistake," the group's agenda explains. Rather, the proposals presented by the Alliance are far more nuanced and, among them, many issues Blumenauer has worked to advance: investing in local infrastructure projects, instituting a strong Volcker rule and financial speculation tax to limit risky Wall St trading, defending the Affordable Care Act, and comprehensive immigration reform.

"Health care reform, equitable solutions to tax reform, campaign finance, and farm policy – these are areas where small, local businesses in Oregon may have a different perspective than their national big business counterparts," Blumenauer said. "I applaud you for highlighting the importance of these issues, your priorities, the work that must be done, and telling your story."