Spotlight on the 117th Congress:
Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA-11) Q A
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What skills or perspectives from your background do you apply as a public official?
Prior to serving in Congress, I was a small-business owner. After graduating from high school, I built a small business over a period of 25 years into a regional leader in the type of construction our company did. I employed hundreds of individuals in family-sustaining jobs. I saw firsthand the impact of government regulation on small businesses and how that held us back. As a small-business owner, you are constantly facing challenges and complex problems. I previously mentioned that my business was impacted by what I believe to be overly burdensome regulations and tax policy. It did not seem like policymakers or bureaucrats understood the impact of their decisions on small businesses. Prior to serving in Congress, I also served as a municipal official and as a state senator. My approach to service in municipal, state and the federal government has been about working to address the many challenges we face as a country. Service in government is about working collaboratively with your neighbors to builder a stronger community. I am working to reignite the American Dream. As someone who has been fortunate to have the opportunity to live the American Dream, I want to work to ensure that future generations of Americans have access to and the ability to live out their own dreams.
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What do you see as the current biggest threat to small-business owners?
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What challenges have you helped small businesses in your district overcome?
The Biden administration’s plans to raise taxes and increase the regulatory burden on small-business owners are threats that cannot be denied. This administration continues to demonstrate its commitment to making it more difficult for small businesses to grow and thrive.
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To be an effective member of Congress, you must be in constant communication with the constituents you represent. I am frequently in touch with the small-business community in my district because I am out there visiting small businesses and learning about what issues are impacting them most. One of the most common problems that I hear from business owners across my district is that they are having difficulty finding individuals to fill their open positions. Labor shortages hold back businesses from full operations in bad times and from expanding and taking on new opportunities or risks in good times. It is something that I experienced as a small-business owner in the construction industry. While many factors have driven the record-high inflation we’re experiencing today – from reckless spending to global supply chain disruptions – the workforce challenges are also contributing to rising prices. We simply must get our economy moving and growing again. And I have introduced legislation to aid in this endeavor, known as the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act, while also filling the gap in the existing spectrum of visas by providing a category to complement the other categories for high-skilled, agriculture or seasonal labor.
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How has your role on the Budget and Ways and Means committees influenced your opinions on the impact of legislation on small business?
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My service on these committees has offered greater insight into the impacts of federal policy on small businesses. On the Budget Committee we discuss and evaluate issues impacting our nation’s financial health. Our ever-growing national debt is an enormous long-term threat to our nation. Every dollar spent servicing our debt, meaning dollars spent paying the interest on the debt already accrued, is a dollar not spent on funding national priorities. This impacts our ability to invest in infrastructure, our national defense and every other funding priority. I serve as a member of the Trade Subcommittee on the Committee on Ways & Means, and I have greater insight into the impact of our nation’s trade policy on small businesses. The congressional district that I represent has approximately $2.6 billion in annual goods exports, with strong agricultural and manufacturing bases. The Ways & Means Committee also has jurisdiction over tax policy, which impacts every business across the nation. I appreciate the opportunity to serve on two key committees that address the issues impacting my constituents. S
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In addition to working to keep taxes low and to fight the red tape of Washington’s bureaucracy, my office is also able to help small businesses with issues they may be experiencing with the federal government. For instance, my office worked with several constituent businesses to help provide them information on COVID-19 relief programs. My office works to ensure that constituents receive timely responses to their inquiries and that their issues are addressed. We cannot always guarantee each constituent the outcome that they would like, but we work to ensure their concerns are heard by the federal government.
In what ways are you seeking feedback from small businesses in your state/district and using that information in Washington, D.C.?
