Committee on Small Business Holds Hearing to Review the State of Small Businesses Over the Year

Summary

A December 12, 2023 release says Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) led a full Committee on Small Business hearing titled A Year in Review: The State of Small Business in America. The release gives Chairman Williams' statement that the hearing laid the groundwork for the Committee to enact policy solutions. In the quoted exchanges, Mr. Boyle says fuel surcharge rates have been as high as 27 percent, and Mr. Grech says small businesses face high interest rates, inflation, supply chain issues and a lack of skilled staff.

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Full text

Committee on Small Business Holds Hearing to Review the State of Small Businesses Over the Year

December 12, 2023

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Chairman Roger Williams (R-TX) led a full Committee on Small Business hearing titled “A Year in Review: The State of Small Business in America.” Chairman Williams issued the following statement after today’s hearing.

“Our nation’s economy is dependent on small businesses, and our entrepreneurs should be celebrated every day,” said Chairman Williams. “I’m always thankful to hear directly from small business from across the country in a variety of different industries. This hearing laid the groundwork for the Committee to hit the ground running to enact policy solutions that will address some of the issues brought up today.”

Watch the full hearing here.

Below are some key excerpts from today’s hearing:

Chairman Williams: “Mr. Boyle, you own and operate seven different businesses in different industries. As you've explained, you're the definition of an entrepreneur and you act to fix problems. You see the marketplace, you don’t just sit on the sidelines. So, it's my hope that this level of drive can be installed in more young people across our country. We have too many umpires and not enough people willing to play the game. So, Mr. Boyle, what advice would you give to someone who is looking to take the leap of faith and invest in themselves by starting their own businesses but might not be sure where to start?” Mr. Boyle: “Well, I would have to give that the advice is to do it. When I started out, I was a junior in college, and I didn't know what I was going to do post-grad. And it was a scary work environment in 2010. Locally, anyhow. So, I would give any advice to going to start a new business up is to is to take the bull by the horns and get it done and push through it.” Chairman Williams: “Just a follow up. Can you speak to your business and how you've been navigating these fuel costs that go up and down.” Mr. Boyle: “The fuel costs? We've been implementing fuel surcharges. They have definitely been negatively impacting our clients. I've seen, we do some aggregate hauling for quarries, and I've seen them and they set the fuel surcharge rate and I've seen that as high as 27 percent, which I could not imagine being able to operate, you know, with a 27% surcharge on aggregate.

Rep. Van Duyne: “You brought up some excellent points, Mr. Thompson, about workforce development and the lack of focus on trades. And if you think about it, in the last couple of years, trade is really where it's at. Once you have that knowledge, once you have that experience, you can basically charge anything you want… Last summer we worked with our high school and our junior high counselors, our middle school counselors on getting them access to businesses that were willing to work with them to introduce their trades to students… Are you doing any of those types of things or are you working with some of the middle schools or some of the high schools to actually introduce what you do so that those students know that within their very city, their very own locale, that they have opportunities once they graduate?” Mr. Thompson: “Yes, ma'am. We're working with Stephenville High School. They came in and toured our facility. We've went and had some round table meetings and offered our expertise. Part of our problem in our area is there's not enough people out there to teach some of these vocations because there's such a demand for it. Out in the workforce that they'd be crazy to, you know, go from $75 an hour to teachers’ wages.”

Rep. Mann: “Mr. Grech, I know you work with thousands of small businesses. Explain to this committee the impact of these interest rate increases that we've seen over the last couple of years and what that really means for our small businesses, urban and rural.” Mr. Grech: “Absolutely. Thank you for the question. I just wanted to actually address one of the things that you talked about, about what we can do with our rural workforce. One of the benefits of being in a remote workplace environment is that folks who live in lower cost of living locations actually have an incredible advantage when it comes to being hired as a knowledge worker. So, I think another approach perhaps to rural employment issues a way that will allow people to work for companies that are not local and make a living or better than a living wage is to train them in disciplines like digital marketing and then try to get them connected to companies that are maybe not necessarily directly inside of their community. Now, to address your question right now, in addition to high interest rates, small businesses are facing a ton of headwinds. Inflation supply chain issues, a lack of skilled staff, which we've talked a lot about. And I think there's just an incredible need and role for this committee to help because I think 2024 will be another challenging year.”

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