House hearing (119th Congress), 250 YEARS OF AMERICAN LEGACY: SMALL BUSINESSES AND THE AMERICAN DREAM (PDF)
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The printed record of a July 1, 2026 hearing of the House Committee on Small Business, Small Business Committee Document Number 119–040, titled 250 Years of American Legacy: Small Businesses and the American Dream. Opening statements come from Chairman Roger Williams and Johnny Olszewski. Witnesses are Adrian Adornetto, owner of Adornetto's-Giacomo's in Zanesville, OH; Philip Freeman of Murphy's Naturals, Inc.-The Loading Dock, LLC in Raleigh, NC; Anne Shybunko-Moore of GSE Dynamics, Inc. in Hauppauge, NY; and Veronica Cool of Cool & Associates LLC in Baltimore, MD. The appendix holds their prepared statements.
Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used
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250 YEARS OF AMERICAN LEGACY: SMALL
BUSINESSES AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINETEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
HEARING HELD
JULY 1, 2026
Small Business Committee Document Number 119–040
Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
64–146 WASHINGTON : 2026
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HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas, Chairman
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas
JAKE ELLZEY, Texas
MARK ALFORD, Missouri
BRAD FINSTAD, Minnesota
TONY WIED, Wisconsin
ROB BRESNAHAN, Pennsylvania
BRIAN JACK, Georgia
KIMBERLYN KING-HINDS, Northern Marina Islands
DEREK SCHMIDT, Kansas
JIMMY PATRONIS, Florida
CLAY FULLER, Georgia
NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ, New York, Ranking Member
MORGAN MCGARVEY, Kentucky
HILLARY SCHOLTEN, Michigan
LAMONICA MCIVER, New Jersey
GIL CISNEROS, California
KELLY MORRISON, Minnesota
GEORGE LATIMER, New York
DEREK TRAN, California
LATEEFAH SIMON, California
JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI, Maryland
MAGGIE GOODLANDER, New Hampshire
ANALILIA MEJIA, New Jersey
SEAN DILLON, Majority Staff Director
MELISSA JUNG, Minority Staff Director
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CONTENTS
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Roger Williams ................................................................................................ 1
Hon. Johnny Olszewski ........................................................................................... 3
WITNESSES
Mr. Adrian Adornetto, Owner, Adornetto’s-Giacomo’s, Zanesville, OH .............. 5
Mr. Philip Freeman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Murphy’s
Naturals, Inc.-The Loading Dock, LLC, Raleigh, NC ....................................... 7
Ms. Anne Shybunko-Moore, Owner and Chief Executive Officer, GSE Dynam-
ics, Inc., Hauppauge, NY ..................................................................................... 9
Ms. Veronica Cool, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cool & Associates
LLC, Baltimore, MD ............................................................................................ 10
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Mr. Adrian Adornetto, Owner, Adornetto’s-Giacomo’s, Zanesville, OH ....... 32
Mr. Philip Freeman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Murphy’s
Naturals, Inc.-The Loading Dock, LLC, Raleigh, NC ................................ 36
Ms. Anne Shybunko-Moore, Owner and Chief Executive Officer, GSE
Dynamics, Inc., Hauppauge, NY .................................................................. 41
Ms. Veronica Cool, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cool & Associ-
ates LLC, Baltimore, MD ............................................................................. 50
Questions and Answers for the Record:
Questions from Hon. Velázquez and Hon. Olszewski to Mr. Freeman
and Answers from Mr. Freeman .................................................................. 56
Questions from Hon. Velázquez and Hon. Olszewski to Ms. Shybunko-
Moore and Answers from Ms. Shybunko-Moore ......................................... 59
Questions from Hon. Velázquez and Hon. Olszewski to Ms. Cool and
Answers from Ms. Cool ................................................................................. 61
Additional Material for the Record:
Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) .......................................................... 65
Small Business Majority Letter ...................................................................... 67
SBC Democrat Report One .............................................................................. 71
SBC Democrat Report Two .............................................................................. 88
American Business Immigration Coalition Action (ABIC) ............................ 111
Democrat Letter to SBA Letter ....................................................................... 112
USHBC Letter .................................................................................................. 117
SBC Democrat Letter to Admin ...................................................................... 122
SBC Democrat Letter to SBA .......................................................................... 130
H.R. 8563 ........................................................................................................... 139
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250 YEARS OF AMERICAN LEGACY: SMALL
BUSINESSES AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 2026
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:04 a.m., in Room
2360, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Roger Williams [chair-
man of the Committee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Williams, Meuser, Van Duyne, Ellzey,
Jack, King-Hinds, Schmidt, Patronis, Tran, Olszewski, and
Goodlander.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Before we get started, I want to recognize
Representative King-Hinds, who is with us, to lead us in the pledge
and the prayer. Would you please stand.
Ms. KING-HINDS. Heavenly Father, thank you for the oppor-
tunity to gather in service. As we celebrate 250 years of America’s
small business, we give thanks and ask for continued blessings for
the innovators, the entrepreneurs, the workers, and the families
behind these small businesses that have worked really hard to
build our communities and strengthen our country.
Today, I also ask each and every one of you to lift up those who
are facing hardship, whatever it may be, especially the people from
my district where another typhoon threatens to hit this Fourth of
July while many of us are still recovering from a super-typhoon 2
months ago.
God, I also pray that the Members of this Committee be—their
words, their thoughts, and their actions is a reflection of your good-
ness, kindness, and mercy so that we can continue the work of fur-
ther providing opportunities for small businesses and future busi-
nesses across this great nation for 250 more years.
In God’s name we pray, amen.
All. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of Amer-
ica, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Good morning everyone. And I now call
the Committee on Small Business to order. Without objection, the
Chair is authorized to declare a recess of the Committee at any
time. I now recognize myself for my opening statement.
I want to welcome everybody to today’s hearing, 250 Years of
American Legacy: Small Businesses and the American Dream.
Happy birthday.
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I want to thank our witnesses for joining us today at this time,
and for sharing their time with us and their experience and per-
spectives with this Committee.
And in just a few days, our nation will celebrate the 250th anni-
versary of an American independence. Throughout this year, this
Committee has been welcoming to small business owners from
every corner of the country to share their experiences and their
perspectives. Time and time again, their stories have reflected the
same qualities that have defined America for the past 250 years:
Hard work, innovation, and resilience in the pursuit of an oppor-
tunity.
As we reflect on our nation’s history, it is clear that any Amer-
ican story would be incomplete without recognizing the role of the
small business entrepreneurs. American history is, in many ways,
a story of a small business, from the earliest settlements to the
modern economy, entrepreneurship has been woven into the fabric
of our nation.
The men and women who built America were farmers, they were
merchants, craftsmen, innovators, and manufacturers. From Amer-
ica’s earliest days, small businesses created jobs, introduced new
ideas, and helped transform a collection of colleagues into the most
prosperous nation in history.
The American Revolution itself was shaped by entrepreneurs.
Taverns served as gathering places for discussion, organization.
Printers, including Benjamin Franklin, distributed ideas that have
inspired us for a new nation and for centuries.
Small businesses were not merely witnesses to American history,
they were the architects of American history. And just as a small
business helped build America, this country has provided an envi-
ronment where small businesses can thrive. Free markets, access
to capital, and strong protections for private property and intellec-
tual property, have created the most dynamic economy in the
world, and the best place to start a small business.
So consider the American innovators who changed the world:
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and
the Wright Brothers, Walter Chrysler, and countless others. Their
achievements transformed industries, strengthened communities,
and improved everyday life for millions and millions around the
world.
As that spirit of innovation comes today across the country, mil-
lions of small business owners are developing new technologies and
carrying forward the tradition of the American enterprise. Today’s
hearing is not only about celebrating the past, it is also about pre-
serving the American Dream for future generations. We have some
in this room today.
And several of our witnesses represent businesses that have en-
dured wars, recessions, technological change, and shifting markets.
Their stories demonstrate that entrepreneurship is not simply
about starting a small business, it is about building a legacy.
So as we look forward to America’s next 250 years—and I will
be there if you want to come; we will set something up, okay?—
we must ensure that small businesses remain equipped to compete,
innovate, and grow.
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The success of our nation has always been tied to the success of
entrepreneurs and if America is to remain prosperous and strong,
it will be because future generations continue the work of building,
creating, and taking risk.
I would like to thank our witnesses again for being here on the
Fourth of July and, again, for being here. I look forward to the dis-
cussion.
I now yield to our Ranking Member from Maryland, my friend,
Mr. Olszewski, for his opening remarks.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And
good morning to all. I appreciate you calling this very timely hear-
ing. Thanks to all of our witnesses for your presence today.
I want to just express my excitement about America’s 250th. Mr.
Chairman, I look forward to joining you in 250 years more as well.
But as we approach this milestone, this 250th anniversary of our
country’s founding, as a former American Government teacher, I
am reminded of the first words in the preamble to our Constitu-
tion: We, the people, of the U.S., in order to form a more perfect
union.
For 250 years, our effort to build that more perfect union has en-
dured countless trials and tribulations, tragedies and triumphs. We
are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world, where op-
portunity and prosperity are available to all.
America became the greatest country in the world, in part, be-
cause of the ingenuity and grit of our small businesses and the
hundreds of millions of immigrants, our forefathers, who came
ashore to start building their dreams. Immigrants, like your ances-
tors and mine, are how we formed that more perfect union. But
today we know our union is also under attack.
Corporate greed is causing our markets to consolidate, making it
harder for scrappy new startups to enter and remain in business.
Simply put, the deck is stacked against the little guy. As every-
thing becomes less affordable due to tariffs and the war, small com-
panies are struggling to pay their bills and their staff. These are
our constituents, and they are being left behind.
ICE is swarming our cities, provoking fear in workers, small
business owners and our neighbors. That does not make us safer.
It makes us less strong.
To that end, Mr. Chairman, I request unanimous consent to in-
sert this statement of the American Business Immigration Coali-
tion and Small Business Majority into the record.
Chairman WILLIAMS. So moved.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Thank you. But there is good news. Our main
street businesses are resilient, and they show up for our commu-
nities in the face of hardship. That is the American way. That is
the spirit of our nation.
Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and their
issues aren’t Democratic, they are not Republican. They are Amer-
ican issues. It is why I am proud to have worked with Chairman
Williams and Members across the aisle in this Committee to pass
commonsense legislation to improve small business assistance
across the federal government. But we cannot celebrate main street
one day, and look the other way when this administration’s policies
make lives harder.
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So I look forward to a robust discussion about what has truly
driven the success of main street in our nation, and what hasn’t,
the impacts of tariffs, healthcare costs, and the massive unneces-
sary disruption to our immigrant communities.
So as we commemorate America’s 250th anniversary, let’s honor
the generations of entrepreneurs, immigrants, and the motivated
hard workers who helped build this nation. Let’s choose action over
inaction and bipartisan solutions over gridlock.
I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back. We will now
move to the witness introductions.
Our first witness is Mr. Adrian Adornetto. Mr. Adornetto is the
owner of Adornetto’s and Giacomo’s in Zanesville, Ohio. Is that
right? These family-owned businesses have been serving customers
in Ohio for more than 65 years. Mr. Adornetto’s family’s American
story began when his grandparents emigrated from Sicily, Italy,
and helped build the foundation for Adornetto’s Pizzeria, which his
father Jimmy opened in 1958. Jimmy later founded Giacomo’s Bak-
ery in 1994, fulfilling his passion for artisan bread. Both family
businesses continue to serve fresh scratch-made Italian food and
baked goods.
Mr. Adornetto’s purchase of the family business in 2012 con-
tinues the tradition of quality Italian food and community service.
Today he is investing the next generation by teaching his 11-year-
old son, who is here, the family business, with the hope that he will
one day become its third generation owner.
Thank you for being here today very much.
The next witness is Mr. Philip Freeman. Mr. Freeman is the
founder and CEO of Murphy’s Naturals, a North Carolina-based
manufacturer of natural outdoor products, and The Loading Dock,
an innovative cowarehousing space for entrepreneurs.
Mr. Freeman spent 23 years in packaging sales before founding
Murphy’s Naturals in his garage in 2013 when what began as a
search for an effective natural mosquito repellent has grown into
a nationally recognized brand. And as the businesses expanded, he
founded The Loading Dock, a coworking and warehouse community
that has helped hundreds of small businesses launch and grow by
providing affordable flexible workplace.
Those mosquitoes, do you have an office in Texas?
Mr. FREEMAN. We are very popular.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay. Mr. Freeman is part of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council where he advocates
for policies to strengthen America’s small businesses. He earned a
communications degree from Virginia Tech and served 8 years as
Deep-Sea Diving Officer in the U.S. Navy. Thank you for your serv-
ice, and I look forward to our discussion here.
Our next witness is Mrs. Anne Shybunko-Moore. Mrs. Shybunko-
Moore is the CEO and owner of GSE Dynamics, a U.S. defense
manufacturer founded by her father, Daniel, in 1971. GSE Dynam-
ics serves the defense industrial base by supplying the U.S. Air
Force, Navy, Army, and major aerospace manufacturers. She joined
her father’s company in 2001 and has led its expansion into one of
the nation’s largest federally certified Women-Owned Small Busi-
ness. She also serves on the Manufacturing and America Advisory
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Committee, where she provides strategic guidance to the federal
government on strengthening supply chains, including global com-
petitiveness and supporting America’s small business manufactur-
ers.
Mrs. Shybunko-Moore and her husband, Jamie, have four sons
who may one day carry on the family business as its next genera-
tion of leaders. I look forward to your testimony.
I now recognize the Ranking Member from Maryland, Mr.
Olszewski, to briefly introduce our last witness appearing before us
today.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Happy to welcome
Ms. Veronica Cool, who is the President and CEO of Cool & Associ-
ates, LLC, a bilingual outreach and strategy firm specializing in
marketing and engagement for the Latino community.
Before her time as an entrepreneur, Ms. Cool was a banker with
Wells Fargo and Bank of America, respectively. Previously, Ms.
Cool also sat on the Open Society Institute Board and the Mary-
land Governor’s Workforce Investment Board and has served as the
Chairperson of the Maryland Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Prior to coming to Congress, as Baltimore County executive, I
had the privilege to partner with Ms. Cool’s firm to provide my con-
stituents with translation services for our town halls.
Thank you so much for being an outstanding partner in our lan-
guage and interpretation work and for helping to level the playing
field for our immigrant entrepreneur communities, both then and
now.
Ms. Cool holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and international
business from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania and a master’s
degree in finance from Loyola University in Maryland. Welcome,
Ms. Cool.
Chairman WILLIAMS. There is a Cool, Texas, in my district.
Yeah. If you run for office there, you will have instant name ID.
Before recognizing the witnesses, I would like to remind them
that their oral testimony is restricted to 5 minutes in length. If you
see the light turn red in front of you, it means your 5 minutes have
concluded, and you should wrap up your testimony. If you continue
to go further, you will hear this, and that means you need to stop.
But we will be fine on time.
I now recognize Mr. Adornetto for his 5-minute opening remarks.
STATEMENTS OF ADRIAN ADORNETTO, OWNER,
ADORNETTO’S-GIACOMO’S; PHILIP FREEMAN, FOUNDER &
CEO, MURPHY’S NATURALS, INC.-THE LOADING DOCK, LLC;
ANNE SHYBUNKO-MOORE, OWNER & CEO, GSE DYNAMICS,
INC.; AND VERONICA COOL, PRESIDENT & CEO, COOL & AS-
SOCIATES LLC.
STATEMENT OF ADRIAN ADORNETTO
Mr. ADORNETTO. Chairman Williams, Ranking Member Dr.
Olszewski, and distinguished Members of the Committee, good
morning, and thank you for inviting me to testify today. It is a
privilege to appear before you and share my family’s story and
what entrepreneurship has meant to generations of Americans like
mine.
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I am grateful to have my wife, Erika, here with me, along with
two of our four children, Enzo and Giada. The other two, Gabriella
and Jase, are back home in Ohio. They are the reason this work
matters, because everything my family has built has always been
about creating opportunity for the next generation.
My name is Adrian Adornetto. I am a husband, a father, a proud
American by birth, a Sicilian by heritage, an entrepreneur by call-
ing, and a product of the American Dream. My grandparents, Phil-
lip and Catherine Adornetto, came to this country from Sicily with
hope, determination, faith, and an unwavering belief in the oppor-
tunity, and a lot of courage, might I add.
My grandmother was only 9 years old, my grandfather was a
teenager when they left everything they knew in search of a better
life in America. They actually later met in America and married
and settled in a small town called Zanesville, Ohio, where they
raised three sons. One became a doctor of optometry, one built a
career in financial management and leadership, and then my fa-
ther, James, Jim Adornetto, chose entrepreneurship.
With the encouragement and sacrifice of his parents and his two
brothers, my father opened Adornetto’s Pizzeria in 1958 when he
was just 19 years old. He later opened Giacomo’s Bread & More in
1994. I grew up in those restaurants.
Just the other day, I realized my first boardroom was not in the
corporate office, it was every Sunday morning after church around
the breakfast table, and my grandmother, father, aunts, uncles,
and relatives talked about the previous week’s business, what
worked well, what didn’t work well, how do we improve it, what
is on tap for next week.
Growing up, I became—growing up, I dreamed of becoming an
actor, and my family never pressured me into the restaurant busi-
ness. But over time, the restaurant business found me, and I fell
in love with the energy, the teamwork, the busy nights, and the
chance to create memorable experiences for guests.
In 2013, my father and I completed the transition of the family
business. I purchased the operating business, while he retained the
real estate. We wanted it to be a transition specifically. We were
father and son first, business partners second.
Those lessons and other lessons also shaped the way I viewed
leadership beyond my own restaurants. As a past board chair, the
Ohio Restaurant Hospitality Alliance, I had the opportunity to
work with and advocate for restaurants and hospitality businesses
across our State.
That experience reinforced something I already knew from my
own family businesses. Small business leadership matters. It mat-
ters to employees, communities, local suppliers, young workers, and
the future of main street.
You see, my grandparents sought the American Dream, my fa-
ther spent his life building it, and I have been blessed with the op-
portunity to continue it. Now my greatest responsibility is to pre-
serve it for my children and, hopefully, someday for my grand-
children. No pressure. No pressure, guys.
But preserving that dream requires more than the family pride.
It requires business environment where small businesses can sur-
vive, reinvest, hire, and pass opportunity on to the next generation.
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Running a restaurant has never been easy over the years. We
have faced recessions, supply disruptions, inflation, labor chal-
lenges, rising operating costs, but nothing, nothing compared to
COVID, which nearly shut us down permanently.
We survived because of our employees, our community, and our
ability to adapt. I have spoken a lot about my family. There is also
my employee family. My family’s business would not be where it
is today without thousands of Ohioans who have worked for us
over the past 6 decades.
Many start at entry-level jobs as teenagers, saw an opportunity
in this industry, and offered—that the industry offered and worked
their way to positions of greater responsibility.
I am grateful to Members of Congress who recognize small busi-
nesses are still carrying the burden from the pandemic, inflation,
and rising costs. Tax provisions, such as accelerated depreciation,
make a real difference. They allowed me to reinvest in my busi-
ness, complete overdue improvements, renovate locations, and hire
local Zanesville, Ohio contractors to do the work.
Family businesses do not just pass down recipes, they pass down
values, responsibilities, work ethic, integrity, and the belief that
every generation should leave something better than it found. Res-
taurants and small businesses like mine are part of the American
fabric.
To our patrons, we are gathering places for first dates, anniver-
saries, birthdays, sports celebrations, and family milestones. To our
communities, we are employers, training grounds, and taxpayers,
and anchors to the local economy.
Thank you again for allowing me to share my life or family’s
story. It is in many ways a story of America.
May God bless our small businesses, the customers who support
them, the employees who work them, the families who build them,
and the United States of America.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Gentleman yields back.
I now recognize Mr. Freeman for his 5-minute opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF PHILIP FREEMAN
Mr. FREEMAN. Chairman Williams, Ranking Member
Olszewski, distinguished Members of the Committee, thank you for
the opportunity to testify today.
My name is Philip Freeman, and I am the founder and CEO of
Murphy’s Naturals, a natural products company based in Raleigh,
North Carolina, that manufactures plant-based mosquito
repellents. I am also the founder of The Loading Dock, a coworking
and cowarehousing community serving nearly 1300 members and
450 small businesses.
I am proud to testify on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and its Small Business Council, of which I am a Member. As we
mark 250 years of American independence, there is no better time
to reflect on the ultimate engine of this nation’s prosperity: Amer-
ican small business.
My entrepreneurial journey didn’t start in the traditional way,
and I didn’t have a formal finance background or education. It
started on the Virginia farm where I was raised and later during
my service as a Deep-Sea Diving Officer in the United States Navy.
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For decades, I filed away business ideas, telling myself the time
wasn’t right. But sitting in my garage in Raleigh, I looked at a sim-
ple problem that we had at home. My wife, Pam, who is here, she
is an absolute mosquito magnet, and we both disliked the chemical
repellents that were on the market. Because I couldn’t find an ef-
fective natural alternative, I developed one myself. So garage-born.
That is the American story: Identifying a need, taking a risk, and
building something from nothing.
What started in our garage has grown into a 120,000-square-foot
manufacturing facility where we make 85 percent of our products
and employ nearly 50 full-time team members.
But scaling is never a straight line. Early on, I hit a massive
roadblock, which was space. Traditional commercial leases were
rigid, expensive, and completely mismatched for the bootstrap
startup. I signed a multiyear personal guaranteed lease for a small
space, outgrew it in 6 months, and found myself trapped. There
had to be a better way.
When I finally found a larger facility, I decided to build a concept
to help other entrepreneurs facing those same hurdles. I leased
extra space, and I launched The Loading Dock. Today, we provide
flexible, affordable cowarehousing for hundreds of startups across
three campuses.
Essentially, we were a startup starting a startup for startups,
and that is a little bit crazy and not well-advised, but it has
worked.
But that is what small business owners do. We don’t just solve
our own problems. We build the infrastructure to help others solve
theirs. But we can’t do it alone.
On behalf of entrepreneurs working around the clock, I want to
highlight three urgent priorities for the Committee.
First, access to capital and flexible space. The single greatest
barrier for an early-stage company is infrastructure. Congress can
unlock immense growth by expanding access to SBA lending tools
and supporting flexible small business infrastructure.
Second, regulatory clarity and innovation. Small businesses can’t
afford teams of lawyers. We need clear, accessible guidance from
federal agencies so entrepreneurs have a clear path to bring for-
ward disruptive beneficial ideas.
Three, pathways for veterans and second-career founders. Our
most successful founders are often veterans who bring decades of
wisdom. Congress must continue to fund vital pipelines, like Hiring
Our Heroes and The Honor Foundation.
We provide generous education opportunities for veterans. Imag-
ine the economic impact if we could provide similar grants and fa-
vorable loans for veterans taking a startup risk.
Members of the Committee, 250 years ago, our Founders of this
nation bet everything on a radical idea, that free people, given the
opportunity, would build something extraordinary. The American
Dream is not a relic of the past. It is alive in every garage, spare
bedroom, and warehouse bay across your districts. But it requires
tending, it requires policies that lower barriers, reward responsi-
bility and trust in American ingenuity.
I am here because I believe this Committee has the power to
make it easier for the next Philip Freeman to take that leap a little
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sooner with the confidence that their country is the wind at their
back.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Gentleman yields back.
I now recognize Mrs. Shybunko-Moore for her 5-minute opening
remarks.
STATEMENT OF ANNE SHYBUNKO-MOORE
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Chairman Williams, Ranking Mem-
ber Olszewski, and Members of the Committee, my name is Anne
Shybunko-Moore, and I am the owner and CEO of GSE Dynamics.
We are a family-owned defense manufacturer on Long Island, New
York.
I am honored to be here on behalf of the small businesses and
manufacturers that drive our nation’s economy. My company grew
out of the cradle of aviation on Long Island. It was from Long Is-
land’s Roosevelt Field that Charles Lindbergh began his flight
across the Atlantic.
And it was on Long Island during the Golden Age of Aviation fol-
lowing The Great War that manufacturers pioneered aircraft, not
for wartime, but for peacetime, opening the skies for commercial
flight.
And it was a Long Island company named Grumman Aerospace
that transformed carrier-based aircraft during World War II.
Grumman helped give the arsenal of democracy its wings. Later,
Grumman answered the call to make the impossible real, crafting
the Apollo Lunar Module that landed America on the moon.
Grumman also built something else, my father, Daniel
Shybunko’s, career. My father was an engineer when the company
encouraged him to start a small side business in 1971. And 8 years
later, he left Grumman to run GSE Dynamics full-time.
Decades after I walked the factory floor as a child, he invited me
to join the company in 2001. And in 2003, GSE became a woman-
owned small business, and I continued to work beside my dad until
his passing in 2019.
And today, GSE is a top woman-owned supplier for the U.S. mili-
tary, building complex assemblies for the B-52 bomber, the M1
Abrams tank, naval submarines, and many more. We are the top
woman-owned small business supplier to DLA Aviation and a crit-
ical supplier for the U.S. Navy’s periscope mast fairings. And with
over 90 employees, we are among the 93 percent of U.S. manufac-
turers classified as small businesses.
This is my family’s story, and this is GSE’s story. This is a true
Long Island story. And today, just days from America’s 250th anni-
versary, this is an American story.
America’s small businesses have always been where innovation
takes flight. But as everyone in this room knows, America’s success
does not just happen. It must be built, it must be protected, and
it must be strengthened.
The best investment in manufacturers comes from public policies
that help small businesses like mine invest, grow, and thrive. First
and foremost, that means protecting pro-growth tax policies like
those Congress passed last year in H.R. 1. Provisions like imme-
diate expensing are helping GSE invest in the future.
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Already this year, we have purchased a new 5-Axis Machining
Center that will help us build better and faster. We are also ex-
panding a facility and investing in new research to help keep GSE
on the cutting-edge.
Secondly, we need reliable access to capital, because long before
a product leaves the factory floor, manufacturers must invest in ex-
pensive equipment and raw materials to build it. That is why in-
creasing SBA lending limits is so important, precisely as this Com-
mittee did through the Made in America Manufacturing Finance
Act.
Third, we must address workforce shortages. Manufacturing of-
fers great careers for highly skilled technicians, machinists, weld-
ers, tradespeople, along with administrative and professional staff.
We must strengthen employer-led workforce training and encour-
age more young people to see manufacturing as a career of purpose
and opportunity.
And finally, we must remember that our national security de-
pends on a strong Defense Industrial Base. To build more resilient
supply chains, we need a 21st century permitting system. We need
to protect pro-America, pro-manufacturing trade agreements, like
the USMCA, and we need more access to key inputs, like critical
minerals.
And when I think about America’s 250th anniversary, I think
about the chance my father took 50 years ago on a country that re-
wards risk-takers. I think about GSE’s contribution, not just to
Long Island’s story as the cradle of aviation, but to America’s story
as the land of opportunity, a place where manufacturers don’t just
build products; we build families, and we build communities, and
we build a stronger country.
Fifty years from now, I hope another family business will be here
telling its story or maybe even my son, James, will be sharing
GSE’s next chapter. That will happen through your courage and
your vision to back policies that strengthen America’s industrial
base.
If our leaders work together, America will lead as the best place
in the world to create and make things, and our dreams will take
flight. Thank you very much.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Thank you. Well said. The gentlelady
yields back.
I now recognize Ms. Cool for her 5-minute opening remarks.
STATEMENT OF VERONICA COOL
Ms. COOL. Chairman Williams, Ranking Member Velázquez,
Congressman Johnny O, thank you very much for having me today.
Fifteen years ago, I was sitting at my kitchen table wondering
whether filing the paperwork for a tiny government subcontract
was even worth the effort. Today, it is one of the greatest honors
of my life to appear before Congress because that little opportunity
became the foundation of a company that now helps strengthen
communities across our entire country. That is the American
Dream.
My name is Veronica Cool, and I am the founder, president, and
CEO of Cool & Associates, LLC, a Maryland-based small business
I started in 2011. I was born in Dominican Republic, and I came
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to the U.S. believing what millions of immigrants have believed for
generations: That if I worked hard, if I kept learning, treating peo-
ple with integrity and I persevered, I could build a better life. And
America gave me that opportunity.
When I started my business, I didn’t have investors, I didn’t have
venture capital or a family business I inherited. I had 20 years of
banking experience, grit, and an idea. That organizations could bet-
ter serve people by building trust, not just translating words. And
that little tiny idea became the basis for my company.
Today, our team helps government agencies across all aisles.
Hospitals, nonprofits, universities, and businesses communicate
more effectively, engage communities and solve very complicated
issues. But our success, just like my fellow witnesses here, didn’t
happen overnight.
Like every single entrepreneur, we had to work really hard and
earn it. One of our very first government contracts was a tiny little
thing, as I mentioned earlier. And I remember thinking, it probably
wasn’t even worth it. The paperwork was excessive, the compliance
reporting was extensive. And for us being tiny, it actually felt like
more work than the work we were getting paid to do. But, of
course, we kept delivering and working on it.
That one opportunity became another and then another, and
every project taught us something. Every satisfied client became a
reference. Every single problem, mistake and challenge made us
stronger.
Recently I had one of those full-circle moments that we all cele-
brate and hope for. During a really competitive procurement bid,
I learned that the prime contractor and every subcontractor in that
group had adjusted their schedule around ours because the agency
wanted the Cool team included in the proposal, not because we
were the biggest, not because it was a large marketing budget, but
because over 15 years, we had earned the reputation for delivering
quality, building trust, and helping organizations genuinely connect
with the communities they serve.
I have been fortunate to receive awards throughout my career,
but that one moment meant more to me than any other plaque or
recognition. It told me that our work became trusted enough to in-
fluence outcomes that improve communities and create oppor-
tunity. To me, that is what entrepreneurship is all about.
Small businesses do not just create jobs. We solve problems. We
strengthen neighborhoods, and we mentor future leaders. We cre-
ate opportunities for others. We build legacy. That is what my fa-
ther taught me.
My team experienced that firsthand during the COVID-19 pan-
demic. We supported the State of Maryland, Governor Hogan at
that time, by translating and culturally adapting urgent public
health information in a matter of hours so essential workers and
multilingual communities could receive lifesaving information
when they needed it the most. We were proud to do it even though
it required around-the-clock work, significant personal sacrifice,
and tremendous resilience.
Experiences like that have taught me that one important lesson.
Communication is economic infrastructure. And being in Baltimore,
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we know that ports and highways are transportation, but commu-
nication is an integral part of that.
When people understand how to access healthcare, workforce op-
portunities, government services, and small business resources,
they show up, and they participate. When they participate, busi-
nesses grow, communities become stronger, and our economy bene-
fits.
And as Congress looks to that next 250 years, I am hoping for
something simple. Please continue to create an environment where
entrepreneurs can do what they do best: Innovate, adapt, and
build.
Please provide greater predictability, reduce unnecessary admin-
istrative burdens, invest in workforce development and technology.
Please ensure that qualified small businesses have the oppor-
tunity to compete.
The American Dream, I know, did not guarantee success, but it
did promise opportunity. That opportunity changed my life, and I
hope, together, we can ensure remains available for the future gen-
eration of entrepreneurs.
I thank you for the opportunity and look forward to your ques-
tions.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentlelady yields back. Those were
great opening comments—thank you—for all of you. We will now
move to the Member questions under the 5-minute rule that we
went over with you. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes.
Mr. Adornetto, successfully been in business for 68 years, you
said, crossing two generations. And according to Pizza Today, your
business is in the top 100 independently owned pizzerias in the na-
tion.
My question is, what has enabled you to remain successful across
multiple generations? And as you look to the future, what lessons
do you hope to pass down to the next generation that is sitting be-
hind you to ensure that you continue for many years and many
more generations to come?
Mr. ADORNETTO. You know, as I said in my opening statement,
Mr. Chairman—thank you for the question, by the way—just the
work ethic that was passed down to me from my grandparents, my
father has helped us achieve that; our community, our great work-
force that we have had in the past and currently. And hopefully in
the future—reference the future—hopefully have more workforce
development. We need that in hospitality industry, making sure
that people realize that they can make a career of that. And, obvi-
ously, access the capital and expansion will help out greatly, and
continuing to achieve that award with Pizza Today in the future
as well for the next generations to come.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Great. Mr. Freeman, to you, you started
your first company, Murphy’s Naturals, in search of a natural bug
repellent for your wife. That is a great story in itself.
After experiencing the firsthand challenges of starting the scal-
ing back—scaling a business, you then launched your second busi-
ness, The Loading Dock, which is a flexible warehouse space, as
you talked about, where you help mentor and guide other growing
entrepreneurs.
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So the question is, can you share how The Loading Dock is help-
ing other small business owners overcome barriers, grow their com-
panies, and achieve the American Dream?
Mr. FREEMAN. Yes, sir. And thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the
question.
One of the biggest hurdles that I ran into starting off was I was
a solopreneur. I was doing things on my own. I didn’t have much
of a base of support to work from, to ask questions about how you
start a new business. It was really figuring it out myself in that
scrappy way.
There were many hurdles that I had to overcome. Some were, as
I mentioned before, signing a multiyear lease for a warehouse and
having to personally guarantee that when I really didn’t know if
my business would thrive or not. I figured there had to be a better
way to do this.
So what we did was we created a vast amount of warehouse
space, and we divided it into individual units. And that allowed
small business to come in and use as little as a hundred square
feet to support their business, and that is an incredible thing for
them to have that flexibility.
Now we have units as big as 2400 square feet, but we don’t re-
quire a lease, and we don’t require a personal guarantee. As a mat-
ter of fact, they don’t even have to buy the material handling
equipment that they need to move their goods, to receive goods, to
warehouse goods, and to ship goods. We supply all of that, and it
is shared.
So by removing some of those hurdles, it made a massive dif-
ference for people to be willing to start something, and I would
never want anyone to regret never starting something because of
those hurdles. Now, we can’t remove the hurdles to
entrepreneurialism, but we can lower them. And if we lower them
and we get a few more people to say, yes, I am going to give it a
try, then that matters.
And then lastly, as far as that is concerned, we have built a com-
munity. When you think about all those different entrepreneurs
working in the same building together, they share ideas, they com-
miserate, they speak about the victories, the challenges, and that
is a big deal.
When you have other people to work with, even though they are
not part of the same company, that is a very, very big deal and to
have that community.
And that is all around Murphy’s Naturals at our main head-
quarters. So we derive energy from all of those people, and several
of those people became team members at Murphy’s Naturals as
well. So very beneficial.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Well, thank you for that.
And in the limited time I have got, Mrs. Shybunko-Moore, since
the founding of our nation, small businesses have played a vital
role in strengthening America’s ability to defend itself.
Could you speak briefly to the unique role that small businesses
like yours play in supporting America’s warfighters today, and,
more broadly, can you talk about what is critical for our national
security that we continue to foster an environment where small
business can start, grow, and thrive?
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Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Thank you very much for the ques-
tion. It is a big question for something very important that we all
do.
So to support, obviously, the defense industrial base brings pride
every day, not only to me and my family, but to my employees,
which is the most important thing that I have, right? My work-
force.
So I think right now, I am going to get to the end of your ques-
tion first with the time allotted here. We have to focus on work-
force and make sure that we continue to train the workforce that
can manufacture the parts that we need for our national security.
We need to make sure that we are building our supply chain, we
need to make sure that we are building capacity and capability in
this nation and which right now, I believe it was referenced, it is
diminishing right now with all the different business dealings that
are going on. We absolutely have a diminishing supply chain in our
defense industrial base, which poses a threat.
And I also believe we need to do some more branding and mar-
keting for manufacturing. We have to make sure that people un-
derstand that it is a noble job to be in a manufacturing company.
Chairman WILLIAMS. My time is up.
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. I saw that. That is why I went to
the end of your question first. Thank you.
Chairman WILLIAMS. I now recognize the Ranking Member for
5 minutes of questions.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It is the
250th anniversary. So, Ms. Cool, I will start with a fun question.
Why is America the best place to start a small business?
Ms. COOL. Oh, my gosh. The United States of America rewards
innovation. When an immigrant can come with the focus and the
determination to build the business from the ground up like me,
that is rewarded. That is absolutely rewarded.
And being able to create jobs, invest in my neighborhoods, invest
in my communities, you can’t do that anywhere else in the world.
So happy birthday.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Happy birthday, America, indeed. And, Ms.
Cool, your story is an inspiration and, I think, speaks to that prom-
ise.
I know that minority Committee staff released two reports warn-
ing about the ways in which the Trump administration is draining
main street of critical immigrant staff and entrepreneurs.
So, Mr. Chairman, I would ask unanimous consent to put those
reports into the record.
Chairman WILLIAMS. So moved.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Thank you. Ms. Cool, can you speak to how
you see President Trump’s mass deportations as hurting your cli-
ents’ ability to find and keep workers and make sales?
Ms. COOL. Well, I can speak from the perspective of seeing what
is happening in my communities and the organizations we serve.
When there is uncertainty around immigration, many employers
report greater difficulty recruiting and retaining workers, and the
community declines in participating because hesitation, they are
fearful. So whether we are talking about healthcare, workforce, we
need stability. Trust matters.
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My hope is that we can maintain a legal or a lawful immigration
system that also serves the small businesses so that our workers
can grow and our communities can feel more stable.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. I appreciate that perspective. Mrs. Shybunko-
Moore, someone who has a difficult name, I appreciate sharing that
with you.
Women-owned small businesses saw 2.3 billion less in federal
contract dollars than in 2024. The WOSB program is severely
underused and the goals are unmet.
Can you speak to how bolstering this critical program might help
small businesses and the industrial base?
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Yeah, absolutely, and thank you for
that question, indeed. So I think in general, before you get to the
woman-owned small business specific, though, I think you have to
accept the fact that there are more barriers to entry into federal
contracting as a whole.
So I would say that across the board, it is hard to get companies
to, again, enter into federal contracting. And then, as you narrow
into the woman-owned small business, you have to ensure that
they are mentored and trained and understand all the require-
ments and regulations in order to succeed.
And when I was on the National Women’s Business Council a
few years back, that was really the focus. You can bring them to
the federal contracting world, but you really have to ensure that
they will succeed in it. And I think that is definitely a focus of
mine in terms of making sure that we are mentoring and training
and working together as partners in that federal contracting world.
Small business community is very close, and we do tend to want
everyone to rise and succeed. So I think it is imperative that,
again, we continue to look at what the red tape is to get into fed-
eral contracting, that we minimize it—I know the administrator is
working on that—the access, again, to capital, so that women-
owned businesses can succeed and grow.
And overall, just be able to have a conversation, communication
direct with the government, which I will say in my years of experi-
ence, I am thrilled to see that there is strong communication right
now between the small business leaders, and specifically, Defense
Logistics Agency. I have never seen the support right now, because
I think they recognize the need and the imperative nature of mak-
ing sure that these businesses thrive.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Appreciate that. And then, Mr. Freeman, you
write that several of your product components can’t be sourced in
the U.S. and that, quote, ‘‘tariffs will eliminate profits and put this
innovative technology into a loss position.’’
Can you just expand a little bit upon that and, sort of, the im-
pacts you are seeing? Thanks.
Mr. FREEMAN. I will be happy to. Thank you. So, yeah, tariffs
are definitely a challenge, especially when you don’t have the time
to plan for them. Because oftentimes, we are pricing products for
retail and giving those price points well in advance.
And we have had the situation where tariffs have hit us in a way
that we had to absorb a lot of that additional cost. But we show
adaptability. And where it created some challenges for us, it also
created opportunities as well.
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In terms of because we are a manufacturer, people actually
asked us if we could manufacture for them as a U.S.-based com-
pany. So there are challenges with it, but there are also benefits.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Thank you for that. I see my time has expired.
Happy birthday, America.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
I now recognize Mr. Meuser from the great State of Pennsylvania
for 5 minutes.
Mr. MEUSER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for
being here very much. We are glad to be with you. It seems like
a very strong and positive discussion we are having, so that is very
important to hear.
I have spent a lot of time helping grow small businesses to a
large business myself for almost 25 years. And sometimes when
people say, What does it take? I say, Well, find out what you like,
be committed to it, and in 20 years you might have something.
So there is a lot of—the environment matters, of course, small
business accounts for 99 percent of—not employment, but of the
businesses, about 60 percent of the employment. So it is really
truly the proverbial, but literal backbone of the United States econ-
omy.
Taxes, regulations, skills development, workforce, overall envi-
ronment that can be created within a State, you know, State regu-
lations, like in Pennsylvania, matter a lot. We tend to have—we
are very, very overly burdened with regulations in Pennsylvania.
We need to change that. Versus Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas,
Tennessee, Texas, where all the jobs are going to. You know, con-
sumer demand, I mean, that is a big part of government, right?
Making sure that interest rates are there, access to capital, of
course, all of those regulations.
But outside of that—well, you know, there is an old saying, too,
just get out of my way, which you probably say on occasion. But
then again, from OSHA, many of the other regulations and work-
ers’ compensation, you know, all these things are definitely nec-
essary.
You know, there is a reason—I just looked this up. You know,
the EU, in 1995, had a GDP of $8.3 trillion, 800 billion more than
the United States. We were at 7.6. Today, the EU is at 21.2, and
we are at $30 trillion. So we are obviously doing a lot right as far
as growing an economy.
So just based upon the conversations and statements you have
been making—and, Ms. Moore, I am going to start with you, if you
don’t mind. I am from Long Island originally, by the way, so I see
your business is in Hauppauge. And I grew up there, and I remem-
ber Grumman extremely well. I think everybody worked at Grum-
man there for a little while.
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. They did.
Mr. MEUSER. But congratulations on your business. If you were
sitting in my seat, if you were making some of these governmental
rules and all, what do you think you would need to make you grow
better over the next 5 years?
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Yeah. Thank you. And happy to hear
that you are from Long Island.
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I think right now, people need to recognize that, first of all, small
businesses in manufacturing to me is a center aisle issue. Everyone
should support small businesses and manufacturing.
And at the end of the day, no matter what decisions are hap-
pening here, we still have to work every day, make our product and
feed, for myself, 90 families, right? At the end of the day, that is
what I am responsible for.
So I am always looking at the decisions that are being done and
made here, ensuring that, again, in order to grow, access to capital
is always the key. I would like to buy more equipment, I would like
to grow my capacity, I would like to grow my capability, continue
to grow and expand and support the U.S. Defense Industrial Base,
and then, obviously, create jobs that people can be proud of, that
people can support their families on.
So sometimes I have to stop hearing the noise that is sometimes
out there and focus that I just have to continue waking up every
morning and making the products that I make and meet the goals
and production rates that I have.
Mr. MEUSER. Products, people, process. All the Ps you got to
nail. Payment, very important in business.
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Yes.
Mr. MEUSER. The working family tax cut, which was in the big
beautiful bill, you mentioned earlier the importance of it, 199A, the
bonus depreciation, the R&D tax cuts——
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Yes.
Mr. MEUSER.—perhaps the overtime also help your employers.
Move on to Ms. Cool, could you maybe answer the same question
as far as what would you like to see improve from a regulatory gov-
ernment tax standpoint for your business to grow better over the
next 5 years?
Ms. COOL. I would say predictability. We need to be able to
plan. For us to invest, buy equipment, hire people. Same thing with
my clients. I cannot get commitments on contracts or proposals be-
cause they themselves are impacted what may happen tomorrow.
So as we are planning to feed our families, to keep our folks em-
ployed, to pay for kids’ colleges, mortgages, we can’t afford to go
out and make willy-nilly decisions because tomorrow the rules have
changed.
Mr. MEUSER. I agree very much.
Ms. COOL. But being able to have predictability is a priority.
Mr. MEUSER. That is very important. I very much agree.
Mr. Adornetto, same question to you.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Adornetto. Yes, sir. Thank you for the ques-
tion.
Mr. MEUSER. Adornetto, got it.
Mr. ADORNETTO. I would say obviously predictability as well,
access to capital, continue to do—specifically, you have done some
things with no tax on tips on the federal level, and that has helped
my industry specifically.
Mr. MEUSER. Sure.
Mr. ADORNETTO. The employees that——
Mr. MEUSER. Pardon me. My time has expired.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
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I now recognize Mr. Tran from the great State of California for
5 minutes.
Mr. TRAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ranking
Member, for convening today’s hearing. Thank you to the witnesses
for being here.
For 250 years, the American Dream has been built by people who
believed hard work and took a leap of faith to build something of
their own. Nowhere is that story more powerful than in Southern
California.
There is our small business community in Southern California.
In Los Angeles and Orange County, I see it every day. These are
family-owned restaurants, manufacturers, contractors, startups,
and neighborhood shops. They are run by entrepreneurs from every
background, including Asian Americans, Latinos, and immigrant
business owners who have helped power our economy and create
good-paying jobs. They represent the very best of America.
This Committee has done real bipartisan work for this Congress,
moving bill after bill with support from both sides of the aisle. At
a time when Congress feels more divided than ever, this Com-
mittee has shown that bipartisan progress is still possible.
But good bipartisan bills sitting on the Senate floor does not help
anyone on main street. In fact, there are over 20 bipartisan small
business bills that have passed this House and are now stalled in
the Senate. The Senate Committee on Small Business and Entre-
preneurship, under the leadership of Senator Joni Ernst, has held
just a handful of markups this Congress all last year and none this
year.
And while those bipartisan bills stall, small businesses across
America cannot afford to wait. They are facing raising costs, uncer-
tainty, and economic pressures every single day. They are dealing
with President Trump’s trade war, tariffs that raises the costs of
supplies, inflation, the loss of the Affordable Care Act tax credit,
and the costs of oil and energy skyrocketing due to the President’s
war of choice in Iran.
That is why Senate gridlock is so costly. Every month, bipartisan
bills sit without Senate consideration is a month small business
owners go without relief while costs keep climbing around them.
Main street is asking Congress for help, and right now Chair-
woman Ernst isn’t answering. The Small Business Committee has
proven bipartisan progress is possible. Now the Senate needs to
match that urgency and act.
Ms. Cool, from your perspective working with small businesses,
is President Trump’s erratic policies making it harder for entre-
preneurs?
Ms. COOL. Speaking from my perspective, the lack of predict-
ability certainly impacts me as a small business. So, again, anyone
we work with, whether it is a client, whether it is a partner,
whether it is a vendor, without knowing what is happening tomor-
row, we are hampered.
Mr. TRAN. Let me follow up with, what would it mean for main
street if Senate Republicans sit on these bipartisan bills while fi-
nancial pressure keeps building up?
Ms. COOL. You know, again, speaking from my perspective, I
can tell you that we, as small businesses, need improved procure-
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ment access, improved access to technical assistance, you know,
support for new technologies like AI. So when things are delayed
repeatedly, we cannot make decisions, we cannot hire comfortably,
we can’t invest in future plans.
Mr. TRAN. Ms. Cool, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Serv-
ices announced it will make temporary visa holders leave America
to apply for green cards, something that I am actually working
with the Judiciary Committee to oppose.
How will that policy hurt immigrant entrepreneurs and the
Americans that they employ?
Ms. COOL. You know, we mentioned at the very beginning how
the United States rewards innovation. When we do not know, re-
gardless of the status, whether you are able to stay or not, whether
tomorrow the rug gets pulled from you, that impacts our ability to
make decisions. I feel like a broken record, so apologies for that.
But not knowing if a status or a current small business will not
be able to function tomorrow prevents us from bidding on things,
prevents us from hiring, from paying our workers. It is that simple.
Mr. TRAN. Shifting gears a bit. Healthcare costs are still a bar-
rier to entrepreneurship for Americans looking to take the leap of
faith and start a small business.
Ms. Cool, how would expanding healthcare through Medicaid and
the ACA help aspiring entrepreneurs join the business community?
Ms. COOL. That is actually one of the main reasons people do
not start small businesses, because they need to have their family
covered. So when we don’t have access to healthcare, we are unable
to make or take that innovative risk to launch the business and
grow the business.
Mr. TRAN. With the few seconds I have left, Mrs. Shybunko-
Moore, do you have anything to add to that question?
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Again, I echo the predictability. But
I think also, if you were to look through the lens of a small busi-
ness owner, just please look at all the risks that we are trying to
mitigate every day. It is healthcare, it is the cost of material, it is
the cost of salaries, it is the cost of living.
So please, these are stackable for us. We are dealing with this
every day, as you are voting on one issue at a time.
Mr. TRAN. Thank you so much. And with that, I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
I now recognize Ms. King-Hinds from the great Northern Mar-
iana Islands for 5 minutes.
Ms. KING-HINDS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, one of the greatest
lessons that we can learn from small businesses is resilience. I
have heard you tell your stories about having to endure the pan-
demic, have to endure changing regulations, lack of clarity and just
the changing business dynamics, right?
And so folks back home, small business back home right now
have barely recovered from a super-typhoon that hit us 2 months
ago. And as I head back home tomorrow, I have got to board up
because another typhoon is on the way, right?
And, you know, the one beautiful thing that we saw after this
last typhoon was, you know, these businesses, they lost inventory,
you know, they lost their roofs, they lost equipment, but they
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quickly came back the next day. They cleaned, you know, they
started rebuilding, and people just started helping one another.
And the one thing that I have realized, having been a Member
for 18 months, is that, you know, whether you are from the Mari-
anas or from the United States, the continental United States,
right, our communities are built by the same values, which is faith,
you know, family, hard work, and the belief that tomorrow can be
better than today.
And I feel that my responsibility as a Member of Congress is to
ensure that you are given every opportunity in terms of, you know,
just some of the policies that are out there to thrive so that this
country can continue on, you know, this great American path.
So I want to yield the remainder of my time to you, and I will
start with Mr. Adornetto to just—you know, if there is one policy
that you can change, you know, what would it be? And I want ev-
erybody to have equal time, so—I have about 2:50. Please share.
Mr. ADORNETTO. In my industry, credit card swipe fees. They
are approaching more in my profit and loss than what I pay for
benefits for my employees.
Mr. FREEMAN. For my industry at Murphy’s Naturals, we fall
under the U.S. EPA, and it would be really helpful from an innova-
tive standpoint if we were able to have ways, have people who
could advocate for us for bringing forward new and inventive ways
of using natural products that don’t necessarily conform to the
strict guidelines that are in place now, where we could actually add
new ingredients. Because the list has been the same for a very long
time on active and inerts.
So to have the ability to introduce new ingredients, natural in-
gredients, would be a huge help.
Ms. KING-HINDS. Okay.
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Thank you very much for the time.
Again, in my industry, I am going to say the word predictability
again and ensuring that demand signals are clear for the defense
industry, making sure that we are able to buy, again, the raw ma-
terial that we need to get.
So we need to talk much more about funding and how we can
manage cash better in the small business so that we can grow and
buy new equipment and grow capability, which I have mentioned.
But the other that I will say with these few seconds left is that
I think we have to remember we are celebrating 250 years, and we
are all now thinking, what does this next long game look like, the
next 250 years? And I am hoping and praying every day, not only
in my short life and perspective that I can pass on my company to
my family, but also that we just continue to focus again on this
long game of small businesses and manufacturing.
I believe, Chairman, you mentioned the architects, right? Well,
I am curious what drawings we are drawing right now for the next
250 years of what U.S. manufacturing looks like, and I do hope
that we are, again, looking at the long game, the decisions that are
going to impact us for these next 250 years. Thank you.
Ms. COOL. So echoing a lot of what my fellow witnesses have
mentioned, from me is—needs to be language access. It is not just
symbolic to put something in a foreign language so we can access
it. The world is global. Our community is global, regardless of what
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anyone is thinking. And when we don’t provide access in simple
language, we are missing a swath of the population.
That is our workforce. That is our future doctors, the future ar-
chitects. These are the people that are driving the next 250 years.
When issues are complex and not easily digestible, we are exclud-
ing folks.
Along with language access, one of the main things that can be
done is technical assistance, especially around new technologies
like AI. It is not going anywhere. So do we have access to resources
where small businesses can be supported and learning and imple-
menting those tools so that we are able, then, to function and con-
tinue to be competitive?
Ms. KING-HINDS. I am out of time. I yield back.
Thank you.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentlelady yields back.
I now recognize Ms. Goodlander from the great State of New
Hampshire for 5 minutes.
Ms. GOODLANDER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you to our witnesses for being here today and for
sharing your American small-business stories. It is exactly the
right spirit for this week, for this moment, because we have gath-
ered in the 250th year of the greatest experiment in self-govern-
ment that the world has ever known.
Two hundred and fifty years ago this week, the Second Conti-
nental Congress—and Congress doesn’t get a lot of great reviews
these days, but we did do one very good thing 250 years ago, and
that was in creating a five-person subcommittee to draft a declara-
tion.
The effort was led by a 33-year-old Virginian, Thomas Jefferson.
He spent 17 days in a rented room in Philadelphia. And what he
produced, what that congressional subcommittee produced was
probably the best thing Congress has ever produced, and it was
probably the most consequential document in the history of human
freedom.
‘‘We hold these truths to be self-evident’’—straightforward, not
bureaucratic, just a clear statement that every human being is cre-
ated equal and entitled to rights, to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.
I had a chance a few weeks ago to spend some time with three
extraordinary small businesses in my State of New Hampshire.
Our motto as a State is ‘‘Live Free or Die.’’ And we have family
farmers who have been operating their farms for 250 years. Their
ancestors fought in the Revolution, and they are continuing to fight
to keep these small businesses afloat.
One of the things I talked about with these three incredible
small businesses was, how have you stayed in business for 250
years? And, really, I think the answer to how small businesses,
how America stays forever young is a constant reinvention.
And, Ms. Cool, you said it so well, that reinvention is the small-
business superpower. It is constantly inventing to solve problems
and to seize opportunities. And you have all done that in your own
small businesses.
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But the throughline, to me, in this hearing has been the absolute
urgency in giving you the predictability and the clarity that you
need to continue to stay forever young and to fuel our economy.
We know that kleptocracy, that arbitrary and capricious decision-
making is the enemy of predictability and clarity. Kleptocracy is
bad for small business. Lawless and unconstitutional taxation is
bad for small businesses. In fact, they were the sources of the Rev-
olution.
And so, as I have listened to small businesses across the State
of New Hampshire, we come back again and again to the unconsti-
tutional, to the corrupt and extremely costly tariffs that President
Trump unilaterally imposed on every small business in this coun-
try.
We challenge those tariffs in court. We were successful in the Su-
preme Court. We are pressing for reimbursement for every uncon-
stitutional dollar that was taxed by this President.
Mr. Freeman, you spoke about the impact of tariffs on your small
business. Have you sought to be reimbursed for these unconstitu-
tional taxes?
Mr. FREEMAN. Certainly, as a small business, every bit of cash
that we can have, that we can deploy is critical. So, yes, I mean,
we have submitted for refunds of tariffs, and——
Ms. GOODLANDER. And have you received those refunds?
Mr. FREEMAN. No, but we just received an update, actually,
yesterday that we will be receiving a credit, and actually coming
through one of our vendors who actually imported—they were the
importer of record—and they let us know about a credit that we
would be receiving.
And we just recently were able to go through the process of get-
ting on the portal and submitting for those that we had purchased
directly from overseas suppliers.
Ms. GOODLANDER. Well, the amount of time and effort and
cost that has been put on every small business in this country to
recoup taxes that never should have been imposed in the first place
is outrageous.
We are working around the clock to press this administration to
issue these reimbursements way more quickly and with way less
red tape and hassle. You shouldn’t have to have an army of law-
yers to be able to get back what is owed to you and never should
have been taken from you in the first place.
So I thank you all for being here today.
And, with that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentlelady yields back.
I now recognize Mr. Patronis and one of the great entrepreneur
restaurateurs in Florida, from that great State, for 5 minutes.
Mr. PATRONIS. I got so each excited about Adrian being here,
I am telling you. So thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a cool slate
of folks you invited up, no offense to anybody else.
But I am going to nerd out a little bit. My family has been in
the same family restaurant business for 70 years. My uncle and
dad started it back in 1958, and now my kids are working there,
so three generations. It is tough; it is tough working with family.
And, yeah, you are singing to the choir when you speak ‘‘inter-
change fees’’ and ‘‘card swipe fees.’’ Not everybody here under-
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stands what that means, but everybody here that has a credit
card—every single one of you use a credit card when you go out to
eat. But did you know that, at Adrian’s restaurant, every time you
swipe that card, it costs him anywhere from 4 to 5 percent out of
his pocket so you can get your miles, so you can get your rebates,
you know? It is great when you use that Costco card and you get
3 percent back, but you probably didn’t realize Adrian is the one
paying for it. And so, yeah, the credit card swipe fees is something.
And we are in a society now—back when I was in the State legis-
lature, I even advocated for a bill that said businesses had to take
cash, because I still feel like there is an importance to having legal
tender that is not, you know, some credit-card-managed, you know,
type of doing business.
But it is what it is. We are in a society now where credit cards
make up 75 percent of your business—or more, you know, yeah.
But that is—look, it is—but thank God, you know, it is intoxi-
cating, the restaurant business. Where else do you get to see some-
body celebrate an engagement or an anniversary or a birthday?
And they can go eat at anybody’s restaurant in the whole entire
town, but he decided to come to yours, you know? And so it is excit-
ing to see.
I will ask some questions.
I am assuming, as long as your business has been around, is
your dad still around?
Mr. ADORNETTO. No, sir. My dad passed away in 2023.
Mr. PATRONIS. Yeah. I lost my dad in 2020. So my dad and
uncle were partners. They shared a desk, you know? They worked
shifts.
My brothers—I was there for 30 years, and then my brothers
now still—I am the baby—we still—to kind of get along from keep-
ing at each other’s throats, they still clock in and clock out. If you
want a paycheck, you are in the building taking care of the cus-
tomer. If you are not there taking care of the customer, then no
sense in being paid. So now, since I am in Congress, I don’t get
paid.
So, when you worked through that transition——
Mr. ADORNETTO. Uh-huh.
Mr. PATRONIS.—did you have siblings also in the business with
you?
Mr. ADORNETTO. I did not. I did not. I was an only child.
We, actually, Congressman, share the same starting year—1950,
I think I heard you say——
Mr. PATRONIS. Yeah.
Mr. ADORNETTO.—and that is when my father started his.
No, I am an only child, so the barrier wasn’t that I didn’t want
it and worked for it to have the opportunity to talk to my father.
My father wanted me to take it over. For us, being a small busi-
ness, it was just the access of, how do we do this? The legalities.
Mr. PATRONIS. Yeah.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Watching for what tax implications we could
trip into; talking to accountants.
And they were all great people and professionals that helped us
out through it, but we spent a lot of time. And it got to one point
where—I believe we were 6 months in—I said, ‘‘Hey, listen. The
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founder wants to do it. He has a buyer; it happens to be his son.
Let’s figure out these legalities and the tax implications and let’s
get this done.’’ We just dragged out money and bills and further
and further.
So it was a good situation. I do know a lot of family businesses,
maybe some on this panel, that have different family members,
whether it is aunts, uncles, siblings, that could be quite conten-
tious. And that is unfortunate, because that is how some busi-
nesses lose——
Mr. PATRONIS. Sure.
Mr. ADORNETTO.—and fall apart and families split apart.
So——
Mr. PATRONIS. And then those are the struggles we are going
through right now. Now I have—it was just four boys working for
my dad, and my uncle had no kids, but now all my nieces are in
it. And so my mom went from having four boys to seven grand-
daughters. So now the business is overrun with women running it
now—which is great. They do a great job.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Uh-huh.
Mr. PATRONIS. But it is—it is still—as much as I would love
to work with my family every day, some days I would love to, you
know, vote them off the island because of the challenges you run
into.
We——
Mr. ADORNETTO. My kids are right there. I don’t want them
to vote me off the island.
Mr. PATRONIS. It is okay. You don’t have stock yet. But maybe
if he takes advantage of the tax law, he will start gifting you the
maximum amount every single year early on.
But it is—it is just an honor to see, still, people wanting to be
in the restaurant business. What you have, you could not start it
today. And, you know, God bless your dad for doing what he did.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Thank you.
Mr. PATRONIS. I yield, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
I now recognize Mr. Schmidt from the great State of Kansas for
5 minutes.
Mr. SCHMIDT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And I appreciate the witnesses being here. It has been a pleasant
discussion to listen to, with folks, sort of, analytically discussing in-
formation. It doesn’t always happen around this place. I was in a
hearing yesterday in a different committee where I was, embar-
rassingly, between two folks shouting at each other, and I carefully
read my notes while trying to look impartial.
I had just a handful of questions.
I was thinking about that famous line that President Reagan
used, ‘‘The nine most terrifying words in the English language are,
’I’m from the government, and I’m here to help,’’’ and thinking
about what I would characterize as part of the intellectual tension
that I have heard discussed here. On the one hand, we need cer-
tainty, we need government policy that is predictable, we need to
not be whipsawed all the time. I understand that. And, on the
other hand, sort of, the spirit of 1776. There are times when you
just have to make bold change and you are worried a little less
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about the short-term uncertainty and a little more about the long-
term trends and, kind of, where you are headed. And those have
been in tension throughout our history.
So a couple of questions along that line.
Regulatory reform, generally—I always love the, sort of, top-line
back-and-forth debates that you hear about, are regulations good or
bad? And the answer is, they are both. They often have good pur-
pose, and many of them we need. And, on the other hand, it is pos-
sible to have too much of a good thing, and you impose compliance
costs that are unnecessary and create other harm, right? And so it
is a balance.
I have pointed out before that, the year I was born, in 1968, the
Code of Federal Regulations—which, of course, is the compiled list
of all of the law made by bureaucrats, made by folks with authority
we have delegated to them in Congress—was about 50,000 pages.
Today, it is about 200,000 pages. It has quadrupled in my lifetime.
And I guess I would just invite—we will just go down the line,
in the time I have—I would invite you to comment on regulatory
compliance costs, and are there areas we should be looking, from
your vantage point, where perhaps we have gone overboard and we
could scale it a back a bit, free up some—some freedom of motion
on your part?
Mr. Adornetto?
Mr. ADORNETTO. You know, the first one that comes to my
mind is the Affordable Care Act. As a small business, I was
stretching around everywhere trying to find, how does this work?
What can I do? What is my resource? I even called the 1-800 num-
ber at the time, going back to 2013-2014. Still get confused by it.
I have talked to insurance agents that I try to deal with, and they
are confused by it.
Recently, we retired a brand that was 51 years old that we didn’t
mention in my testimony. As a result of that, I went from a large
employer, if you can believe it or not, three restaurants, in rural
Ohio, open in the evening—so a large employer to a small em-
ployer.
Mr. SCHMIDT. Uh-huh.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Just that change alone was about $3,500 a
month, for virtually the same healthcare that we had prior, be-
cause of status.
And so that is where I have some ongoing issues with trying to
figure out the regulations on that and make sure that I am staying
compliant, make sure I am doing the right paperwork—because I
do all of our own payroll and things like that in-house—and just
make sure we are not getting ourselves in trouble.
Mr. SCHMIDT. Thank you very much.
Mr. Freeman?
Mr. FREEMAN. Thank you for the question and opportunity to
speak to it.
I mentioned EPA regulatory earlier. Another thing that is a chal-
lenge there—and, definitely, the EPA, you know, serves its pur-
poses, but there are challenges for small businesses, too, when you
have red tape that you have to work through.
Each individual State, many of them—I would say about 37 to
38 of them—have their own regulatory bodies, but sometimes they
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are in conflict with one another, and we have to hire consultants.
Those consultants are very expensive.
It would be nice if there were greater coordination between the
U.S. EPA and the State bodies to streamline that so we didn’t have
the conflicting regulations between them.
But that would be something that would be incredibly beneficial
to us, to have one guiding policy for repellant products.
Mr. SCHMIDT. Thank you very much.
Time is tight, but Mrs. Shybunko-Moore?
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Sure.
So, in my business, Federal Acquisition Requirements are every-
thing. And so my issue right now is: Obviously, we are advancing
technology in the sector, manufacturing sector, but the federal reg-
ulations flow-down with cybersecurity right now are incredibly bur-
densome.
I don’t think the flow-down of the supply chain on small busi-
nesses was necessarily assessed in terms of how it impacts oper-
ations every day, and I think we need to look at how we are flow-
ing down the cybersecurity requirements with CUI and other
issues.
Mr. SCHMIDT. Thank you.
Ms. Cool, I have 2 seconds, if you want to speak fast.
Ms. COOL. Super-fast. Procurement.
Chairman WILLIAMS. If you wouldn’t mind saying it one more
time?
Ms. COOL. Procurement. Simplifying procurement.
Mr. SCHMIDT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank the witnesses.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
Now we recognize Mr. Jack from the great State of Georgia. And
it appears all the ‘‘little Jacks’’ are here.
Mr. JACK. I wish that were the case, but, Mr. Chairman, I am
delighted to be joined today by my former high school basketball
coach. And you, as the coach of our congressional baseball team, I
thought he could hopefully share some embarrassing stories about
me to you.
But I want to acknowledge Coach Michael Wylder and his wife,
Kathy, and their entire family for coming.
Thank you.
And they are here to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, as are
we all this weekend.
And to celebrate, last year, the President of the United States
enacted H.R. 1, the Working Families Tax Cuts. And I would like
to start my line of questioning hearing from the small-business
owners before us as to how helpful H.R. 1 was and continues to be
to your business.
So, if we could start with Mr. Adornetto, I would welcome your
comments and feedback.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Forgive me. I am not well-versed on that.
Can you explain what those tax cuts——
Mr. JACK. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Thank you.
Mr. JACK. Yes.
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Mr. ADORNETTO. Of course, I mentioned in my opening testi-
mony, but I will reiterate: the accelerated depreciation, where I can
buy equipment, American-made equipment—True out of St. Louis,
Missouri; Manitowoc ice machines out of Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
They were great help to us in accelerating doing remodels and
facelifts to our restaurants.
Mr. JACK. Wonderful. Thank you.
Mr. Freeman?
Mr. FREEMAN. Yes, sir. Definitely, when you take passthrough
organizations, making those tax cuts permanent so that we are
more in line with the C-corp type corporations, that is a big deal
for us as well, to make those tax cuts permanent.
Mr. JACK. And if I can ask you as well, Mr. Freeman, what
more could Congress be doing to make life easier and more afford-
able for small business?
Mr. FREEMAN. In a little bit different vein, access to capital.
That is the biggest thing and has been the biggest challenge and
hurdle for us, is having access to capital sufficient for the growth
that we have in front of us and the opportunity.
Mr. JACK. I should ask Mr. Adornetto.
Mr. ADORNETTO. I would actually have to agree. Again, going
through a restaurant remodel, that was one of the hardest chal-
lenges, was to access capital and to get hands on money to reinvest
in an industry that sometimes banks don’t want to open their pock-
etbooks for.
Mr. JACK. One of the issues I care deeply about is deregulation,
and would welcome thoughts from both of you gentlemen on de-
regulatory efforts, what you would like to see accomplished across
that as we have a few more months left in this Congress.
Mr. ADORNETTO. I welcome deregulation. There are some
things with—some regulatory things with healthcare that I would
probably be more concerned with more than anything else.
Mr. JACK. Sure.
Mr. Freeman?
Mr. FREEMAN. From a regulatory perspective, I understand
regulation. I would say, when it goes too far and it is a hindrance
to business and the progress of business, anything that can be done
to help reduce the friction for small business would be incredibly
helpful.
Mr. JACK. Mrs. Shybunko-Moore?
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. I would say, any tax policy that pro-
motes growth is obviously critical—so the immediate expensing in
regards to capital investments that I am making, the R&D tax that
was done.
Anything that puts more cash into my operations, where I can
then reinvest and, again, be innovative and be that entrepreneur
that we are, is critical.
Mr. JACK. Well, Mr. Chairman, I want to highlight just a few
of the things that I have heard from constituents in my district—
specifically, what we accomplished 1 year ago this Saturday.
We prevented the largest tax increase in American history by
making President Trump’s tax cuts permanent, saving the average
American family from a $1,700 tax increase.
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We delivered the largest tax cut in American history for working
and middle-class Americans, including an estimated 15-percent tax
cut for Americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 annually.
We preserved the double standard deduction for more than 90
percent of taxpayers, strengthened the Child Tax Credit, and elimi-
nated taxes on tips, taxes on overtime, so hardworking Americans
can keep more of what they earn.
I also want to note, specifically in my home State of Georgia,
since H.R. 1 became law, manufacturers have announced billions of
dollars in new investments, not just across the country but also in
my State, including new steel mills, pharmaceutical facilities, bat-
tery plants, and advanced manufacturing projects.
In my home State of Georgia specifically, companies have an-
nounced a $223-million rare-earth magnet manufacturing facility
and a $400-million poultry processing plant, which means a lot to
our farmers, means a lot to the ag community in Georgia. So, for
those actions and stories that I have heard from my district, I am
very grateful.
I wish you all well this weekend. I hope you are able to enjoy
the festivities.
And, Mr. Chairman, I applaud you for hosting this committee
hearing. I hope, 250 years from now, people are looking back to our
transcript and enjoying the conversation we had as our country
celebrates its 500th-year anniversary 250 years from Saturday.
I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Three of us have already committed to be
here 250 years from now.
The gentleman yields back.
And, now, before we close, I have another question, as does the
Ranking Member have a question.
So let me say this. Each of you is part of a multigenerational
business or has got the potential to have one and pass one down
to generations. And my business back in Texas, we now—I am sec-
ond generation, third generation is running it, and fourth genera-
tion is coming down on Saturday. So we are pretty excited about
that.
And I was glad to see the federal income tax exemption go from
$15 million per person to $30 million per couple under the Working
Families Tax Cuts.
So what does that—you know, we talk about, always, we are sav-
ing the family farm, we are doing this and that. But it is not the
family farm we are saving, it is all businesses, by being able to
pass this down without having to pay taxes.
So what does this change mean to you, and how does it impact
your business, to pass your business on to the next generation?
Maybe each one of you can answer that.
Mr. ADORNETTO. Very grateful for the change. It is greatly
impactful. It will help in our situation.
Hopefully, Mr. Chairman, I will be living many more years to
come, but I hope that that stays that level or possibly increases
and other vehicles to help out in passing a family business down
to the next generation.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Yeah.
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Mr. FREEMAN. Yes, sir. As the founder of our companies, one
thing that would be meaningful for us is the ability to tweak what
has been put into place.
For us, if you are a C corp, there is the founder discount, which
is significant when there is any sort of transaction for the company.
But we were established originally as an S corp, so not eligible for
that reason.
So, if it could be expanded to S corps that later became C corps—
which we did—that would be very meaningful for our particular
situation.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Thank you.
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. I think, in my industry, the unpre-
dictability is the only thing that is predictable. So any decisions
that are made that can, again, provide stability is critical for me.
Anything that we can do to invest and reinvest not only in my
company but in regional manufacturing and national manufac-
turing is just something that I am incredibly passionate about.
And so I want to make sure that when you are making decisions,
that they are based on entrepreneurship and innovation and risk
mitigation and how do we create the best manufacturing companies
in this next generation and, more importantly, how do we stay rel-
evant with the pace at which technology is moving.
Make sure that we are looking at steps that can be made so that,
again, we can continue to pass on our companies and keep them
private. Right? That is important to me, personally, that my sons
are able to maintain private ownership and that it maintains a
manufacturing company, not a financial company. I think that is
something we have to focus on.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Okay.
Ms. Cool?
Ms. COOL. Yeah. For me, it is similar.
You know, we haven’t been able to explore all the benefits. I
mean, definitely have to engage my accountant and my lawyer on
that. And, similarly, we are an S corp, so there is definitely oppor-
tunity—or additional cost—for me to figure out how to do this.
And I will echo what my fellow witnesses have mentioned. When
major legislation like this is passed and we aren’t looking at small
businesses and seeking their input in advance, we have to catch
up.
So, as long as we are investing the energy to ensure we have the
resources to hire, to invest over the long haul, to think about the
next generation, my own children, 22 and 24, how they can come
into the business—all these pieces take time to plan.
Chairman WILLIAMS. All right.
I yield back, to the Ranking Member.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. And I thank the Chairman for an opportunity
to go a little deeper.
Thank you all again for your time.
I have a quick observation and then a quick question, I hope.
One is, it seems clear: Access to capital—huge issue. Yes?
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
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I have heard it over and over again from this panel, and I
couldn’t agree more—which is why I am concerned about a change
that the SBA made back in February of 2026 around lending poli-
cies that would bar all small businesses with any amount of owner-
ship by non-citizens lawfully in the U.S. from participating in the
flagship 7(a) and 504 CDC lending programs. That change was sub-
sequently extended to the surety bond and microloan programs.
And so my concern is, as we are talking about access to capital,
we are affirmatively taking away access to capital through some of
these changes.
And so, since I didn’t have time before, I just wanted to add to
the record again and ask unanimous consent to put a letter of con-
cern that Members from the Committee have shared, Mr. Chair-
man.
Chairman WILLIAMS. So moved.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Thank you.
And I just would reiterate that I hope that we can do something
on that issue. I think it is a very specific, tangible way that we can
make access to capital available for more people, and would wel-
come you all in that work.
My question is really around housing, about, sort of, the cost of
housing generally.
Mrs. Shybunko-Moore, I know that you spoke specifically about
the Long Island press—if others want to weigh in as well—but just,
sort of, talking about—can you talk briefly about, sort of, the im-
pact you are seeing for employees as the cost of housing for starter
homes is now over a million dollars in many places—people are
turning 40 before they can buy their first home—and just what you
are seeing on that landscape.
Mrs. SHYBUNKO-MOORE. Sure. And Long Island certainly is
facing a lot of housing issues. So I will say that I have been work-
ing with local legislation on whether there can be an employee-em-
ployer effort to where we can somehow assist with their downpay-
ment. I think that is something that had been done years ago in
Long Island. I would love to see that in our region and then broad-
ly as well, because I think they do need assistance, and I think
that owning a home is an American dream that everyone should
have before they are 50.
So, you know, it is something—and when I am looking at, obvi-
ously, the operations of my company, I am concerned about all the
costs that my employees are trying to carry and, obviously, trying
to maintain my workforce. It is hard to attract people to Long Is-
land, it is hard to attract people to New York, because of the cost
of living.
So I think we need to be creative in the way that we can some-
how work with families and government and private businesses to
figure out if we can find a solution with all those parties involved.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Yeah. I appreciate that.
I saw a lot of head-shaking, so, in the interest of time, I will take
that as agreement.
I would love to have this Committee continue to engage with you
and others about, to the extent it is in our purview, finding those
kinds of opportunities to do partnerships with business to make
homeownership more real.
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I will just note as I conclude: Very proud of the ways in which
this Congress passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan housing pack-
age. Probably the only major item of significance that I have seen
be that kind of bipartisan approach that overwhelmingly addresses
cost of living and some of those issues without some of the back-
and-forth or the concerns that we have had.
There are some provisions, for example, in the reconciliation
package that I actually supported, like the no tax on tips, like the
no tax on Social Security, like the depreciation. There are other ele-
ments I think are problematic for Americans and for small busi-
ness.
But this was legislation that was overwhelmingly bipartisan, will
have the impact of lowering costs. I think it is the model for our
way forward. It is why I really appreciate the partnership I have
had with the Chairman in passing out some bipartisan legislation
from this Committee. I echo Representative Tran’s sentiments. We
hope to see the Senate move on them.
It is not a ‘‘big yawn,’’ as the President said. I think it is impor-
tant, it is impactful. And I hope that we can keep working with all
of you to keep making progress on that legislation.
And, again, I thank you for the time, and I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. The gentleman yields back.
I have three of my fellow Congressmen here.
Do you all have about a 1-minute question real quick?
Mr. PATRONIS. I think all I want to plug, Mr. Chairman, is a
very special opportunity for our guests here, just because the
American 250 display is going to be in the Rayburn Room, espe-
cially for the little guys. That is at 1:30 to 3:30.
We are going to have James Madison’s copy of ‘‘The Federalist,’’
we are going to have the second printing of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, and we will have an original letter from Thomas Jeffer-
son celebrating the 50th anniversary of our country.
So anybody in the room could stop—the Rayburn Room is right
across from the House Chamber.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Congressman Schmidt?
Mr. SCHMIDT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just appreciate the
witnesses.
Chairman WILLIAMS. Congressman Jack?
Mr. JACK. I echo Mr. Schmidt. Thank you.
I yield back.
Chairman WILLIAMS. All right.
I would like to thank our witnesses for their testimony and for
appearing before us today.
It has been a great hearing. And we always like to say that—
you see a lot of hearings on TV. Some go different directions. This
Committee here, we really do work hard to be bipartisan, and it
shows, what we get out of here. And I appreciate all the Members.
And, without objection, Members have 5 legislative days to sub-
mit additional materials and written questions for the witnesses to
the Chair, which will be forwarded to the witnesses.
I ask the witnesses to please do that promptly.
And if there is no further business, without objection, the Com-
mittee is adjourned. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 11:36 a.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
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APPENDIX
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Æ
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File and source
- File
- CHRG-119hhrg64146.pdf
- Size
- 71,332,472 bytes
- SHA-256
- 104a3217941914e121f6f8d1b0b304b9dbd1a73920f8ca6b4bc7a0c410aaa7f6
- Our copy
- CHRG-119hhrg64146.pdf
- Original
- www.govinfo.gov