Very, very NICE article about Kerry as Small Biz chairman in Business Week

[beachmom]

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jan2007/sb20070108_327324.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_today's+top+stories

Small Biz: High Hopes for New Congress

Democrats now head the small-business committees in both the House and Senate. Bills already look beneficial for entrepreneurs

The 110th Congress convened for the first time on Jan. 4, with Democrats heading the small-business committees in both the House and Senate. Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), the new chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, introduced tax-credit legislation that would help small businesses lower their health-care costs and encourage more small companies to offer health coverage.

Kerry also introduced legislation to reform the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), to help increase loan, contracting, and entrepreneurial development opportunities for minority business owners, and he introduced proposed improvements to the Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan program (see BusinessWeek.com, 5/11/06, "The SBA's Iffy Future").

snip

Health care, which is often listed as the top concern for small-business owners (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/6/06, "A Small Biz Health-Care Headache"), will undoubtedly continue to be a contentious and difficult issue. Kerry's Small Business Health Care Tax Credit Act of 2007 would provide small companies with fewer than 50 employees a refundable tax credit to help with the cost of health insurance for employees earning $5,000 to $50,000 a year. To receive the credit, employers must pay at least 50% of the health-care insurance premium.

"Good Interim Step"

Still, the health-insurance burden for small-business owners is not going away any time soon. "The federal government has been able to nibble at the edges but hasn't been able to break through the gridlock on health care. This is something I know will try to address," says Giovanni Coratolo, executive director of the Small Business Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Kerry hopes his legislation will at least plug the hole temporarily. "When it comes to small business, owners should focus on what they do best—creating jobs and contributing to the economy—instead of worrying about whether they can afford to provide health benefits. This legislation to help small businesses is a good interim step toward helping all Americans by lowering health-care costs," Kerry said in a press release.

Read the whole thing -- it talks about all his bills as well as the House side, too.

Nice antidote to that Herald article.

[MBS]

1. thanks, beachmom

a good antidote, indeed. . .and a great place for him to be getting this much-deserved recognition.

[wisteria]

2. Thanks for the positive. This is adult reading for those who know what a hard worker

Senator Kerry is and how much he cares about Small Businesses.

I say we need to start posting more positive posts and emphasizing the positive posts a little more than the negative ones.