Bradley Named by Lobby Group as ‘Guardian’ of Small Business
Bradley
The Eagle-Tribune
Bryan McGonigle
Boston University Washington News Service
Sept. 28
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 – The National Federation of Independent Business – a small business lobbying organization – has honored Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-N.H., with its Guardian of Small Business Award.
“I was a former small business owner myself for a number of years, and my parents owned a hardware store for many years,” Bradley said.
He and his wife Barbara ran a National Foods store, and he was a painting contractor and had real estate interests.
“So I know how important small business is,” he said. “It’s the backbone of New Hampshire’s economy.”
The federation, whose political action committee is funded by donations from its members in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, sets its public policy positions by regularly polling its members. House members were ranked on how often they voted to support the federation’s position in 14 key House votes during the 109th Congress. .
Bradley earned 86 percent with the group this year, and has a cumulative score of 89 percent during his time in Congress, according to the federation’s rankings.
“The record shows that Rep. Bradley is a true champion of small business, having stood strong on the key small-business votes in the 109th Congress,” federation president and CEO Todd Stottlemyer said. “This award reflects our members’ appreciation for supporting the NFIB pro-growth agenda for small business.”
Bradley lost points for disagreeing with the group about endangered species laws and toxic dumping. Bradley did not support a bill that would have loosened endangered species regulations, eliminated a habitat protection program and compensated small businesses negatively impacted by habitat laws. He also voted to stop an Environmental Protection Agency policy that loosens toxic dumping reporting guidelines.
“As big an advocate for small business as I am, I’ve also worked long and hard to protect the environment,” Bradley said. “Even though there should have been some reform to the endangered species law, I felt the bill went too far.”
Bradley said he’s focusing on health care for small businesses now. He said he’d like to see legislation passed that would lower small business health care costs by 15 percent and allow small businesses to pool together across state lines to get insurance at lower costs.
“It’s no accident that a lot of the 47 million Americans that don’t have any health insurance are working for small businesses,” Bradley said. “So anything we can do to lower health insurance costs for small businesses is going to help families.”
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