Idaho, Alaska and Kentucky congressmen most supportive of small business

<p>WASHINGTON – What are federal legislators’ track record on voting for legislation that impacts small businesses? The Small Business Survival Committee, a non-partisan, non-profit small business advocacy group, released its annual scorecard that rated how members of Congress voted in 2001 on 12 key small business issues and ranked the states according to the average scores earned by the members of their respective congressional delegations. Included in this year’s ratings are legislators’ votes on issues such as reducing taxes and regulations, death tax elimination, capital gains tax relief, expanding U.S. markets overseas, reducing dependence on foreign energy, and making health care more affordable. According to SBSC, the top 10 congressional delegations voting in favor of small business were, in rank order: 1. Idaho, 2. Alaska, 3 (tied). Kentucky, 3 (tied). New Hampshire, 5. Oklahoma, 6. Wyoming, 7. Kansas, 8. Alabama, 9. Utah, and 10. Nebraska. At the bottom of the ranking, the 10 state delegations “most hostile” to small businesses were: 41 (tied). New York, 41 (tied) Washington, 43. Maryland, 44. West Virginia, 45. Delaware, 46. Vermont, 47. Rhode island, 48. Hawaii, 49. North Dakota, and 50. Massachusetts. Small businesses provide the bulk of innovations, goods, services, and jobs in our economy, said SBSC Chief Economist Raymond Keating, and while practically all members of Congress say they support small businesses, their voting records sometimes reveal a different story. SBSC’s congressional scorecard can be downloaded from its Web site at www.sbsc.org.</p>