Hill Heat

A full committee hearing entitled “The Golden Age: Unleashing Main Street Through Deregulation.”

Hearing memo

Legislation:

• Prove It Act of 2025, H.R. 1163, to allow small businesses or entities purporting to represent their interests to challenge regulations
• Small Business Regulatory Reduction Act, H.R. 974, To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to ensure that the small business regulatory budget for a small business concern in a fiscal year is not greater than 0

Witnesses:

• Patrick Montalban, Chairman & CEO, Montalban Oil & Gas Operations, Inc, on behalf of National Stripper Well Association (NSWA)
• Elden Johnson, Owner, Elden Johnson Transportation, on behalf of National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)
• Buddy Hughes, Chairman of the Board, National Association of Home Builders
• John Arensmeyer, Founder & CEO, Small Business Majority

Montalban testimony excerpts:

As we are in the fossil fuel industry the Biden Executive Branch used the justification of “global warming” and the implementation of the “New Green Deal” [sic] to achieve this

Arensmeyer testimony excerpts:

When asked about a series of key issues that impact small business success, small business owners consistently rank regulations near the bottom of the list of challenges they’re concerned about when examining factors affecting their ability to grow their business. More prevalent concerns for small businesses today include barriers to access to capital, threats or the onslaught of tariffs, reduced access to healthcare, and difficulties finding affordable childcare. When asked if “adhering to industry or government regulations” was a challenge, 56% experienced minor or few challenges while an additional 20% said that current regulations were not a challenge at all.

To ensure small businesses can compete on a level playing field in their respective industry, wellcrafted regulations play a critical role in providing consistent guardrails against anti-competitive behavior that disproportionately impacts the smallest businesses. We must view the regulatory environment on a case-by-case basis, directly re-evaluating specific regulations rather than taking a sweeping approach to deregulation, which can hinder competition and make it that much harder for small businesses to get ahead.

Regulations support small businesses by ensuring health and safety standards across an entire industry, ensuring a level playing field and favorable reputations in communities. When small businesses are in compliance with regulations, they save time and money on potential lawsuits that could be avoided absent the presence of federal regulatory standards.4 Furthermore, regulations such as those of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office play a critical role in supporting and protecting small business innovation, and creating commonly followed market guardrails.

Small businesses would have strongly benefitted from reporting requirements under Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act requiring lenders to disclose demographic data for small business loan products, showing what we have known to be true for decades – small businesses are not given equal opportunity based on merit to apply for new loans and are oftentimes subject to discrimination (especially true for business owners in rural areas or those who are BIPOC or women-owned). Legislative efforts to repeal Section 1071 (though the 1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act (H.R. 976) would blatantly ignore the shortcomings of our small business lending industry and further restrict access to capital for the millions of individuals looking to pursue the American dream of entrepreneurship.

Small business-focused lenders and community bankers rely on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements that reward larger financial institutions for supporting smaller, less capitalized community banks with grants, loans, and underwriting tools needed to take on riskier investments in rural and other under resourced communities.

While many here today may argue that our current regulatory structure is the boogeyman threatening small business growth, in fact, regulations are far from the top concern of small businesses. Indeed, over the last few months of interaction with countless entrepreneurs, we have heard nothing about federal regulations. Rather, what we have heard is fear and horror about the recent arbitrary, chaotic and unpredictable actions taken by the Trump administration that threaten to destabilize the economy. These actions include (1) onerous tariffs, (2) terminating and weakening vital federal programs supporting entrepreneurs, (3) slashing the Small Business Administration (SBA) workforce by 43% while piling on 1.6 trillion dollars of unrelated student loan responsibilities, (4) indiscriminately canceling federal contracts, (5) illegally firing Federal Trade Commission (FTC) commissioners, (6) shuttering the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), which has been protecting the small business from financial abuse, and (7) mass deportations that put undue additional pressure on small business’ existing workforce challenges.

Efforts to strip away resources and support for small businesses, which includes SBA’s recent decision to both cut its workforce by a staggering 43% and relocate six regional offices away from entrepreneurial centers, are not indicative of an “America first” agenda that puts our job creators first but rather creates an environment that is increasingly uncertain and hostile for small businesses.