US firms seek policy certainty ahead of America’s 250th anniversary

Washington: As the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its independence this week, American small business owners urged the Congress to provide greater policy certainty, easier access to capital and a stronger workforce, saying those factors will determine whether the next generation can achieve the American dream.

Business owners from manufacturing, hospitality, consumer products and communications industries delivered that message during a House Small Business Committee hearing examining the role entrepreneurs have played in building the US economy over the past two-and-a-half centuries.

While Republican and Democratic lawmakers sparred over tariffs, immigration, taxation and healthcare, witnesses repeatedly returned to the same concerns — rising costs, financing challenges, labour shortages and an unpredictable business climate.

Committee Chairman Roger Williams said America’s economic success had been driven by entrepreneurs since the country’s founding.

“America’s history is in many ways the story of a small business,” Williams said, adding that entrepreneurs had helped transform the country into “the most prosperous nation in history.” He said the next chapter would depend on ensuring small businesses remained able “to compete, innovate, and grow.”

Committee’s top Democrat, Johnny Olszewski Jr., described small businesses as “the backbone of our economy” and argued that they were facing mounting pressures from rising costs and economic uncertainty.

“Small business issues aren’t Democratic, they’re not Republican, they are American issues,” he said.

Among the witnesses was Ohio restaurateur Adrian Adornetto, whose family’s business traces its roots to his grandparents’ immigration from Sicily.

“My grandparents sought the American dream. My father spent his life building it, and I have been blessed with the opportunity to continue it,” Adornetto said. He added that preserving that legacy required “a business environment where small businesses can survive, reinvest, hire and pass opportunity onto the next generation.”

Philip Freeman, founder of North Carolina-based Murphy’s Naturals and co-working company The Loading Dock, identified financing as the biggest obstacle facing entrepreneurs.

“The single greatest barrier for an early-stage company is infrastructure,” Freeman said, calling for expanded lending programmes, clearer regulations and greater support for veteran entrepreneurs. He said “the American dream is not a relic of the past. It is alive in every garage, spare bedroom and warehouse bay across your districts.”

Anne Shybunko-Moore, chief executive of New York defence manufacturer GSE Dynamics, urged lawmakers to strengthen domestic manufacturing through investment incentives, workforce development and reliable supply chains.

“We must strengthen employer-led workforce training and encourage more young people to see manufacturing as a career of purpose and opportunity,” she said.

Maryland entrepreneur Veronica Kuhl, who was born in the Dominican Republic, said her experience reflected the opportunities available in the United States but warned that entrepreneurs needed a predictable operating environment.

“The American dream I know did not guarantee success, but it did promise opportunity,” she said, and urged the Congress to reduce administrative burdens and support workforce development and new technologies.

Small businesses account for the overwhelming majority of US businesses and remain a major source of employment, innovation and economic growth.

The hearing came ahead of the July 4 celebrations marking 250 years since the United States declared independence in 1776. Congress has been using the milestone to examine the role of entrepreneurship in the country’s economic development and to debate policies intended to strengthen American competitiveness in the decades ahead.

IANS