Every once in a while a politician surprises us by understanding that the “people back home” really do exist and are burdened by a host of problems the ‘privileged ones’ in our state capitals or Washington spend little time worrying about. From the beginning, Cong. Joe Walsh has been one of those politicians – maybe because he’s an ardent Tea Partier. Maybe it’s because he has a “feel” for the people in Illinois and his 8th Congressional District.
On Monday, Walsh, Chairman of the Small Business Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access, held a meeting in the village hall in Hoffman Estates, Illinois with local residents and four small businessmen to examine the impact high fuel prices have on small businesses and job creation. The audience sat and listened while the four businessmen described how the Democrats and a bureaucracy that continues to grow under the Obama administration are destroying the economic incentives that drives small business in this country.
The dominate theme all four voiced was over-regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation that are smothering small businesses in Illinois and across the nation with taxes and new and unrealistic regulations and mandates that never seem to satisfy or end.
“Few things have such broad effects on consumers, the economy and small businesses as high fuel prices,” Walsh said as he opened the hearing. “While fuel prices have moderated somewhat from their recent highs, the price of a gallon of regular gasoline and diesel fuel is still 29 percent and 28 percent higher than two years ago. Overall, Americans are paying 93 percent more for gasoline than when President Obama took office in January 2009.”
The four men speaking before the committee were as diverse as could be assembled: trucking, health care, manufacturing, and service.
Phil Kerr, President of Home Medical Express in Elmhurst, Illinois; James Zuber, owner of JC3 trucking in Newton, Illinois and a member of the Owner/Operator Independent Drivers Association; Larry Smith, GM of Lurvey Landscape Supply, Des Plaines; and Richard B. Sade, VP of S&S Hinge Company, Bloomingdale, all appeared to agree with Walsh’s statement.
“Government regulations and mandates pose significant problems to trucking operators in this nation,” said Zuber, “and fuel costs are our biggest expense. But federal mandates are not far behind. For example, DOT mandates issued for new trucks add approximately $6,200 to the price of a new vehicle.”
Zuber, who is an independent owner/operator, said due to high diesel prices he has been forced to work on his trucks instead of using an outside mechanic. That takes time away from his wife and family. The cost to fill up the tanks on an average 18-wheeler is over $1,000, Zuber said.
“The difference between $3.60 and $3.90 a gallon is a $150 on a 1,000 pound load. We need to depend more on U.S. produced oil. We need more refineries and develop alternative energy.”
Kerr, whose medical service severs or transports 7,000 patients in Illinois each year, the majority of whom are Medicare or Medicaid recipients, said fuel prices are his second biggest expense after employee salaries and benefits.
“What these high energy prices mean to a business such as mine is that we are unable to hire additional employees because of gas prices. We send out 23 employee-operated vehicles each day. If it weren’t for fuel expense we would probably have hired more. High gas prices have severely affected my business.”
“For the first time in our history, we have been forced to add a fuel surcharge to our customers because of the high fuel prices,” said Smith, GM of Lurvey Landscape Supply. “We have been forced to eat the high fuel prices simply because you can only pass so much onto your customers. Simply staying in business is a challenge.”
“My company has been in business for 80 years,” said Richard B. Sade, VP of S&S Hinge Company in Bloomingdale. “Between high energy costs and competition from imports that do not have to operate under this government’s excessive regulations we face a challenge daily to remain operating.”
“It is the smaller businesses that take the hit in today’s economic climate,” said Walsh, “We in Washington tend to make like difficult for you. This administration has pitted big business against small business. Washington tends to make things too complicated for business. Hopefully, in the future, we will be able to rectify the problems we’ve discussed today.”
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