Editor:

It was gratifying to hear that Gov. Bob Riley agrees that the healthcare reform bills making their way through Congress don’t do enough to address the needs of small business.

Neither the House nor Senate plans do enough to address cost, choice and competition, the three issues that matter most to Alabama’s small businesses and employees.

The Senate bill introduced on Wednesday, Nov. 18, calls for new taxes, new mandates and new entitlement programs that would be paid for on the backs of entrepreneurs and small, family businesses.

Small business is the bedrock of Alabama’s economy, accounting for 97 percent of the state’s employers and employing almost half of the state’s private-sector workforce.

Congress is running out of opportunities to prove to small business that they are serious about helping our nation’s job creators. Our nation’s healthcare system is broken and must be fixed, but it must be fixed in a way that helps small business, and doesn’t add new costs that outweigh possible benefits.

Rosemary Elebash, State Director,

National Federation of Independent Business/Alabama

Montgomery