Politics & Government

Sen. Warner: Economic Growth Depends on Small Business

The Virginia Senator spoke to a group of business leaders about the importance of small business to a strong economy.

U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) spoke at a Fredericksburg Small Business Symposium Wednesday, discussing the challenges facing small businesses.

"Unless we can drive more folks into being business owners, we're not going to have full economic growth," Warner told the group gathered at Marstel-Day, LLC.  "The Kauffman Foundation did an analysis and in the last 30 years, 85 percent of all new jobs have been created by start ups," he said.


Warner talked about the need for business assistance programs offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and other agencies to be less complicated. "We have to make it easier for people to access [these programs] and get the application process done in the most efficient and effective way," he said.

Access to capital is vital to growing small businesses, and traditional funding sources are not as prevalent as they used to be, Warner said.  He praised crowdfunding -- the collective efforts of individuals in supporting programs initiated by others -- highlighting the San Francisco-based nonprofit Kiva.

Warner said access to talent is also essential to growing small business.  "We need to change our immigration laws to allow educated people from other countries to stay once we've trained them in our schools," Warner said.  New laws in Australia, Canada and Great Britain entice college graduates from the United States to immigrate there, he said. 

Predictability in the budget is another important aspect to business growth, Warner said.  "Sequestration is stupidity on steroids," he said.  "Congress needs to give the county some certainty," he said.  "We can't have a budget crisis every three months and expect the economy to grow." 

Warner's remarks came after a panel discussion about resources available to help small and minority owned businesses.  Panel members were Brian Baker, executive director of University of Mary Washington's Center for Economic Development; Amy LaMarca, secretary, of the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority and director of business development at Affinity Fidelis Consulting and Technologies LLC; and Natalia Olson-Urtecho, regional administrator, US Small Business Administration.

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