Congressman George Latimer who represents New York’s 16th Congressional District told a House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee hearing that small businesses have been hurt by President Trump’s policies and actions on tariffs.
“Small businesses provide character to our main streets and employ many of our neighbors,” Latimer said. “Trump’s tariff policies have created uncertainty for small businesses, and it will affect our local economies in the short and long term.”
The operators of four small businesses testified at the hearing and all noted that their costs would be driven up and likely their incomes would suffer as a result of imposition of the tariffs. The small business owners included: Walter Rowen, president of Susquehanna Glass Company in Pennsylvania; Haley Pavone, founder of Pashion Footwear; LaJuanna Russell, president and CEO of Business Management Associates in Virginia; and Sarah Wells, founder of Sarah Wells Bags.
“We should be supporting small businesses like the ones before the committee today and help them continue to thrive,” Latimer said. “Small businesses deserve better than the reckless Trump tariffs.”
Latimer introduced Rowen, who said in his testimony that his family business has been decorating glassware for 150 years and has survived two world wars, the great depression and the Covid pandemic.
“Now we are facing some of the most challenging economic climates I have ever seen,” Rowen said. “The chaos of the last few months is happening in isolation, piling on top of systemic pressures that small business owners have faced for years. The tax code continues to disadvantage businesses like mine. Soaring health care costs are another burden that has been straining small businesses for years.”
Haley Pavone said that her company grew to $9 million in gross revenues last year but “cannot emphasize enough that the current breadth and speed of policy changes stands to absolutely gut everything that I’ve worked so hard to build seemingly overnight. The same is true for thousands of other small businesses like mine.”
Latimer along with Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri introduced a bill designed to make it easier for small businesses seeking contracts with the federal government to find out information from the government about what its doing. Their Transparency and Predictability in Small Business Opportunities Act passed out of the House Committee on Small Business unanimously and could be brought up in the House for a floor vote.
