At the core of some of the major policy fights in Washington these days is a ferocious competition between Republicans and Democrats over which party is the champion of America’s small businesses — a mantle that each side views as crucial to shaping economic policy and winning the November elections.
The battle was on full display on Wednesday as Senate Democrats pushed ahead with efforts to pass a bill that would increase lending to small businesses and provide tax breaks, and President Obama visited the Tastee Sub Shop in Edison, N.J., where he ordered a “super sub with everything,” to highlight his party’s small-business agenda.
The two sides agree that the nation’s 27 million small businesses will be a big factor in the economic recovery. Beyond that, however, the gloves come off, as Democrats say Republicans are stalling the small-business bill and Republicans say that Democrats will strangle small businesses with higher taxes and heavy-handed regulation — though Mr. Obama, in New Jersey, emphasized that he had cut taxes for small businesses eight times.
Full story: Obama Trumpets Democrats’ Small-Business Bona Fides – NYTimes.com