Spotlight on the 114th Congress:
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA-05)
Q
businesses they will impact.
We can all understand that
the FDA wants the customer to be
informed, but these regulations
not only are far beyond necessary, but also incredibly inflexible
and burdensome. That’s why last
Congress I introduced the bipartisan Common Sense Nutrition
Disclosure Act, which would
relieve many small businesses
like your local convenience store
or pizza franchise from one-sizefits-all government mandates.
This kind of red tape affects every
industry across the country and
quickly trickles down to our families, and I will continue my efforts
to empower small businesses in
every way I can.
Having worked in your
family’s small business, are
there certain skills or perspectives that you apply as a public
official?
A
I grew up doing chores
alongside my parents and my
younger brother on our family-run
orchard and fruit stand in Eastern
Washington, and that experience has
had a significant impact on me as a
person and a lawmaker. I’ve experienced firsthand some of the regulations and burdens family farms and
small businesses encounter every
day—and I now work in Congress
to advance policies that cut that red
tape and instead foster innovation
and growth.
I learned the value of hard
work from a very young age, and
as the first person in my family to
graduate from college, I worked at a
McDonald’s drive-thru to help pay
for school. These collective experiences have influenced my perspective as a member of Congress. We
are shaped by the experiences we’ve
had, and to this day, I am inspired by
those who are willing to come together
to bring their ideas to life—because the
possibilities are limitless.
Q
How can small-business
owners get relief under the
health care law?
A
A
Some of the greatest
ideas are born right at the
kitchen table, and there is nothing
more important than speaking with
people and understanding the challenges they face. During a Google
Hangout with constituents, I will hear
from numerous small-business owners
from Spokane, Washington, who are
encountering burdensome regulations
that are stifling growth. I want to do
everything I can to empower them to
succeed and to get Washington D.C.,
out of the way of that success. Whether
it is related to health care, tax reform or
immigration reform, meeting with men
and women directly impacted by these
policies is critical. I believe we need to
build our economy from the bottom up
and that means working at the local
level to hear from Americans across the
country. S
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SCORE | 2015 Issue 2
Affordable Care Act includes a requirement for restaurants and almost any
establishment which serves food, like your
local convenience store or movie theatre,
to post caloric information data on every
food item they offer if they have 20 or
more locations or franchises. I’ve heard
from small-business owners who describe
this mandate as nothing less than a nightmare. For example, for pizzerias, there
are millions of different combinations
of possible pizza toppings on any given
pizza. It is impossible for these restaurants
to post information, like calorie counts,
for all the options. There are several ways
to take advantage of modern technology
and provide consumers with this information, but unfortunately the Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) has chosen to
implement these regulations in a way that
is burdensome and expensive to the small
THE
In the last few years, I have heard
from too many small-business
owners and employees who are suffering
because of the president’s health care
law. They’ve faced higher premiums,
fewer choices and limited access to
quality care. That’s why I am working to
provide relief for the millions of Americans who have seen their paychecks cut
and their hours reduced as a result of it.
One of the mandates in the
Q
In what ways are you
seeking feedback from
small businesses in Washington
and then using that information in Washington, D.C.?