WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Beth Van Duyne (TX-24) today introduced her first piece of legislation, the “Ensuring Economic Recovery Act.” The legislation will mandate the Small Business Administration (SBA) to conduct and submit a report to the House Committee on Small Business and Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on the recovery of small businesses from the COVID-19 Pandemic, including potential negative effects of the Democrats’ proposed $15 per hour federal minimum wage on their recovery. 

“I’ve spent the last year talking to small businesses, and I’ve seen firsthand the disastrous impacts of the pandemic on them,” said Van Duyne. “We cannot further encumber business owners with a top-down, one-size-fits-all minimum wage mandate they can neither afford nor survive.”

“It is shocking that my Democrat colleagues pushed to raise the federal minimum wage – while businesses are only beginning to recover from the pandemic – without first studying the effects,” she continued. I’m proud to introduce this legislation, and hope that the findings of the SBA’s study will result in data-driven decisions and legislation that will help our small businesses recover.” 

“As states begin to open, we must closely examine the SBA’s recovery efforts and any potential effects a one-size-fits-all minimum wage mandate would have on our nation’s small businesses,” said Ranking Member Luetkemeyer (R-MO). “Americans deserve transparency and accountability from their governing bodies, and it is imperative for Congress to take a more in-depth look into these policies.”

The legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MI-03), Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05), Maria Elvira Salazar (FL-27), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), and Pete Stauber (MN-08).

###