U.S. Chamber’s Center for Entrepreneurship Announces 2011 Legislative Agenda

Members of Center’s Advisory Council Take to Capitol Hill Urging Congress to Advance Legislation to Help Launch Their Businesses

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Campaign for Free Enterprise announced its 2011 legislative agenda for the Center for Entrepreneurship. It focuses on encouraging foreign entrepreneurs, simplifying and improving the R&D tax credit, improving patent quality, and supporting rules that facilitate capital formation. Members of the Center’s advisory council took this agenda to Capitol Hill today, meeting with lawmakers to highlight how action on these policies could help entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses.

“We have been working to get entrepreneurs a stronger voice in Washington and today marks an important step in that direction,” said Stan Anderson, chairman of the Campaign for Free Enterprise. “There is no substitute for having America’s innovators meet in person with the lawmakers who can help alleviate the obstacles they face in growing their businesses from the ground up.”

The Center for Entrepreneurship was created in February to help entrepreneurs navigate the legislative and regulatory obstacles in Washington. The Center’s advisory council consists of entrepreneurs from around the country. The Center released a 10-point agenda for the year, highlighting the following four policies during today’s meetings on the Hill.

• Support the “StartUp Visa Act of 2011,” which would help create American jobs by encouraging foreign entrepreneurs to start businesses in the United States.
• Support “The American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2011,” which will simplify and improve the R&D tax credit by increasing the “alternative simplified credit” from 14% to 20% and making the credit permanent.
• Support an efficient and well-funded U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to allow the agency to implement new initiatives to improve patent quality while reducing the average delay in patent processing times from 35 months to 20 months.
• Support rules that facilitate capital formation and not, directly or indirectly, limit the sources of capital available to consumers, entrepreneurs, or businesses.

The full 2011 agenda is available online.

The meetings were part of the Chamber’s annual Small Business Summit. During the three day Summit, attendees participated in panel discussions and heard from speakers about ways to expand their businesses and create jobs.

“After two days of hearing from some of the nation’s leading voices on how to grow a business, today served as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to seek action on the issues they deal with every day,” said Anderson. “We need to pave the way for the men and women who could eventually create jobs for thousands of Americans.”

The Campaign for Free Enterprise is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's comprehensive, multiyear campaign to support free enterprise and entrepreneurship through national advertising; grassroots advocacy; citizen, community, and youth engagement; and research and ideas leadership.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.