Earlier this month when the disappointing August unemployment numbers were released, President Obama said, “[O]ne thing we also have to do right now –- one thing we have a responsibility to do right now –- is to lift up our small businesses, which accounted for over 60 percent of job losses in the final months of last year.  That’s why once again, I’m calling on Congress to make passing a small business jobs bill its first order of business when it gets back into session later this month.” The Senate actually has an opportunity to help small businesses in two ways this week: reverse some of the damage Democrats have already done to small businesses by repealing the 1099 paperwork mandate from the health care law and provide some certainty to employers by preventing massive tax increases next January.

It’s no secret that Democrats’ policies are hurting small businesses. Among the concerns Democrats have created for small business owners are a “flood of new tax paperwork,” new “regulatory burdens,” and “uncertainty over looming tax increases.”

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) offered an amendment today to repeal this costly mandate. Discussing the Johanns amendment in an editorial today, The Wall Street Journal writes, “[S]mall businesses are staring in horror toward 2013, when the 1099 mandate will hit more than 30 million of them. . . . But the White House is opposing this because it fears it would set a precedent for repealing the larger health bill.” The WSJ goes on to blast the Democrats for voting for this bill in the first place: “Most Democrats now claim they were blindsided and didn’t understand the implications of the 1099 provision—which is typical of the slapdash, destructive way the bill was written and passed. As the critics claimed, most Members had no idea what they were voting on. . . . Enough Democrats may bend to White House wishes and produce a stalemate, but this issue won’t go away. The President’s opposition to a clean repeal shows the hollowness of his alleged support for small business, which he expresses at every campaign stop but is less a priority than preserving his health-care legacy.”

Democrats will shortly have another choice to make on whether to help small businesses. Like the health care bill, another plan from the Obama administration, this time to allow taxes to go up in January, has the potential to wreak havoc on small businesses. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week, “The economy remains the biggest factor in many investors’ and businesses’ decisions. But worries over whether Congress will extend some of the expiring Bush-era tax breaks are emerging as another important one. . . . Small-business owners say unease about tax policy, along with the economy, has led them to hold off on hiring and investment.”

So as Politico reported, “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced legislation Monday to freeze the current tax rates across the board, saying that Americans ‘have had it’ with Democrats trying to raise taxes in a recession.” Sen. McConnell explained, “We can’t let the people who’ve been hit hardest by this recession and who we need to create the jobs that will get us out of it foot the bill for the Democrats’ two-year adventure in expanded government. We can’t allow America’s job creators to pay for Democrats’ out-of-control spending over the past two years any more than we can allow Main Street to pay for the greed of Wall Street. Wall Street should pay for its own excess. So should the administration and Democrat leaders in Washington.”

If President Obama and Democrats are serious about “lift[ing] up our small businesses,” they should support the Johanns amendment to repeal a costly, burdensome paperwork mandate from the health care law and Sen. McConnell’s bill to prevent record tax increases in January.

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