>> nfib hahas ver been part of ththe just say no crowd. we wanthose free-market reforms that w will treat small siness owners, their employees, their same as large employers under the taxode. there were many other reforms -- >> none of those ever worked or gotast. finally you have something that after decades and decadess talking about health care reform passed, do you really see a way out? >> i defitely think there are bipartisan reforms thahat will be taken up again if this is overturned. i am glad for thohose small business owners whhave had a positive experience, b but the majority of ourr members are telling us the opposit congress put kerosene on the fire of health care costs ring. they are being tolold by their insurancee that their plans are being cancelled. >> what shohould congre do nextt if this is overturned in part or in full? shshould they turn it over to the states? >> you havave toto repeal omacare and you ought to look at the things that drive up the cost of health insurance. when you have over 130,000 pageses of rules and

obamacare, which is why he's here today having argued the case before the supreme court on behalf of the nfib. please welcome to the stage mike carvin. [ applause ] >> thanks. i'll try and make this relatively painless and brief. you guys are already gluttons for punishment on this beautiful day sitting here talking about the commerce clause. i will kind of walk through it and then i'd be happy to answer any questions. as you undoubtedly know the issue we did argue a few weeks ago was for the first time in american history the federal government had compelled their citizens to buy a product, insurance. they were required to buy this product, even though it was economically disadvantageous to these people, which is not my opinion but the express opinion of the congress that imposed it. they found because you were making healthy 30-year-olds buy health insurance they didn't really need because they rarely went to the doctor, this would lower everyone else's premiums by 15% to 20% or 28 to $39 billion annually. that was the avowed purpose of the individual mandate since congress had required ins

the nfib reports monday morning, and so it will be interesting to see how -- that's the national federationesses, and it will be interesting to see how small businesses are reacting to the changes in the environment. >> yeah. i guess we're sort of still on watch mode, right? >> i am because if you say for the second quarter and for the second half of this year is gdp growth going to be 2% or 3% or 4%, right now it's hard to tell. i have to take the lower side of that based on the investment flows from small businesses, but that could improve if there were -- if europe solves some of its problems, if china appears to be growing, so i'm in a watch mode for now. >> so, brian, you point to the four-year high in consumer confidence. what does that tell you? >> well, you know, there were a couple of issues that we had coming into the year. we were looking for stability into the housing market, job growth and a return of the consumer, and, you know, we're seeing that in -- in both the jobs numbers and the consumer confidence numbers. you know, i think david touched on it earlier. what we have to s

oil prices given, housing, nfib. wasn't sure what to do with the weather. we'll talk about that in a second. watching unemployment rate is a key to fed policy. a rapid decline would spook the markets into worrying about an earlier end to accommodation. >> we're both looking up george whitman's character in "shawshank redemption." his names was brooks. >> we'll be watching the unemployment rate and anticipation date as to whether the better job market prompts more people to look for work. and on the weather, some say it has induced payrolls, but a lot of people say a lot of job hits have been in services and why would you have services sensitive to weather? are the longer termin employed coming back at the same rate than those who have been on the unemployment line for less time? >> i'm higher than the consensus. i keep waiting for the pullback from jobs because of the weather. >> you think the pullback is happening now? >> no, i don't. but because i don't i'm probably wrong. >> if we didn't have a big pop in jobs, right. the seasonals will be looking for a

according to the nfib, tax issues are the single most significant regulatory burdens for most small firms. the small business tax deduction act is simple, fair, and gives small businesses access to badly needed capital to invest this their caps while providing a little more certainty to help plan for the future. as chairman of the small business committee, i hear from small business owners every single week about their regulatory and tax burdens. small business open mike, we have heard that tax policies may drive some firms out of business. on tuesday, wendy, said, i quote, we are headed to hire new employees but fear what new tax turds would have. we -- tax burdens would have. last saturday debbie, owner of a fabricating distributor company wrote, and i quote, any additional taxes will only stop any chance of recovery and the government knees needs to realize we need every penny to increase staff. i can go on and on about examples like these. yesterday our committee held a hearing on the flood of new taxes just around the corner such as new taxes from the health care law and massive tax

a recent nfib research foundation, national federation of independent businesses, that study found that four of the top 10 small business problems were tax-related. just this week, struggling families and businesses were forced to give the government more of their hard-earned money to satisfy the hungry appetite of government bureaucracy. mr. speaker, enough is enough. tax rates and fiscal irresponsibility have got to come do an end. small businesses across the country are fighting to keep their doors open and keep their lights on. it's shameful for the federal government to expect these hard-working taxpayers to foot the bill for g.s.a. excursions to las vegas and inept corporate schemes while the backbone of our economy, which is the small businesses continue to suffer. after all, american small businesses are responsible, as i said before for 70% of the jobs that are created in this country. why do we want to continue to make life so difficult for them? why are they the target for the left in this house so often? the america i know is a nation where hard work creates opportunities fo