The NSBA Small Business Congress kicked off yesterday on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. with a Regulatory Fairness Roundtable hosted in conjunction with the U.S. Small Business Administration Regulatory Fairness Board.

Prior to the annual meeting, a number of NSBA’s executive committee members and leadership, including Tribute, Inc. president, Tim Reynolds, participated in various activities on Capitol Hill in conjunction with the Fix the Debt Campaign. The first national small-business organization to partner with the Fix the Debt Campaign, NSBA’s leadership participated in a coffee at the Capitol and then moved along to a series of Hill meetings with key Members of Congress.

Partnered with a variety of state and local organizations and stakeholders, NSBA’s leadership represented the small-business community on the Hill, which culminated in a press conference where NSBA Chair Chris Holman and NSBA Vice Chair for Membership and Marketing Cookie Driscoll spoke  about the importance of reducing the deficit for small-business owners.

Joining Holman and Driscoll in the day’s events were: Todd McCracken, NSBA president and CEO; David Ickert, NSBA first vice chair; Pedro Alfonso, NSBA vice chair for communications; Rob Fowler, President and CEO of NSBA Affiliate, the Small Business Association of Michigan; Rick Murray, CEO of NSBA Affiliate, the Arizona Small Business Association; Tim Reynolds, NSBA vice chair for advocacy; and Larry Nannis, past chair of NSBA.

Founded by the architects of one of the most promising debt reduction plans offered to date, Erskine Bowles and Al Simpson, the Fix the Debt Campaign is working to build broad consensus among business, and, as such, has reached out to NSBA to help build small-business support of the efforts.

NSBA First Vice Chair David Ickert, also participated in a high level discussion at the White House on the deficit and other economic issues pertaining to small business this past week. The meeting was led by President Barack Obama, along with Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Karen Mills, Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, Alan B. Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Jeffrey Zients, Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. Ickert was among 15 small-business owners in attendance.

Ickert outlined the key issues facing small business, namely the looming fiscal cliff and sequestration. He reiterated the importance of some kind of reasonable phase-out of any tax changes so as to prevent further economic problems for the small-business community, and urged policymakers to look beyond just the near-term issues and seek a bold, long-term solution to the deficit. Any such solution must include broad tax reform, pragmatic spending cuts and entitlement reform.

“Now is the time for our elected officials to lead our country out of this financial mess we are in,” stated Ickert. “The sheer lack of a path forward is, has been, holding back growth for many small businesses.”

Given the looming fiscal cliff and coming debates in Washington, D.C., NSBA is proud to partner with the Fix the Debt Campaign and plans to aggressively seek small-business support for a broad and economically responsible solution to the deficit.

NSBA, the National Small Business Association, is celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2012 and continues to advocate on behalf of America’s entrepreneurs. A staunchly nonpartisan organization, NSBA’s 65,000 members represent every state and every industry in the U.S.