Press Release
January 11, 2022
This afternoon in Atlanta, President Joe Biden called on the Senate to pass voting rights legislation by reforming the Senate filibuster rule in order to protect democracy. President Biden said that he is “tired of being quiet.”
Earlier today four national small business organizations called on the Senate to pass the same voting rights legislation to protect our economy and to do so by reforming the filibuster. Small businesses are tired of their voice not being heard.
Below are the comments made by Frank Knapp, Co-chair of Small Business for America’s Future and President & CEO of the SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce, in which he makes the business case for passing voting rights legislation.
Watch a recording of today’s business press event: https://vimeo.com/664887272
Mr. Knapp’s complete statement:
“All business owners know that they are only successful when there is demand for their goods and services. When democracy dies, consumers will feel downtrodden because their government is no longer responsive to the will of the voters and these consumers will hold back their spending for fear of the future.
Entrepreneurs are optimists who believe that if they have a good idea and work hard and sacrifice that they can be successful and make a good living for themselves and their families. When democracy dies, the autocrats and their deep-pocketed friendly big businesses will dictate what businesses will be successful and sap the will of entrepreneurs who drive our local, state, and national economies.
Small businesses flourish when government policies create a level playing field for all businesses, large and small. Small business owners want government policies to not favor the corporate elite on taxes or allow corporate greed to bleed them of their ability to make a profit. When democracy dies, the uber wealthy and multinational corporations will never pay their fair share for the government services they use and the greed of money-hungry giant corporations will run rampant taking more and more market share from small businesses and driving up their costs of doing business.
Small business owners can see into the future, and they know what will happen to them and the economy if democracy dies. And that is why they overwhelmingly support passing the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. We want our democracy to be protected from those who only seek personal power and will do anything to achieve that end, even if it means destroying our democracy and small business entrepreneurial economy.”