DEVILS LAKE, N.D – U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, hosted a discussion with community leaders and entrepreneurs about issues facing local startup businesses and her work to support small businesses in rural communities.

“All across North Dakota there are folks taking risks and starting their own small businesses,” said Heitkamp, “Starting a business is no small task and having the right policies in place at the federal level can make all the difference. We see rural communities coming together to solve chronic challenges to make sure that their towns are not left behind the larger communities that can pull away entrepreneurs. During the discussion I hosted today in Devils Lake with community leaders and small business owners, we dove right into the work they are doing to make sure folks feel like they can open and grow their business right in their home towns. Every day I come to the U.S. Senate, I’m fighting for rural America, and a key part of that means making sure our local small businesses can thrive. They not only support jobs and economic growth, but also provide North Dakotans with a sense of community and purpose as they pursue their goals that will ultimately benefit their towns.”

Heitkamp has long worked to make sure small businesses, which make up 99 percent of North Dakota’s employers and nearly 60 percent of all jobs in the state, have access to the appropriate resources and policies that help grow their business. The following are highlights of Heitkamp’s work to make sure small business have a strong voice at the federal level:

• In May 2018, Heitkamp called on the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy to analyze the impact of the administration’s tariff policies on small businesses.

• In May 2018, Heitkamp helped introduce a bipartisan bill to give small businesses a voice in the federal rule making process impacting access to capital and investor protection. The new Expanding Access to Capital for Rural Job Creators Act would expand the focus of the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to include rural-area small businesses.

• In March 2017, Heitkamp reintroduced her bipartisan Supporting America’s Innovators Act with Senator Heller (R-NV) to help encourage investments in small business and startups in small communities and was signed into law in May 2018 at part of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act.

• In December 2016, Heitkamp’s SEC Small Business Advocate Act was signed into law that created the Office of the Advocated for Small Business Capital Formation within the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). This established clear lines of communication between small businesses and the federal rule makers to make sure small business.  

• In March 2016, Heitkamp introduced her Startup Entrepreneurs Empowerment Delivery (SEED) Act that would create a federal pilot program granting up to $120,000 in federal funds to ten small cities with populations of 200,000 or less to then invest into startup businesses.