Congressman Pappas Reintroduces Bipartisan Legislation to Support Rural, Small Businesses

Press Release

Yesterday, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) reintroduced the bipartisan Expanding Access to Rural Job Creators Act alongside Congresswoman Cindy Axne (IA-03) to help small businesses and rural entrepreneurs across New Hampshire.

Small businesses across New Hampshire employ nearly 50% of the state's private workforce. However, rural entrepreneurs and small business owners still face unique challenges in accessing capital, and only 49% receive the full amount of the financing they seek nationally. This legislation would improve their access to capital, in turn helping New Hampshire's small businesses grow and thrive. Specifically, this legislation would expand the purview of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to include small businesses in rural areas, and would require the SEC to work on identifying and overcoming the unique challenges of rural business owners and entrepreneurs.

"New Hampshire's small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but half of small businesses are currently unable to access adequate capital when they seek it," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "This bipartisan legislation will expand the role of Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation to include rural small businesses and ensure that they hear the concerns of this sector. This legislation will ultimately help our small businesses grow, thrive, and create more good paying jobs. I look forward to building support for this common sense legislation to ensure New Hampshire's rural businesses have the tools and resources they need to thrive."

"Increasing access to credit, especially for rural borrowers, is incredibly important as our small businesses recover from the pandemic and build for the future," said Jac Cuddy, Executive Director of the Mount Washington Valley Economic Council. "Congressman Pappas's legislation will welcome news to Main Street businesses here in the Mount Washington Valley and we are eager to work with Rep. Pappas to deliver more support for our local small businesses."
"The ability to finance investments to sustain or grow a company is a lifeline for small businesses," said Janice Crawford, Executive Director of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber. "But too many rural entrepreneurs are often not able to access the amounts they need or with the terms that work for them. This legislation would help our small businesses be able to better plan for their growth and achieve stability in their finance operations and we thank Congressman Pappas for advancing a bill to meet these needs."

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