On Sept. 2 at the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg held a roundtable discussion with local business leaders focused on an appropriate topic for the upcoming Labor Day weekend: jobs and the economy.
Representatives from the region’s business community spent an hour and a half discussing with Rehberg the challenges of job growth today, along with possible solutions to stimulate the economy.
While a range of topics was covered, one consistent theme that emerged was frustration over federal regulations and the effect those regulations have on employers’ ability to run their businesses. Participants at the roundtable included representatives from industries such as health care, insurance, education, building, banking and more.
Terry Kramer, a contractor, said he recently attended a gathering of notable CEOs and they agreed that the foremost hindrance to job creation today is the regulatory environment.
“How do we control excessive regulations and get back to where we can get back to work?” Kramer asked.
Rehberg told the crowded chamber of commerce room that there seems to be two competing philosophies in examining government’s role in job creation: government is the solution or government is the problem.
“You would agree with me that government is the problem,” Rehberg said.
Rehberg criticized the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a financial regulatory bill signed into law by President Barack Obama last year, as an example of the federal government’s “tendency to overreact and create a one-size-fits-all regulation.”
Other federal regulations impeding job growth, Rehberg said, are restrictions on energy and resource production, as well as oversight of the housing and lending markets. Rehberg was critical of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for helping usher in the housing crash, which has in turn altered the regulatory environment.
“I think they’re the ones who created the problem,” Rehberg said.
Jim Ness of Glacier Bank said the amount of documentation required for lending in the real estate market today is burdensome. Uncertain consumers, he added, are wary in today’s economic environment.
“Personally I don’t believe anyone’s willing to take the risk right now,” Ness said. “There’s no one walking through the door.”
Chris Parson, director of the chamber’s small business development center, introduced some of the meeting’s most upbeat news. Parson said Montana’s Incumbent Worker Training Program has been highly successful in the region, having trained more than 200 employees.
One local business, Parson said, has grown from 18 employees to more than 50 with the help of the program, which offers training to improve skills, productivity and ultimately wages.
Speaking to a roomful of businesspeople, Rehberg lambasted the federal government’s continuously running deficit, arguing that nobody could run a successful business in that manner. There were nods of agreement around the table.
“You know as businesspeople that you cannot continue down that path of spending more than you’re bringing in in revenue,” he said.