Mar 22, 2011-- U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., speaks during a small business forum Tuesday at UTC.Congressman Chuck Fleishmann and Congressman Sam Graves, also chairman of the House Small Business Committee, participated in a forum Tuesday for small businessmen to address their concerns.
Questions were submitted in advance, and panelists were chosen to talk to the Congressmen about health care, regulation, taxation and energy issues.
Hicks Armor, executive vice president for First Horizons Insurance, joined Lynda Johnson, director of the office of Health Care Reform at BlueCross BlueShield in decrying the effects of Obama's health plan.
It would give business the choice between paying a $2,000 penalty or providing $8,000 insurance for each employee, they said, and most would choose the former over the later.
They were joined by manufacturing, farming, transportation and even funeral home businesspeople, all of whom said the burden of regulation and taxation was too great, and was restricting employment growth.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press