Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Manufacturers at House Small Business hearing urge tax certainty, permitting reform and clearer regulations
Loading...
Summary
CEOs from small and mid‑size manufacturers told the House Committee on Small Business that expiring tax provisions, unclear regulations and slow permitting are constraining investment, hiring and long‑range projects in the U.S. defense and aerospace supply chains.
Chairman Williams opened the House Committee on Small Business hearing by saying the panel would "listen, learn and better understand the challenges" facing Main Street businesses.
Carl Hutter, CEO of Clickbond Inc., told the committee that small and mid‑size manufacturers face a mix of expiring tax incentives, burdensome compliance and permitting uncertainty that is slowing investments. "If congress wants to preserve American innovation, ingenuity, and competitiveness, inaction is simply not an option," Hutter said.
Hutter told lawmakers that the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s lower corporate rate and pass‑through provisions had helped Clickbond increase wages, invest in capital equipment and accelerate construction of a new facility. He said those provisions have begun to lapse and are making research and development, capital purchases and long‑term financing more expensive. Hutter cited a figure the committee discussed that he described as the annual U.S. regulatory cost burden: $3,000,000,000,000.
Bill Neu, founder and president of Neu Industries LLC, a steel fabricator in Morgan City, Louisiana, described how regulatory and leasing uncertainty in the offshore oil and gas sector lengthened project horizons and caused customers to delay or cancel work. "It's really about having access to lands to where to drill," Neu said, adding that projects his company supports can have development timelines measured in years or even a decade from lease to production.
Both witnesses urged permitting reform to make timelines predictable and to reduce duplicative or unworkable compliance requirements. Hutter warned that some regulatory proposals—examples he mentioned included PFAS‑related material restrictions and other emissions rules—could be technically infeasible for components that have long certification cycles and no ready substitutes.
Members pressed witnesses on workforce and investment policy. Witnesses and members pointed to expired or expiring provisions—accelerated depreciation and R&D expensing among them—as levers that would immediately affect manufacturers' capacity to buy equipment and hire. When asked near the end of the hearing whether extending prior tax provisions would help, Hutter and Neu answered in the affirmative.
The discussion focused on options for Congress to stabilize the policy environment: extend tax incentives on a predictable timetable, streamline permitting across agencies, and ensure any new rules include workable transition periods for suppliers in critical sectors such as aerospace and defense.
The hearing captured repeated requests from manufacturers for clarity and predictability rather than immediate rollback of all safety‑related rules; witnesses framed their recommendations as ways to preserve U.S. competitiveness and the defense industrial base while allowing industry time to adopt safer, lower‑impact alternatives.
Looking ahead, witnesses asked the committee to prioritize near‑term steps—tax extensions and permitting fixes—that would unlock private investment and speed hiring, while coordinating with industry on technically feasible regulatory timelines.
