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There is one thing that every great American company has in common: each began as a small business. Starting a small business in America means you are willing to risk whatever money you can cobble together from your life savings or maxing out a credit card to pursue your dream. This might mean opening a business up out of the spare bedroom of your home or the extra space in your parent’s garage. Believing in your dreams and pursuing them employs people and provides endless economic opportunity. America has 28 million small businesses, which together employ 57% of our nation’s private workforce. Given these facts, is there any question that a top priority of our government should be to protect the rights of small business owners and ensure an economic environment that allows for unfettered growth?

Our founding fathers knew that Americans had limitless ingenuity and creative spirit, which is why they envisioned a government that would stay out of the way of private innovation. I often wonder what the founders would think of the current status quo in Washington. Instead of a government that protects small businesses, we have a president whose policies are setting fire to the very spirit of an entrepreneurial America. Taxes and regulations are adding burdens to those whose help we need the most: job creators.

This week is National Small Business Week and I have joined a bipartisan group of my colleagues in cosponsoring a resolution to honor the entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners across America. These men and women are the true backbone of our economy. Small businesses need the freedom to grow and invest, but the economic uncertainty and threats of tax hikes under the current administration makes this a challenge. We need to ensure small business owners are not hit with higher taxes, if we can keep this promise, more jobs are sure to follow.