SBE Council Presses Congress After Midterms: Cut Costs, Don't Shift Them

Inflation ranks as the single biggest worry of America's small business owners, according to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council's October 2026 Small Business Check Up Survey. The group's president and CEO, Karen Kerrigan, released the findings on November 4, 2026, one day after the midterm elections, and framed them as a mandate for the incoming Congress.

"The election results underscore the urgency of addressing the cost pressures and challenges facing small business owners, their employees, and American households," Kerrigan said in a statement issued from Washington, D.C.

What is driving small business anxiety?

The October survey identified three pressures that keep owners awake. Inflation remains the top concern. Energy costs have surged as a major worry. Access to capital has become increasingly hard to secure.

Kerrigan said owners face these pressures while the broader economy stays uncertain. Even so, she argued, entrepreneurs keep adapting. "Despite these pressures and uncertainty about the broader economy, entrepreneurs continue to demonstrate remarkable resilience and adaptability," she said.

Why does the group reject cost-shifting policies?

The SBE Council's core argument is mechanical: affordability cannot be improved by policies that simply move costs somewhere else. Kerrigan listed the culprits directly — higher taxes, new mandates, tariffs, regulatory burdens, and restrictions that limit competition and choice. Each one, she said, ultimately raises costs for small businesses and consumers alike.

Her warning was blunt. "Good intentions do not guarantee good outcomes, and poorly designed policies can make the problems they seek to address even worse."

Where does health care fit in?

Health care affordability and access rank as priorities alongside tax and regulatory relief. Kerrigan said small business owners and their employees need more affordable coverage, greater flexibility, and meaningful choices.

She urged scrutiny of sweeping proposals such as Medicare for All and its variations, arguing lawmakers should examine their effects on existing coverage, patient choice, and taxpayers before acting.

The statement also pointed to a practical alternative: CHOICE Arrangements. These arrangements, Kerrigan said, expand coverage options without disrupting plans that already work. The evidence she cited is striking — more than 70% of small businesses adopting these arrangements are offering health coverage for the first time.

What does AI have to do with it?

Kerrigan pressed elected officials to consult small business owners before writing new legislation or regulation. She tied that demand to a fast-changing marketplace shaped by AI and digital commerce, where entrepreneurs now use innovative tools and business models to improve productivity, lower costs, find new customers, and compete.

Her prescription for policymakers: address genuine problems, recognize what is working, and avoid approaches that undermine innovation or drive costs higher.

What happens next?

The midterms changed the political map, but not the problems, according to Kerrigan. "The election has changed the political landscape, but the need for practical, common-sense solutions remains," she said.

The SBE Council, a nonpartisan advocacy, research, and education organization active for more than 30 years, called on newly elected and returning officials to work across party lines. Kerrigan said owners and their employees are already doing their part to navigate uncertainty, innovate, and serve customers. Officials, she argued, must do theirs: "Listen to entrepreneurs, understand marketplace realities, and advance solutions that lower costs and strengthen opportunity rather than those that shift burdens or create barriers to opportunity and growth."

With the survey data now public and a new Congress preparing to convene, the lobbying fight over taxes, tariffs, and health coverage options is set to begin in earnest in January.