Witnesses from Richmond, CA and San Francisco to testify

WASHINGTON – The CEO and chief engineer of a small business manufacturer in Richmond, CA will testify before a congressional panel in Washington Thursday at the request of Congressman George Miller (D-Martinez) about the challenges and opportunities small businesses face in today’s economy.

Steve Graham, CEO of ASI, Inc., a manufacturer of specialized liquid diagnostic equipment for the pharmaceutical and oil industries, will testify before the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on Thursday, November 3, at 12:30 p.m. EST. Miller co-chairs the committee, which is holding its second in a series of hearings on how the private sector, non-profit institutions, and public policy can best help small businesses to grow and create more jobs.

“Steve started his business the old fashioned way, incurring personal debt to take a risk on a new idea,” Miller said. “His business has grown over the years. But the recession affected his business, as it has so many other small businesses in our community, by limiting his access to credit. Steve was able to grow his business more recently thanks to the American Recovery Act passed by Congress in 2009 that expanded small business loan guarantees and same-year depreciation of capital expenses. But credit from banks remains tight.

“I look forward to having Steve share with me and my colleagues in Congress his perspective on what we can do now to help businesses like his and others to grow and create jobs,” Miller said. “Congress’ top priority should be putting Americans back to work, and small businesses obviously play a key role in this effort.”

In addition to hearing from Graham, the Committee will also take testimony from John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority, based in San Francisco, Gail Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College, New York City, NY, a brewery/restaurant owner from Alexandria, VA, and a small business insurance broker from Baltimore, MD.

The hearings are part of Miller’s effort to help spur economic recovery and reduce unemployment. He has been pushing hard for Congress to pass legislation to help create jobs in the private and public sector, and for Congress to pass President Obama’s American Jobs Act that would, among other things, expand policies that help small businesses create jobs.

Miller has been meeting with small business owners throughout his district to listen to their stories and get their perspective on the challenges and opportunities they face. He sponsored a forum in Walnut Creek in August, Make It In America: Export To The World, with Reps. Garamendi and McNerney, to connect local small businesses with officials from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Small Business Administration. And he recently launched his own survey by mail and email to small businesses in his district to collect information that will help inform Congress on policies affecting small business growth.

More about ASI, from their website: “ASI manufactures a broad range of instruments, components, consumables for High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and related separation techniques. While some of our products may appear rather routine at first glance, ASI instruments, components, and consumables incorporate technology which is totally unique in the industry. The approach to product development at ASI has always been to “build a better mouse trap” to solve some of the most vexing problems that chromatographers face. Our solutions include: PrimeLine™ Replacement parts, PrimeLine™ Accessories, PrimeLine™ HPLC Pumps, HyperShear™ Static Mixers, FlatLine™ Pulse Dampers and QuickSplit™ Flow Splitters. Whatever the product, the final test is customer satisfaction, so we go to great lengths to insure all ASI products work as advertised.”