Schneider Talks Jobs, Economy to Chamber Members

Everything seemed to come back to business when Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Deerfield) spoke and answered a wide range of questions July 15 at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Deerfield.

More than 50 Chamber members from Deerfield-Bannockburn-Riverwoods, Northbrook, Lake Forest-Lake Bluff and Buffalo Grove heard Schneider talk about what he was doing to help small business and then peppered him with questions.

The inquiries ranged from health care to education with jobs and taxes in between and all the answers had an economic bent coming from Schneider, who spent 30 years in the business world before going to Congress in January.

Schneider talked about uncertainty coming out of Washington and the necessity of compromise to break the gridlock that is causing doubt in the business community. This was in response to a question about large companies hiring part time and contract workers from Deerfield Village Trustee Barbara Struthers.

“Let’s talk about what compromises on both sides we have to make,” Schneider said. “Companies are frozen. They’re not making long term decisions. They don’t want to make long term commitments where the horizon is still short term.”

When asked about changes to the tax code, Schneider said an overhaul of both corporate and individual taxes was in order to help make business more competitive in a global economy so even local small businesses can send their goods throughout the world.

“If you eliminate windfalls and shortfalls you are probably on the right path,” Schneider said quoting a former business colleague. “If we’re smart about it we eliminate (things) that don’t make sense now. We have to have that discussion,” he added referring to deductions which are dated. With that done, he feels rates can be lower.

Another thing people wanted to know was how Congress was going to end gridlock—something Schneider promised to help do the night he was elected—and what Schneider was doing about it. Some of the ideas were complex and others were basic.

“I believe that my experience as an employee, a manager and a business owner is my single greatest asset as I work to try to break through the gridlock in Washington,” Schneider said.

“It is precisely that gridlock, I believe, that makes it harder for our businesses to have the confidence to invest in the future and release the energies we need to get our economy humming.”

Schneider also talked about getting to know his colleagues on a more personal level. “We’ve done little mundane things,” he said.  “We’ve gone bowling, we’ve had pizza. Those types of conversations are valuable.”

When asked by Dorothy Collins of Deerfield about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and how it would help low income people, Schneider told her it was intended to help people at the lower end of the economic spectrum.

Then he talked about how difficult it was for him when he operated an insurance business to continue to cover employees’ health care premiums. “We used to pay 100 percent but we had to go to 85 (percent),” he said referring to escalating charges for the coverage.