Small businesses pay 18 percent more than big businesses for health care, the same health care, just because they're small and they have too small a pool of risk.

Small businesses are really the engine in the economy.

Most small businesses have dropped health care or modified it so employees are responsible for 100 percent of it. That's not health care coverage. I also want to lower the age for Medicare coverage to birth.

Access to quality, affordable health care is particularly important here in Maine, where many of us own small businesses or are self-employed.

Small businesses have told us that having cash in their pocket is one of the primary things that they need.

Among our responsibilities is to make sure that 23 percent of all government contracts go to small businesses. That's about $150 billion annually, from all the government agencies.