While we have made great progress in increasing funding for veterans' benefits, we still have a long way to go in fully meeting the promise to our veterans.

Yet our small business owners across the country are unfairly losing potential interest income on a daily basis until the Business Checking Freedom Act becomes law.

Our government makes the simple promise of a secure retirement to every American who works for many years and contributes to our retirement benefit system.

With the enactment of the bipartisan No Child Left Behind Act, we have taken an important step toward achieving federal education policies that will allow students to learn and achieve at the highest possible level.

Small businesses provide 75 percent of new U.S. jobs and are the backbone of our economy, and no outdated ban should be keeping small business owners from collecting the same interest their money could earn if it were held by an individual.

Every bit of money that we can bring from our federal transportation budget in Washington back here to Stewart Airport will benefit our local economy and our local residents.

As a former small business owner, I recognize both the important role small businesses play in our economy and the broad universe of challenges that small business owners face in trying to make ends meet.