While Democrats often get a bad rap on small business  issues, it seems like the incoming chairman of the House and Senate small business committee’s are committed to improving the environment for entrepreneurship. 

Kristin Edelhauser over at the Entrepreneur.com blog, has a nice summary of a recent press conference call with Senator John Kerry and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez discussing their goals for the new congress. 

"Perhaps one of the top issues they both hope to find consensus on: Health care. Kerry says he plans to meet with Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in order to make sure the health care ideas of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship don’t clash with those of Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee."

"Another hot issue on both their minds is the government’s failure to meet federal contracting goals. Recent studies have shown that big businesses have obtained almost $2 billion in federal contracts that should have gone to small firms."

It is nice to see that even as the Democrats look to tackle big issues like healthcare and federal contracting, they are keeping an eye out for the entrepreneurs that are driving innovation and growth in our country.

Enterpeneur.com has a full interview with Congresswoman Velazquez here.