Rep. Chabot backs federal contractors’ outcry over executive orders

House Small Business Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) is standing with federal contractors who say they are being unfairly targeted by President Obama’s executive orders.

“This has become death by a thousand paper cuts,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

The President has issued 13 executive orders since 2009 that have been focused on the industry. Their directives have ranged from requiring federal contractors to raise the minimum wage for employees, to requiring companies to report labor violations as part of the bidding process.

“Small contractors know that they live or die by their workforce, and would be happy to work with the administration and Congress on reforms to help these employees,” Chabot went onto say. “Instead they are being forced out of the federal marketplace, because the cost of doing business is just too high.”

According to Chabot’s office, more than 100,000 companies have stopped doing business with the federal government in the last three years.

Trade groups have asked the White House to back off.

Groups, like the Professional Services Council, National Defense Industrial Association, Aerospace Industries Association and the Information Technology Industry Council, said the rapid growth in compliance requirements is becoming untenable.

“More than 100,000 companies have stopped doing business with the federal government in the last 3 years,” Chabot wrote. “The more barriers this Administration puts up, the fewer small businesses will be able to compete for federal contracts. This is bad for small business and bad for government.”