ORLANDO, Fla. – A member of President Donald Trump’s cabinet was in Orlando Tuesday, as part of a broader push to tout the “Big Beautiful Bill” that is now under consideration in the United States Senate.
News 6 was at Restaurant Equipment World, as the Kelly Loeffler, the administrator of the Small Business Administration, toured the business and spoke to the owners about what the Trump administration claims is a “pro-small business” piece of legislation.
Before the visit, Mike Valente, News 6’s community correspondent in Orlando, sat down with the chairman of Restaurant Equipment World.
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“I think it’s an honor to have her here and have an interest and show up to see what’s actually happening with small businesses in our community,” Jerry Pierce said.
Pierce said he believes the Trump administration is good for small businesses, but he said he wanted to raise the issue of tariffs with Loeffler.
“As price increases come through, we’re very sensitive to that,” Pierce said. “With thin margins, we have to pass the cost on. When you work on a couple percent margin, there’s no choice.”
After Loeffler’s visit, Valente spoke to the administrator about a few items, including “Big Beautiful Bill,” immigration, and tariffs.
Below is a transcript of the conversation, edited solely for clarity and brevity:
‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’
Valente: “Can you explain how a visit like this and other visits you’re doing help highlight the message you’re trying to get across?”
Loeffler: “Yeah, so we’re traveling across the country to support the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ that’s critically important for small businesses to know they have the certainty of the tax cuts that President Trump brought in 2017 with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This is a small business, pro-worker bill. It’ll help create a million jobs on Main Street alone, and bring $750 billion in economic growth. That means that it’s a pro-worker, pro-small business bill because it also offers tax cuts to families. So, it’s everything from making the tax cuts permanent to increasing the child tax credit to ensuring families have the certainty of the lower tax rates, and small businesses like this; Restaurant Equipment World, a multi-generational business that provides services across this great nation for our restaurants, and these are the types of businesses that make this country run. They serve small businesses themselves, they help them grow into big businesses. These are multi-generational families that take risk to provide for their employees, for their communities, and to build business on the backs of their own business.”
Valente: “As you know, some of your former colleague in the Senate have raised concerns about the current status of the bill. [Missouri Senator] Josh Hawley has talked about concerns that rural hospitals may shut down with cuts in Medicaid spending, [Wisconsin Senator] Ron Johnson has been concerned about deficit spending. Are you concerned about the track this bill is on right now?”
Loeffler: “Well, I’m most concerned that we not have a $4 trillion tax hike, which is what every single Democrat in the House voted for and what every single Democrat in the Senate is going to vote for. That would be on the backs of hard-working Americans, where their taxes will go up 22% for every family. And small businesses would see their taxes double. So I’m not worried that Republicans won’t get this done. My focus is on the speed at which this gets done. Small businesses need that certainty now to invest in things like ovens and fryers and dishwashers, to make those investments, to get than 100% expensing back so they can invest and hire and grow.”
Valente: “So you think it’s a message like that that will help Ron Johnson, and say, Josh Hawley, across the finish line?”
Loeffler: “Look, I spoke at the Senate lunch last week. I talked to them about small businesses. They know how important this is. And I understand their concerns about spending. It’s my concern too. At the SBA, we’ve had to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful spending. We need to keep doing that. This bill is about making tax cuts permanent for working families, and then we’re going to follow up with recission bills — which one just passed yesterday in the House for $9 billion. We need to have a number of recission bills to roll back wasteful spending, abuse of taxpayer dollars, and this bill is about getting President Trump’s agenda firmly into place so that we can continue to add to the wins that he’s already gotten.”
IMMIGRATION
Valente: “We’ve seen this kind of evolving message about workplace raids. Last week, the president suggested that he was scaling back — he wanted to pull back from those raids because businesses were losing longtime labor. But today [the Department of Homeland Security] is signaling that they’re going to continue with those raids. Should small businesses in central Florida expect workplace raids where they’re operating, and what’s the current status right now?”
Loeffler: “Small businesses know they need to be held to the law. All citizens need to follow the law. That’s what we ask of law-abiding American citizens. It’s what Americans voted for. I just saw a poll that said 55% of Hispanic-Americans agree with making sure that people are here legally. We want to make sure that people who are here legally get the jobs, get the benefits of things like Medicaid, like SNAP that what it is designed for.”
Valente: “So we should expect more DHS workplace operations to continue?”
Loeffler: “Well, I can’t speak for DHS. I can speak to the expectation of the administration that everyone will follow the law. And that’s what Americans voted for.”
TARIFFS
Valente: “As for another pressing item: tariffs. I mean, we saw the steel and aluminum tariffs raised to 50%. What would you say to small businesses that are already worried about these narrow margins that you alluded to before?”
Loeffler: “Certainly when I think of tariffs, I think of fair trade. And it’s small businesses like this where we have seen trade barriers, monetary and non-monetary put in place against our businesses, while cheap goods flooded our markets, crowding out the ability for small businesses like this to compete on a global scale. That’s what President Trump’s fair trade policy is about. But it’s just one leg of the stool. There’s tax cuts, there’s deregulation, all of that is pro-small business. And you saw yesterday he cut the final deal with the UK, so now we’ve got 75 partners at the table, trade deals in place with our largest trading partners. And that’ll continue to happen. And as it balances out, American businesses will have more opportunities --
Valente: “I’m sorry, but notably [the deal] did not include the steel and aluminum tariffs. Do you expect that to change? For small businesses with questions about what they should expect in the future, I mean, do you think that’s gonna be lowered anytime soon?”
Loeffler: “Look, all I know is I’ve been at small businesses, steel fabricators, production facilities. I was at one yesterday talking to welders and pipefitters. What they’re seeing right now is growing demand thanks to President Trump’s agenda. And so, in a world trade context of 30 years of this country’s productive capability being hollowed out, losing 70,000 factories, five million jobs, they are very supportive. The American worker is supportive of bringing those jobs back. And so, they understand there’s a moment of negotiation that’s happening. And then we’re going to get back to making this country strong and independent, so that we can make our own things again.”
Valente also spoke with Florida Congressman Daniel Webster, a Republican, who voted to pass the “Big Beautiful Bill.” He accompanied Loeffler on the visit to Restaurant Equipment World Tuesday.
Valente asked Webster about the prospect of drawing a red line as it pertains to what he might not tolerate in a new version of the bill, should it pass the Senate.
“I think anything is a savings as long as we do it,” Webster said. “If it gets us most of the president’s agenda, then great, I’m for that, too. But the old adage is, The House proposes, the Senate disposes. So some of that takes place.”
Valente followed up by asking if he thinks the final version will resemble the initial version.
“I do believe that,” Webster said. “I think there’s been a lot of coordination already before the bill ever passed.”