Small businesses, or at least the trade organizations that purport to represent them, tend to be politically conservative. Thus it's not a surprise to see small-business groups attacking President Obama's legislative agenda, including the stimulus package (too expensive), the proposed budget (higher taxes), and the climate change bill (higher energy prices).

From my perspective as a business owner, most of this is much ado about nothing. As a citizen, I have my opinions about what's good for the economy and the country, but none of the above issues really has much direct impact on me as an employer. We're not in an energy-intensive business, we don't enough profits to worry much about the taxes, and we don't see anything in the Obama agenda thus far that will lead to onerous new regulations or otherwise bring on the heavy hand of government.

The one big exception is health care reform. As I've written before in this space, this is the one federal policy issue that has a direct and immediate impact on my company. And as the Washington sausage factory begins to grind away in earnest on health care legislation, I can't say I'm very encouraged.

The hot-button issue for business groups, in general, is the possibility of a mandate that would require employers to either provide insurance or pay a special fee. The proposal recently unveiled by House Democrats includes such a provision, with the fee pegged at 8 percent of payroll (which in fact is about what NewWest.Net pays for the lame health insurance plan we currently offer).

President Obama supports exempting "small businesses" from any mandate, but the House bill includes only a general nod to this idea without any specifics. Senate finance committee Chair Max Baucus, the pivotal legislator in that chamber, indicated last week that he was not in favor of such an exemption, preferring to help small businesses via tax credits.

Assuming that an employer mandate is eventually part of the package, I'm sure there will be a vigorous debate over any exemptions and who is small enough to qualify. All other things being equal, I would prefer not to have a mandate (even though we already do voluntarily what the mandate would require).