Just a couple of weeks ago we marked the end of President Obama's first 100 days in office. The president earns high marks for tackling some of our most challenging issues. But so far his agenda has done little to help entrepreneurs and small-business owners.

The president did roll out some programs for small business by increasing the number of small businesses eligible for SBA-backed loans. His stimulus package included loan-fee reductions, new loan programs for small businesses and an expansion of the SBA's microloan program. He tapped Karen Gordon Mills from Maine as the new SBA administrator and Ana Harvey, an entrepreneur, to head the Office of Women's Business Ownership.

Despite these good intentions, when I talk with small business owners--both Democrats and Republicans--I hear that these efforts will do little to help. They are concerned about tax increases and the ability to grow their businesses. The SBA loan programs require too much paperwork, take too long and provide money narrowly focused on tangibles that businesses don't necessarily need. For example, if you need a loan now and you have to spend six months jumping through hoops to get it, your business may be out of steam by that time. We need bigger, bolder solutions that make it easier for small businesses to start and grow.

A select group of small-business owners will have the opportunity to make its case to policy makers later this month. Next week, May 17-22, marks National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C. There we'll honor leading small-business owners from each state and small-business advocates in financial services, media, youth entrepreneurship and more.

When these people meet in Washington, D.C., this month, I hope they will send a message to our policy leaders that more regulations and more taxes from Washington create barriers for small businesses. The next 100 days of the Obama administration should focus on giving small-business owners the tools they need to innovate and create jobs.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I'm going to keep pushing the following solutions because I believe we need wholesale change in our polices in order to ensure that our small businesses can continue to be a productive part of our nation's economy.

1. Rather than pursue "card check" legislation to make it easier for workers to unionize, the administration should relax workplace regulations so that employees and employers can create the work environment that suits them best.
    
2. Instead of expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act, the administration should focus on creating a more flexible workplace for families. For example, employees should have the option of comp time in lieu of overtime pay--a benefit that federal employees have enjoyed for more than three decades.
   
   The choice often comes down to taking a full-time position with benefits and a 9-to-5 straightjacket schedule or taking a more flexible, part-time position. For this reason, many primary caregivers go without the benefits provided by full-time positions.
   
   If comp time is not an option, employees should be able to trade taxable wages for health, retirement or other benefits. Our tax code makes this difficult, and that needs to be changed.
    
3. We need to reduce the cost of health care, but a government-run health-care program is not the answer. Do you know any program the government has run successfully? Do you really want to turn your health over to the government to control? Creating a national health insurance plan, as Obama wants to do, will increase costs, limit choices and result in inferior care. Rather than create a government-run system, the administration should allow small businesses to cross state lines to purchase health insurance for their employees and make health care portable, so people can carry it from job to job (and have it when they lose a job).
    
4. President Obama also needs to rethink his proposal to raise taxes on those earning $250,000 or more a year. This tax increase would force 1.3 million small-business owners to pay more taxes. These small businesses are not subject to the 35 percent corporate income tax rate. Instead, they report "flow-through" income from sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S-corporations on individual tax returns. The total tax bill for small businesses as a result of these tax increases would be $30.1 billion.

There is a lot of opportunity for Washington, D.C., to do the right thing. We have new leadership in the White House, new faces at the SBA and new small-business leaders on Capitol Hill. But they have to hear from us, or we are going to get the same solutions that do little to help grow and create new businesses in America.