By Staff
special to The Star
Sept. 25, 2002
JACKSON U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and U.S. Sen. Trent Lott received the National Federation of Independent Business "Guardian of Small Business" award Tuesday.
All three were honored for their voting records in the 107th Congress on behalf of America's small business owners.
Pickering and Cochran scored 100 percent on the key small business votes during the last two years of Congress, according to NFIB. Lott scored an 86 percent NFIB voting record.
Pickering's opponent in the Nov. 5 congressional election, U.S. Rep. Ronnie Shows, scored 54 percent on small business votes during the same period.
Pickering said he was pleased to receive the "Guardian of Small Business" award because "I've worked hard to help small businesses in Mississippi."
NFIB's voting record tallied 13 key small business votes in the U.S. House of Representatives and eight key small business votes in U.S. Senate during the 2001 and 2002 sessions of Congress.
Issues range from health care, regulatory relief, tax relief, lawsuit reform, and other issues important to small businesses.
NFIB is the nation's largest small business advocacy group. A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization founded in 1943, NFIB has 600,000 members.