Tuesday evening, President Biden gave his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress and therein laid out his plans to address many of the issues facing the nation – not all of which are going to be helpful to struggling small businesses. He specifically endorsed 4 steps that we highlight below which would severely hamper any meaningful recovery for small business interests. The President urged Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would effectively tilt the playing field further in favor of unionizing and organized labor; also called for more than doubling the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour; mandating a comprehensive and inflexible national paid family and medical leave program; and burdening businesses with increased legal liability and a higher burden of proof to defend in court legitimate business-related pay differences and subjecting them to unlimited damage. In light of these declared goals of the President, each of which would seriously damage small businesses, it is more important than ever that franchisees and other business owners join with associations (such as the Coalition of Franchisee Associations [CFA]) to ensure their concerns are heard in Congress and protected. To that end, consider attending the CFA Lobby Day Forum in Washington DC on June 22.