Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a wonderful and restful holiday season with family and friends.
2024 was a very busy year for CAE on all fronts — policy and advocacy, publication and media, and events and roundtables. The Year-and-Review below provides a great summary of our top activities and achievements on each front, with hotlinks to relevant letters, Op/Eds, and other documents.
2025 promises to be another very busy year, with a new Congress and Administration, and, as a result, many new opportunities for important work and progress. Key issue areas include continued funding of the CHIPS and Science Act, AI policy, tax reform, expanded access to capital, regulatory reform, and high-skilled immigration reform.
CAE will be active on each issue.
Thank you for being an important part of CAE’s work on behalf of American entrepreneurs and startups.
Happy to answer any questions — and best wishes for a great 2025!
- January 11, 2024 – CAE writes and organizes a letter to Congressional leadership – signed by 23 innovation, technology, and small business organizations – urging Congress to restore first-year expensing of research and development investments. On January 16th, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Widen (D-OR) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) announce bipartisan, bicameral agreement on legislation that, among other important provisions, would restore historical favorable tax treatment of R&D investments.
- January 29, 2024 – CAE submits a Letter of Comment to the Federal Trade Commission regarding proposed changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino pre-merger notification rules.
- January 31, 2024 — The House of Representatives passes the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act by a strong bipartisan vote of 357 to 70. The bill includes the provision called for by CAE’s January 11th innovation community letter to restore first-year expensing of R&D investment by businesses, including startups.
- March 8, 2024 — The House of Representatives passes the Expanding Access to Capital Act, which includes the CAE-advocated Improving Capital Allocation for Newcomers (ICAN) Act, which would amend the Investment Company Act of 1940 in ways designed to get more capital to women founders and entrepreneurs of color.
- April 11, 2024 – CAE partners with Right to Start and Steve Case to conduct a House Entrepreneurship Caucus briefing on the “State of American Entrepreneurship.”
- June 25, 2024 – The United WE National Commission on Childcare and Women’s Entrepreneurship – on which CAE Vice Chair Leslie Lynn Smith and president John Dearie served – releases its final report “A Statement of Principles.”
- July 17, 2024 – CAE writes and organizes a letter – signed by more than 100 leaders and supporters of the nation’s Black innovation community – to all members of the Senate Banking Committee urging their support for the Community Development Investment Tax Credit Act and the Expanding American Entrepreneurship Act, which will significantly enhance access to capital for entrepreneurs of color by incentivizing increased private investment in CDFIs and by expanding participation by accredited investors of color in private funds that invest in new businesses.
- September 18-19, 2024 – CAE conducts its 2024 meeting of the board. Guests include: John Haltiwanger, Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Maryland; Peter Walker, Head of Research and Insights at Carta; Eric Smith, Tech Hubs Director, U.S. Commerce Department; Administrator Isabel Guzman, Small Business Administration; and Ambassador Karen Kornbluh, Director of the Technology Team, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
- September 24, 2024 — Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), incoming Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, introduces the legislative package the Empowering Mainstreet in America Act. The package of bills includes CAE’s Expanding American Entrepreneurship Act, which would amend section 3(c)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 in ways designed to get more capital to women founders and entrepreneurs of color.
- September 27, 2024 — Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), introduces the Entrepreneurship Corps for National Service Act. The legislation, which originated with CAE board member Craig Hall, and on which CAE staff worked with Rep. Phillips and his staff for more than a year, would establish a new national service program, modeled on the Peace Corps, which would deploy STEM field graduates from U.S. community colleges, colleges, and universities as skilled talent to contribute to the survival and growth of startups in underserved areas of the country.
- January 20, 2024 – Former CAE board Chair Joni Cobb and president John Dearie publish the essay “2024 is an Historic Opportunity to Strengthen American Entrepreneurship.”
- February 7, 2024 – The Hill publishes the Op/Ed “Time for Congress to Recognize the New Normal for Small Business” by CAE president John Dearie.
- February 18, 2024 – CAE president John Dearie participates in the “Sunday Fire Side Chat” to kick off the 2024 annual meeting of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) in San Diego, CA.
- April 23, 2024 – The Hill publishes the Op/Ed “The Bipartisan Tax Bill Contains Critical Fix to Spur Innovation” by CAE president John Dearie and Tecna CEO Jennifer Grundy Young.
- July 1, 2024 – Real Clear Policy publishes the Op/Ed “The Digital Age of Small Business Has Arrived” by CAE president John Dearie.
- July 16, 2024 – CAE publishes the Op/Ed “The NO BOSS Act Strengthens American Entrepreneurship – and Policymakers Should Do More” by CAE president John Dearie.
- August 13, 2024 – CAE publishes the Op/Ed “California AI Bill is Wrongheaded and Threatens American Innovation” by CAE president John Dearie.
- December 4, 2024 – CAE president John Dearie is invited by David Meltzer and Rhett Power to appear on their popular (1 million listeners) Office Hours podcast to discuss the critical role of entrepreneurs and startups to American innovation and economic growth, job creation, and expanding opportunity.
- December 23, 2024 – The Hill publishes the Op/Ed “Hey, DOGE – Meet RIC, the Regulatory Improvement Commission” by CAE president John Dearie.
- January 30, 2024 – CAE Vice Chair Leslie Lynn Smith and president John Dearie conduct an entrepreneur roundtable at the Papajohn Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.
- March 13, 2024 – CAE Vice Chair Leslie Lynn Smith and president John Dearie conduct an entrepreneur roundtable at Alloy Growth Lab in Cincinnati, OH.
- May 23, 2024 – CAE Vice Chair Leslie Lynn Smith and president John Dearie conduct an entrepreneur roundtable at Twin Ignition Startup Garage in Minneapolis, MN.
- September 5, 2024 – CAE Vice Chair Leslie Lynn Smith and president John Dearie conduct an entrepreneur roundtable at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater, FL.
- September 16, 2024 – CAE Entrepreneurs Council member Tim Rowe and president John Dearie conduct a roundtable discussion with AI-focused entrepreneurs at the Cambridge Innovation Center in Cambridge, MA.
- September 18-19, 2024 – CAE conducts its 2024 meeting of the board. Guests include: John Haltiwanger, Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Maryland; Peter Walker, Head of Research and Insights at Carta; Eric Smith, Tech Hubs Director, U.S. Commerce Department; Administrator Isabel Guzman, Small Business Administration; and Ambassador Karen Kornbluh, Director of the Technology Team, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
