As prepared for delivery.

“If you visit any Main Street in America, you’ll see that small businesses are struggling. Today’s cost of living crisis has made everything from supplies to labor more expensive for mom-and-pop stores all across America.

“Not only are small businesses struggling because of high prices, but Washington mandates are forcing small businesses to waste precious time processing paperwork instead of serving their workers and customers.

“Right now, small businesses are forced to send millions of Americans paper copies of health insurance reporting forms every year, when the vast majority of individuals don’t use this form.

“Every taxpayer knows the form I am talking about. While it’s known as a form 1095-C, it’s one that you get in the mail and have absolutely no idea what to do with. It looks like this, and you put it in the pile with your other tax forms and then realize when it comes time to file your taxes, you don’t actually even need it.

“In fact, only 1.4 percent of American workers and their families may need to use this form. The Paperwork Burden Reduction Act is a bipartisan bill, introduced by Representative Panetta and me, that will put an end to this wasteful practice.

“This bill saves small business owners time and money by relieving them of mailing outdated paperwork that only exists because Congress mandates it.

“And this mandate doesn’t even make sense anymore. The origins of this paperwork were to prove compliance with the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act. A mandate whose enforcement was zeroed out years ago.

“Not only will small businesses have more time to focus on running a business, but this bill also recognizes how Americans actually file taxes. Now more than ever, Americans fill out their tax returns online. There is no reason that American workers should not be able to access this health insurance tax form online as well.

“I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting this measure that will eliminate needless paperwork for working Americans and small business job creators.”