On July 30th, hours before the House of Representatives was set to depart for the summer district work period, we voted for the Small Business Tax Relief Act, legislation that would have created American jobs and boosted the economy by closing tax loopholes that encourage big corporations to ship jobs overseas and reduced a key reporting requirement for small businesses.

This bill should have been noncontroversial. It was brought up under suspension of the rules, meaning that a two-thirds vote was required for passage. But, thanks to Republican’s opposition, the bill failed and Congress’ work on behalf of the American people was interrupted-again.

The Small Business Tax Relief Act would have closed a reporting requirement included in the Affordable Care Act that an independent Taxpayer Advocate at the IRS has suggested “may present significant administrative challenges to taxpayers and the IRS.”  By eliminating these requirements now, we would be keeping them from going into effect down the road, and doing it in a completely fiscally responsible way.

The legislation is part of our “Make It in America” strategy to rebuild our manufacturing base and promote American competitiveness, innovation, and exports. While Democrats work to create jobs here at home, Republicans are standing with big corporations and special interests to protect tax loopholes and return to the disastrous economic policies of the Bush Administration.

By overwhelmingly voting against the legislation, Republicans once again demonstrated that they are more than willing to stand on the side of big business, even if it’s to the detriment of America’s middle class and small business community.

After 4.6 million American manufacturing jobs were lost in the Bush years, Congress can’t afford to slow down on much need tax cuts and reforms. We will continue to work to pass bills to get the nation’s factories humming again and put people back to work making the products and inventing the technology the world needs.

Rep. James Moran (D) is Virginia’s 8th Congressional District Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.