Small business organizations and advocates got involved in the nationwide debates on the government shutdown and raising the U.S. debt limit.

Rep. Sam Graves, R-MO, who chairs the House Small Business Committee, voted “no” on the bipartisan deal to reopen the government and raise the nation’s debt ceiling on Oct. 16.

That vote occurred on the eve of the threatened U.S. default on Treasury bonds the next day. Economists predicted global financial chaos from a U.S. default.

"I voted against this bill because instead of doing anything to actually restrain spending; all it does is guarantee more borrowing,” Graves told Set-Aside Alert. “This agreement only serves to further kick the can down the road.”

Graves was one of 144 House Republicans who opposed reopening the government and raising the debt limit, while 87 GOP members in the House voted in favor. (Washington Post: http://goo.gl/JxbCpS)

Meanwhile, groups were organizing against the shutdown and default. The Small Business Majority advocacy group urged members to sign its petition to avoid shutdown and keep the government operating at http://www.stoptheshutdown.com/.

The National Small Business Association’s president criticized the shutdown as bad for small businesses (http://www.nsba.biz/?p=6897). Women Impacting Public Policy urged members to support ending the current shutdown and preventing others ( http://www.congressweb.com/wipp).

The National Federation of Independent Business took a different tack. It asked members to help postpone the Affordable Care Act (http://www.nfib.com/advocacy/item?cmsid=63773).

Conservative GOP members who blocked fiscal 2014 spending bills said they did so to force defunding of the affordable care law.