Aside from what the politicians are saying  – what do the small business owners say they want and need?

Some complained to Fox News that they never see the elected officials who so often pontificate on the House or Senate floor about the needs of small business.

That’s certainly not the case for the owner of one small business we sought out, the venerated Ben’s Chili Bowl on Washington’s U Street, where President-elect Obama visited last January.

It’s atypical of small businesses in the sense that it’s a local institution, it employs thirty people, most of whom do not receive health care benefits.

Despite being on friendly terms with Obama, the owner told us he’s been following the health care debate with some apprehension, and predicted that if the reform becomes law, he and other small business owners will have to make some tough decisions.

“I think certainly possibly — if not probably – people will cut back hours, cut back jobs.  They’ll alter the program depending on the legislation,” owner Kamal Ben Ali told Fox News.

“If the legislation calls for health care for employees with thirty-two hours or more, you’ll see a lot of people, a lot business, will cut back to more part-time employees.”

Both the House and Senate health care bills include a requirement that employers provide insurance for their employees. In the Senate version, companies with fewer than 50 employees would be exempt.

Small business owners are, by definition, people who like being their own boss.  The challenge has been coalescing to make the many different voices and needs of small businesses heard as one in the health care debate.

“Sometimes we’ll get into that [dynamic of] different groups saying things from their different perspectives,” said Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association.

“But I think in the main having a broad cross-section actually helps us, because it does sort of illuminate for people that there’s not just one stereotype of a small company.”