Small businesses are the great engine of U.S. job creation and economic growth, and that engine has been sputtering. Fortunately, a bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate can help put some gas in the tank.

In September, the Census Bureau reported that only 414,000 small businesses were founded in 2015, a 26 percent decline from the 558,000 small businesses that were founded in 2006. What explains this dramatic decline? Americans are no less driven, entrepreneurial, or creative than they were a decade ago.