Carla Reece said she couldn’t come by my event in New Tazewell today, because she stayed up all night baking cakes. It took her four hours to bake one asking Claiborne County Republicans to support me in my campaign for re-election.

When I heard she couldn’t make it, I decided to stop by her business — Carla’s Cafe, Cakes and Catering — and I found much more than a Tennessean who was generous with her time. With tears in her eyes, Carla greeted me and told me about what goes into baking a good cake.

"Cooking has just always been a passion of mine," she says.

I was glad to spend time with Carla, a U.S. Army veteran and business owner whose story shows what goes into a good economy. Carla is doing something she loves and trying to make a living at it. The biggest challenge, she says, is that the cost of doing business and taxes she pays are keeping her from paying her employees more, or hiring more of them.

The biggest problem facing our country is it’s too hard to find a job. My goal is to help get Washington out of the way for people like Carla. We could use more small businesses like hers — and we can all use more cake.