I don't own a business, so maybe I'm missing something obvious, but why would this uncertainty matter if his employees are at-will? If the regulations change such that the new employees are unprofitable, then just get rid of them and you'll be back to the same state he's in now. One could even make the new employees aware of this situation so that were the changes to happen at very least they'd be strongly inclined to become your political allies? Furthermore, even if the business-owner had to get rid of the employees later, he would at least have the temporary advantage of having them now, the employees would have the temporary advantage of a paycheck and I don't know how this works, but wouldn't their unemployment clocks reset?
Citaton needed. If this is true, rather than a made-up anecdote, it's a much rarer case than that of businesses which aren't hiring because their sales are stagnant.