Stabilizing the economy should be the top priority of the administration and Congress, U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue told more than 70 reporters during a post-election November 6 briefing at Chamber headquarters.
"As for the first 100 days...I recommend President-elect Obama read the oath that doctors take that says 'first, do no harm,'" Donohue said. "He should figure out what he can do to strengthen this economy, because none of his hopes and plans for the future are at all possible unless we have a vibrant economy."
Below are a few highlights of a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with Donohue and Chamber Executive Vice President of Government Affairs Bruce Josten.
On the economy-Donohue urged Congress to "quickly enact additional economic stimulus measures" when members return for a lame duck session on November 17. The focus should be on auto, housing, and infrastructure, he said. "The government is going to see that there are critical industries that need assistance to get over the hump."
To help the auto industry, the Chamber is calling for aid that would ease loans from automakers' financing arms such as GMAC and others. "The automobile industry has a huge footprint across the economy," said Josten, who noted that automakers directly or indirectly employ one out of every 10 Americans and are the largest purchasers of steel, glass, computer chips. "We don't want auto companies going into bankruptcy. This is not a sector you want to collapse."
The Chamber is also calling for measures other than direct government expenditures to help stimulate the economy. These include temporarily reducing borrower and lending fees for Small Business Administration loans, extending bonus depreciation and increasing Section 179 expensing provisions, shoring up private sector pension funds by extending the mandatory payments timeline, and providing a temporary investment tax credit for homebuyers. Read more here.
On the Employee Free Choice Act, or union "card check" --Unions, trial lawyers and other interest groups that supported Democrats will expect quick political payback, and "their agendas should alarm every business, small and large," Donohue said. "Clearly, [card check] should wait until after the economy is stabilized. At that point, we can have a very vigorous discussion on it."
The card check bill would have "serious implications on the creation of jobs and the stability of the economy," Donohue added, and would contradict the Obama administration's stated goal of strengthening the economy. "It comes down to a timing issue. If we do the things we need to do to improve the economy and create jobs, I don't think you can make a very rational argument for dropping the Employee Free Choice Act on top of a stimulus program."
While the Chamber is prepared to debate important labor issues, there is no possibility of a compromise on card check, Donohue noted. "We do not want that to become law ... we are going to win this."
On transportation & infrastructure-The Chamber and President-elect Obama have identified transportation and infrastructure as priorities. "We need to spend an enormous, massive amount of money in rebuilding America's infrastructure, not only in the short term, but in the long term to underpin the economy once it's up and growing again," said Josten. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is considering spending $60 billion on infrastructure in an economic stimulus bill that may be considered during a lame duck session in Congress later this month. These funds could be put into the economy right away on thousands of ready-to-go transportation projects, Josten said.
On energy and the environment-Donohue pointed out that the Chamber has been at the forefront of this issue and has a comprehensive energy security initiative led by its Institute for 21st Century Energy "We will pursue a rational policy that includes increasing supply, improving efficiency, and developing alternative forms of energy," Donohue said.
An effort to implement a cap-and-trade climate change policy will be met with strong opposition by the Chamber. "Obama has said that the economy is his priority issue, followed by an energy policy. So he recognizes that imposing a climate change structure right out of the gate would be one of the biggest taxes you could put on the economy," Donohue said.
Source: US Chamber of Commerce
