Big Business Prepares for a Less Friendly Washington
http://www.truthout.org/110608B
Washington - After years of playing offense, big business is getting
ready for the less familiar role of playing defense following
President-elect Barack Obama's victory and legislative gains by other
Democrats.
Corporate America enjoyed favorable treatment under the Bush
administration for almost eight years and for most of the era of
Republican control of Congress from 1995 to 2007.
Now unions may gain a stronger hand, and business is bracing for
greater financial regulation, worker-friendly policies and an
emphasis
on social spending.
From a guarded view on trade to expanded collective-bargaining
rights, there's a new wind blowing through the Capitol and big
business groups are bracing for a storm.
One reason they're sure to find a less sympathetic ear is that
members of groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers
and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent big bucks trying to defeat
Democrats in congressional races.
Instead, Democrats expanded their numbers in both chambers. That
left these groups on Wednesday trying to put a bright face on results
that gave Democrats at least five more Senate seats and 18 new
members
of the House of Representatives.
"There are many areas of potential cooperation," John Engler, a
former Republican governor of Michigan and now the president of the
manufacturers' group, said in an optimistic morning-after news
conference.
Greg Casey, president of the Business-Industry Political Action
Committee, offered: "It's an opportunity for the American people to
ask for competence in government."
Business lobbies can take solace in one important development:
Democrats appear to have failed to win enough Senate seats to reach
the 60-vote margin needed to cut off debate and force votes on
controversial legislation.
This numbers game is important because unions have their eye on
rapid passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which was supported by
Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden. The legislation would end
seven decades of secret balloting during union drives and instead
allow organizers to collect signatures from a majority of workers to
form a union. This process is called "card check."
"We're very optimistic about an Obama presidency. The Employee
Free Choice Act is our number one legislative priority for next year
and we are going to be pushing very hard," said Thea Lee, the chief
economist for the AFL-CIO. "It was the centerpiece of our electoral
efforts . . . we are very confident that it will happen."
Less than 24 hours after the election, both unions and big
business were busy identifying who they'd be pressuring if the issue
goes to a vote early next year. Many House members voted for it
earlier this year, knowing that it wouldn't pass the Senate.
Now, with a president who won't veto the pro-union legislation,
more Democrats in the Senate and Republicans in disarray, it's a
different ballgame.
"Next time out its not going to be considered a 'free vote' by
anybody, so that's a changing dynamic," said R. Bruce Josten,
executive vice president of government affairs for the Chamber of
Commerce. "I am still positive that we can defeat it."
Manufacturers fear an early vote on the question.
"This is not the time and certainly not the issue to build a
relationship," Engler said, suggesting that Obama and Democrats will
need big business to help turn around the economy. He identified
Virginia's Democratic senator-elect, Mark Warner, a pro-business
centrist, as a Democrat he'll be lobbying to block the card-check
measure.
While recognizing that unions will have a voice in the White
House
for the first time in many years, the Chamber's Josten wasn't worried
that he won't be heard.
"I had to fight for two years with the Republican majority in
Congress on immigration (reform) . . . the majority of people we were
fighting were Republicans," he said. He also recalled that the
business group also fought a losing battle against complicated new
accounting rules after energy giant Enron's collapse.
With the jobless rate expected to rise above 7 percent before
Obama takes office and the economy expected to contract sharply over
the 10 weeks until inauguration, Josten thinks that reversing the
economic slump will trump any activist agenda.
"It's the economy, the economy and the economy," he said. "Obama
is a smart guy and he knows his policies depend on the economy
growing."
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