GOP bucking business priorities on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON — Traditional ties between the business community and the
Republican Party are fraying on Capitol Hill, where the House GOP has
bucked corporate interests on a series of priorities this year, from
immigration to highway funding to trade.
Rebuffed in Congress,
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have found more
success backing pro-business candidates for election, but even they
don't always deliver.
It adds up to a significant shift in how
the GOP operates, ushered in by the rise of the tea party movement and
its distrust of the federal government and of big corporate America. But
whether the business community's success this year in electing its
favored candidates in primaries can swing the pendulum back its way
remains to be seen. And this is amid plentiful evidence that the Chamber
of Commerce and other business groups are struggling to get a hearing
from congressional conservatives who outright reject their goals and are
having outsized influence on House leaders and legislation.
"I
think it's the Chamber that's drifted away from conservative
pro-business values, not Republicans," said Rep. John Fleming, R-La., a
conservative who said that the Chamber of Commerce and other business
groups may speak for corporate America, but they don't speak for him. "I
think that the Chamber has been moving away from its traditional role
and that is to protect small businesses. I don't know why."
This
past week the divide played out in the debate over whether to
reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, a government agency that makes and
guarantees loans to help U.S. exporters sell their products. It's a
priority for the business community, but conservatives have seized on it
as the latest example of corporate welfare, with conservative groups
like the Heritage Foundation urging lawmakers to stand opposed.
It's
certainly a minor matter to most voters, and some more
establishment-aligned Republicans marveled that it's become an issue at
all.
"I never thought in my wildest dreams that the
reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank could become a defining issue
for Republicans," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
Yet the
conservative opposition has been such that the newly elected House
majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reversed himself and
announced his opposition to the bank, and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, a
supporter in the past and a leading business ally, elected to remain
neutral in this go-round.
As with last year's government
shutdown, it's an issue where conservative Republicans swatted away the
desires of business leaders and their GOP allies, in the process
delighting Republican base voters and possibly turning off moderates.
"The
Chamber was kind of like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but
since 2007, 2008 I think that's changed," said John Feehery, a
Republican consultant who worked for former House Speaker Dennis
Hastert. "Some people see it as a negative, they see it as being
suspect. And that's a sea change really."
It's a shift Republican activists celebrate.
"It
seems like K Street has had an upper hand at the GOP table, and I think
that's changing with the decentralization of politics that gives
activists a bigger voice in the legislative process," said Matt Kibbe,
head of FreedomWorks, an advocacy group affiliated with the tea party.
Mainstream
congressional Republicans tend to play down the rift, and Chamber
officials say their relations remain good with most GOP lawmakers.
"I
think the vast majority of congressional Republicans in the House and
in the Senate are traditionally and historically, and continue to be, on
basically the same page as the small, medium and large business
community," said Bruce Josten, executive vice president at the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
"Are there some outliers within the
conferences and caucuses that have different views?" Josten said. "Of
course. There have always been outliers."
Josten disputed the
notion that House Republicans' resistance to renewing the Export-Import
Bank, overhauling immigration laws, replenishing the highway trust fund,
or other issues was emblematic of a deeper trend.
Even so, the
Chamber and other like-minded business groups have worked methodically
this year to reduce the number of "outliers," spending millions in
Republican primaries to elect more mainstream Republicans over their tea
party opponents. They have racked up a string of victories, from Senate
races in North Carolina and Kentucky to one most recently in
Mississippi, where incumbent Thad Cochran narrowly survived a tea party
challenge.
But if the candidates they're choosing are better than
the alternatives, there's little sign they share the Chamber's
priorities on all issues, particularly immigration, where the U.S.
Chamber's alliance with labor unions to support an overhaul alienated
some conservatives. And the Chamber's electoral involvement carries some
risk, including hardening opposition from tea party lawmakers already
on Capitol Hill who may not be going anywhere.
"It's hard for me
to offer my staff to the U.S. Chamber to have conversations when they
are targeting my allies here in Congress," complained Rep. Thomas
Massie, R-Ky. "I think it undercuts their ability to have conversations
with members of Congress."
GOP bucking business priorities on Capitol Hill
Republican Party are fraying on Capitol Hill, where the House GOP has
bucked corporate interests on a series of priorities this year, from
immigration to highway funding to trade.
Rebuffed in Congress,
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups have found more
success backing pro-business candidates for election, but even they
don't always deliver.
It adds up to a significant shift in how
the GOP operates, ushered in by the rise of the tea party movement and
its distrust of the federal government and of big corporate America. But
whether the business community's success this year in electing its
favored candidates in primaries can swing the pendulum back its way
remains to be seen. And this is amid plentiful evidence that the Chamber
of Commerce and other business groups are struggling to get a hearing
from congressional conservatives who outright reject their goals and are
having outsized influence on House leaders and legislation.
"I
think it's the Chamber that's drifted away from conservative
pro-business values, not Republicans," said Rep. John Fleming, R-La., a
conservative who said that the Chamber of Commerce and other business
groups may speak for corporate America, but they don't speak for him. "I
think that the Chamber has been moving away from its traditional role
and that is to protect small businesses. I don't know why."
This
past week the divide played out in the debate over whether to
reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, a government agency that makes and
guarantees loans to help U.S. exporters sell their products. It's a
priority for the business community, but conservatives have seized on it
as the latest example of corporate welfare, with conservative groups
like the Heritage Foundation urging lawmakers to stand opposed.
It's
certainly a minor matter to most voters, and some more
establishment-aligned Republicans marveled that it's become an issue at
all.
"I never thought in my wildest dreams that the
reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank could become a defining issue
for Republicans," said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa.
Yet the
conservative opposition has been such that the newly elected House
majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reversed himself and
announced his opposition to the bank, and Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, a
supporter in the past and a leading business ally, elected to remain
neutral in this go-round.
As with last year's government
shutdown, it's an issue where conservative Republicans swatted away the
desires of business leaders and their GOP allies, in the process
delighting Republican base voters and possibly turning off moderates.
"The
Chamber was kind of like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, but
since 2007, 2008 I think that's changed," said John Feehery, a
Republican consultant who worked for former House Speaker Dennis
Hastert. "Some people see it as a negative, they see it as being
suspect. And that's a sea change really."
It's a shift Republican activists celebrate.
"It
seems like K Street has had an upper hand at the GOP table, and I think
that's changing with the decentralization of politics that gives
activists a bigger voice in the legislative process," said Matt Kibbe,
head of FreedomWorks, an advocacy group affiliated with the tea party.
Mainstream
congressional Republicans tend to play down the rift, and Chamber
officials say their relations remain good with most GOP lawmakers.
"I
think the vast majority of congressional Republicans in the House and
in the Senate are traditionally and historically, and continue to be, on
basically the same page as the small, medium and large business
community," said Bruce Josten, executive vice president at the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
"Are there some outliers within the
conferences and caucuses that have different views?" Josten said. "Of
course. There have always been outliers."
Josten disputed the
notion that House Republicans' resistance to renewing the Export-Import
Bank, overhauling immigration laws, replenishing the highway trust fund,
or other issues was emblematic of a deeper trend.
Even so, the
Chamber and other like-minded business groups have worked methodically
this year to reduce the number of "outliers," spending millions in
Republican primaries to elect more mainstream Republicans over their tea
party opponents. They have racked up a string of victories, from Senate
races in North Carolina and Kentucky to one most recently in
Mississippi, where incumbent Thad Cochran narrowly survived a tea party
challenge.
But if the candidates they're choosing are better than
the alternatives, there's little sign they share the Chamber's
priorities on all issues, particularly immigration, where the U.S.
Chamber's alliance with labor unions to support an overhaul alienated
some conservatives. And the Chamber's electoral involvement carries some
risk, including hardening opposition from tea party lawmakers already
on Capitol Hill who may not be going anywhere.
"It's hard for me
to offer my staff to the U.S. Chamber to have conversations when they
are targeting my allies here in Congress," complained Rep. Thomas
Massie, R-Ky. "I think it undercuts their ability to have conversations
with members of Congress."
GOP bucking business priorities on Capitol Hill
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