Donohue Reflects on Elections

 

 

After an exhaustive election season, the U.S. Chamber took stock of the new political environment and laid out its strategy for strengthening the nation's sagging economy. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue answers questions about how business fared in the elections and what lies ahead.

 

 

(A) Yes. The business community and the newly elected leaders share a strong mutual interest-restoring the nation's economic health as soon as possible. Any sustainable recovery must involve the business sector, which creates the jobs, the growth, and the revenues on which all Americans and our government depend. We won't agree on every issue. There will be difficult legislative battles ahead. But there will also be many opportunities to work together on issues such as economic stimulus, energy, infrastructure, and education reform. The Chamber has a solid track record of working with legislators and policymakers from both parties.

 

(Q) Are you concerned that anti-business groups are better positioned to advance their agendas?

 

(A) Some labor unions and trial lawyers will attempt to ram their special interest agendas through the new Congress. The Chamber will fight back hard! Though the makeup of the new House and Senate will certainly make it more challenging for business, I believe that there is enough balance to give us a meaningful chance on key issues. We are telling the president-elect and congressional leaders that they should be very careful not to saddle an already struggling economy with new taxes, regulations, and union organizing rules. Economic recovery must be America's top priority. So far, we think that message is being heard.

 

 

(A) The Chamber does not choose sides in presidential races. On the congressional level, we endorsed candidates of both parties based on their record of support on business issues. We also put hundreds of staff on the ground, invested millions of dollars in issue advocacy ads, sent 15 million e-mails and 6.5 million pieces of mail, and made more than 6 million phone calls in many of the most closely watched contests throughout the United States.

 

The Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) carried out a major effort to educate voters on legal reform issues in states that held important elections for Supreme Court justices and attorneys general.

 

 

(A) Definitely. On Election Day, 84% of Chamber-endorsed candidates in the House and 83% in the Senate were victorious. From the start, our overriding goal was to preserve enough balance in the Senate so that we could put together winning coalitions to advance good legislation and, if necessary, maintain a filibuster to stop the most extreme anti-business proposals. We achieved that goal.

 

We also energized our members across the country, turned out the pro-business vote, and educated people on the critical issues that will shape our economic future. We have our members and our Chamber Federation partners to thank for that.

 

In addition, in the states where ILR raised public awareness on lawsuit abuse, nearly two-thirds of pro-legal reform candidates won in state Supreme Court and attorney general races.