The Right leaning business association has jump ship from the Grand ole’ Party….
Why Not?
Joe Biden IS fighting to help people get jobs and spend more money……
Trump helped wreck the place….
Business Economic Realty sets in on the Republicans ….
Washington’s most powerful trade group is having a political identity crisis.
Over the past month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has taken a series of steps that have enraged its traditional Republican allies. It applauded much of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion plan to Covid relief bill; cheered Biden’s decision to rejoin the Paris climate agreement; backed the former leader of the liberal Center of American Progress, Neera Tanden, for Office of Management and Budget director; and expressed openness to raising the minimum wage, though not to $15 an hour.
That’s left the Chamber, a K Street institution known for its bruising battles with past Democratic administrations, occupying an increasingly lonely political center, caught between angry Republicans who feel the trade group has abandoned them and Democrats who are pursuing policies anathema to many of their members.
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), who publicly bashed the Chamber’s endorsement of Tanden, said in an interview that the Chamber “has forgotten Main Street America” and would have to decide what it wanted to be in Biden’s Washington.
“Do they really care about the bottom line of companies and small businesses and growth, or do they care more about social justice?” Smith asked.
Smith’s frustration with the Chamber is shared by many Republicans who say the group is now unrecognizable to them.
After the Chamber backed nearly two dozen freshman House Democrats for reelection last year, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News he didn’t want the Chamber’s endorsement “because they have sold out.”…
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…Suzanne Clark, whom the Chamber announced this week would be its next chief executive, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that while “$15 doesn’t seem like the right number, it’s possible the minimum wage needs to be increased.”…