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Bill Owens: The Democratic Business Coalition

The recent passage of the Export-Import Bank reauthorization, and the budget deal which solved government funding and debt ceiling issues, appear to be movement towards bipartisan action. A closer look at the numbers, however, reveals all of this legislation needed significant Democratic votes—without which, these important legislative actions would have failed. Paul Ryan, the new Speaker of the House, appeared on the Sunday talk shows on November 1st, stating that there will be no immigration reform under President Obama, and he also vowed to reach consensus with House Republicans on all future legislation, the so-called Hastert rule.

There are 247 Republicans in the House and 188 Democrats. The two major pieces of legislation I noted above garnered a near unanimous vote from Democrats. In my view, each of those votes was the right thing to do, and those Democrats and Republicans who voted for it should be supported. It also demonstrates that moderate legislation cannot be passed by Republicans alone.

The idea of who supports Democrats and Republicans raises an extraordinarily difficult proposition for business groups, and I think the US Chamber of Commerce, in particular. The Chamber spent tens of millions of dollars to establish a Republican majority in Congress. There has been much written because a significant portion of the Republican caucus has stepped away from business interests.

If I were making a business case for where my support should be focused and my money spent, it is hard to imagine that I could make a strong case for supporting all Republicans. I am sure business groups have a lot of angst about Democratic positions on Obamacare, tax reform (the 1 percent issue), paid family leave, the environment and increasing the minimum wage. These are all things that would make the average business owner wince. I get it. Nonetheless, there is a much greater chance that a Democrat is going to listen to a business person’s position on Export-Import Bank, the debt ceiling, funding the government and immigration reform, if he or she feels that there is the likelihood of support rather than an outright rejection simply because the person has a “D” next to his/her name. Let me give you a personal example. When I ran for re-election in 2012, the US Chamber of Commerce spent about $600,000 to defeat me. In early 2013, the Chamber contacted my congressional office to tell me that I had been the winner of the Spirit of Enterprise Award for 2012. It became very clear to me that the attacks leveled at me were solely the result of my having a “D” in front of my name, as they clearly had not looked at my voting record to determine whether or not I was friendly to business—it being their strong belief that if you have a Republican you are guaranteed support for business issues. Well, maybe not!

I have frequently talked about and recently written about the idea that one has to base actions on a thought process that involves the gathering of data, the analysis of that data, and ultimately, reaching rational conclusions based upon that data. Business people I talk to continuously lament, and much of the rhetoric coming from Republicans focuses on the idea, that politicians should act like business people. If I were to conclude from my own experience, I would suggest that the Chamber isn’t or doesn’t act like a business.

That brings me back to where we started. Business groups led by the Chamber, Small Business Association, and NAMI should spend the time to look at who has supported them and push for a coalition of those willing to govern, including both Democrats and Republicans. This may well mean marginalizing people on the far right and the far left, but that’s how Congress acted for a substantial period of time prior to the mid-90s, and it should return to that process as soon as possible.

Mr. Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 23rd and a partner in the firm of Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher & Trombley, PLLC, in Plattsburgh, New York.

 
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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