Conservatives Getting In The Way Of Business

Posted by | July 9, 2012 10:17 | Filed under: Top Stories


Stalls in Congress for for fear of actually accomplishing something are preventing businesses from operating well.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and major companies like Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. all wanted quick reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank, which helps finance American companies’ overseas sales. Congress had reaffirmed the independent federal agency some two dozen times since its creation in 1934. But this year it took months of pleas, briefings and negotiations to overcome conservative opposition.

Similarly, industries ranging from asphalt to steel pressed for the popular transportation bill to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Conservatives wanted to give authority to the states. Nine short-term extensions later – and almost three years after the last transportation bill expired – businesses finally prevailed last month…

Republicans like to tout themselves as the best friends of business, and the rhetoric only grows louder in an election year. They talk forcefully about their job-creation agenda and determination to undo the burdensome regulations they say arise out of President Barack Obama’s policies.

Yet when it comes to many of industry’s top legislative priorities, conservative Republican lawmakers and like-minded groups including the Club for Growth and Heritage Action have thrown up roadblocks to tasks that had been easy before the 2010 elections sent a large class of conservative tea party insurgents to Congress.

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Copyright 2012 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

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