The United States Chamber of Commerce’s influence in the beltway of Washington, D.C., has dwindled considerably as Democrats they endorsed continue voting for President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda despite opposition from the big business group.
In the 2020 election, the Chamber made the historic move to endorse 23 House Democrats facing re-election. A total of 15 of those Democrats won their re-elections. In this year’s midterms, the Chamber is endorsing more Democrats.
Most recently, the group endorsed Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) against Republican challenger Frank Pallotta — continuing its notable shift toward the globalist worldview that is increasingly represented by the Democrat Party and its base of upper-middle-class and wealthy voters.
In Washington, D.C., the endorsements have not helped sway Democrats away from some of Biden’s key legislative efforts that the Chamber has lobbied against, as the Wall Street Journal editorial board noted in a recent op-ed:
The Chamber in the runup to 2020 made the unusual decision to alter its voting scorecard to endorse 23 House freshman Democrats for re-election. The theory was that Democrats were likely to control Congress. The endorsements would buy support from Democrats who would resist an assault from the progressive left on taxes and regulation. Fifteen of the 23 won re-election. [Emphasis added]
How does that calculation look now, as the 117th Congress moves into its final months? Every one of the 15 voted for the $1.9 trillion spending bill in March 2020, despite Chamber opposition to sweeping jobless benefits that stoked labor shortages and stimulus checks that fed inflation. They also voted for the PRO Act, a radical pro-union rewrite of labor law. [Emphasis added]
Now comes the big moment of truth as the Schumer-Manchin tax and spend bill heads to the House for a crucial vote this week. The chance of Democratic defections is slim. Despite aggressive Chamber lobbying, all 15 rolled over for the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better bill last year, so they are unlikely to oppose something that has Sen. Joe Manchin’s approval.
[Emphasis added]
The Chamber’s globalist policy prescriptions, representing the nation’s biggest multinational corporations, have long been out-of-touch with the Republican Party’s populist base of working and lower-middle-class Americans.
This year, as working and middle class Americans have been squeezed to the limits by record rates of inflation under the Biden administration, the Chamber has focused its legislative priorities on doubling legal immigration to the U.S. to lower Americans’ wages, amnesty to flood the labor market with millions of newly legalized foreign workers, and returning to a free trade consensus as the “answer” to a powerful China.
Meanwhile, Republican voters in the latest Harvard/Harris Poll said that the cost of living, inflation, soaring gas prices, mass immigration to the U.S., and crime are their top issues going into the midterm elections.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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