Posted on 05/12/2014 11:52:42 AM PDT by cotton1706
Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the GOP shouldnt even field a presidential candidate in 2016 unless Congress passes immigration reform this year.
If the Republicans dont do it, they shouldnt bother to run a candidate in 2016, Donohue joked at an event on infrastructure investment in D.C. Think about that. Think about who the voters are. I just did that to get everybodys attention.
Republicans have focused on immigration reform as a way to woo Hispanic voters, who have increasingly drifted to Democrats over the past two election cycles. Growing Hispanic populations in Nevada, Texas and elsewhere could make those states more amenable to Democrats in the future.
Donohue, whose group has spent months pushing House Republicans to support immigration reform, was speaking about what he thought a dysfunctional Congress could still get done in 2014.
You think Congress can get immigration reform done this year, in an election year? moderator Eamon Javers asked Donohue.
Yes, yes, Donohue replied.
National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said he also thought immigration reform could pass this year, perhaps in a lame-duck session.
This is a unified position of the business community, Timmons said.
Reform backers have focused on the weeks before the August recess as a time when the House could move on immigration reform after a bipartisan bill passed the Senate last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Funny, I was thinking the GOP shouldn’t even bother if they DO pass an immigration bill.
And - funny thing - I’m also thinking there are more folks out there who think like me than think like the Chambo-O-Comfort druids.
idiot....
The exact OPPOSITE is true.
What the hell does he think is going to happen? They are going to grant amnesty and they will all be grateful and vote republican?
WHO PUT THIS MORON IN CHARGE OF ANYTHING AT THE GOP????
“National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said he also thought immigration reform could pass this year, perhaps in a lame-duck session.”
And there it is.
Oh, I have no doubt that they already have an amnesty bill squirreled away somewhere...they’re just waiting for the primaries to end before they trot it out later in the summer.
Funny, I was thinking we the people were in charge of our country.
The C of C is
You’re correct. The majority of U.S. citizens do not approve of changing our immigration laws as they have not been effectively enforced.
“What the hell does he think is going to happen? They are going to grant amnesty and they will all be grateful and vote republican?”
The corporatists don’t give a damn. It’s all about money.
When will Americans figure out that big business and big government are hand-in-glove?
I predict the sellout occurs the day after the midterm elections.
The Chamber of Communism.
The US Chamber of Commies should just packup and move in with their Chinese comrads.We don’t need big government welfare whores like them.
Translation : ‘Don't even bother to have an election until you pass immigration reform”
If the Fake White Indian manages to get the Dem nomination, then trust me, they’ll want the GOP to run a candidate.
ANY candidate. Cruz, Sarah, ANY of ‘em.
Tom Donohue scares millions of dollars out of corporations and Republicans. But is his U.S. Chamber of Commerce good for business?
Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has a well-developed talent for self-promotion. He makes a point of being the last person on any stage, and he leaves no detail to chance. The Chambers event staff is famously fastidious: one of Donohues parties involved corralling a Clydesdale horse into the Chambers lobby. Such grandiosity is of a piece with how Donohue treats his station. He travels in a chauffeured Lincoln and a leased jet, and his salary, $3.7 million last year, makes him the sixth highest paid lobbyist in the country.
This requires funding, which Donohue secures with exceptional skill. Among his office decorations is a desk plaque that reads, SHOW ME THE MONEY. He used to pound his fist on the desk and say, Show me the money! a former Chamber lobbyist recalls. He got his rocks off on it.
With such torrents of Chamber money raining down on the political process, its rather ironic that many Americans believe the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to be part of the government. But, in a way, its also fitting. With its legions of lobbyists, policy analysts, economists, and attorneys, its own rapid-response media center and law firm, its hundreds of international chapters and steady stream of officials, legislators, and foreign potentates flowing through its immense bronze-relief doors on H Street, the Chamber does act like a federal agencyor like a third political party on permanent campaign. The Chamber views itself as a shadow-government policymaking body, a former Chamber economist, Lawrence Hunter, said.
96 percent of its members have fewer than 100 employeesit is also beholden to a cadre of multinationals whose interests are often inimical to those of small business. In 2008, a third of its revenues came from just nineteen companies.
This sort of conflict doesnt appear to bother Donohue. One lobbyist at a trade association that shares many members with the Chamber describes Donohues tack as imperial. If you dont like it, you can leave. Thats their approach to members, he says. Not all members, though. If theres a consistent pattern to how the Chamber operates, its that it follows the money.
Because everybody knows American hispanics prefers importing more lawbreaking invaders.
Suddenly liberals like the business community.
OUT.
You are so correct. People forget how immigration led to conservatives staying at home in 2006 which allowed the Progressives control of the House and Senate.
Oh wait, maybe that is what they are after again!
Oddly, while Donohue casts himself as the voice of business, he has never worked for a corporation or any kind of for-profit concernonly for trade associations, nonprofits, and the federal government. The son of a production manager at the American Can Company, he was born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. After high school, he attended St. Johns and Adelphi universities, eventually earning an MBA. Early jobs included a stint as a fund-raiser for the Boy Scouts of America and, later, an aide to legendary disabled-persons rights activist Henry Viscardi, founder of the National Center for Disability Services. In a 1998 interview with Newsday, Viscardi recounted how Donohue made his ambition clear from the start. I sat him down across the desk from me and asked what job he wanted, said Viscardi. He said, I want your job. Thats Tom Donohue for you.
Donohue left the Chamber to take over the American Trucking Associations in 1984, quickly turning what was a moribund also-ran into a Washington powerhouse. Prior to Donohue coming aboard I knew every time I went to work wed be just kicked in the chops, remembers Lana Batts, an ATA lobbyist. When Tom came in, I was not going to be kicked. Id be the kicker. Donohue was known for sparing no expense to curry favor with members and impress lawmakers. Toms biggest problem was that he ran out of buildings to name after member companies, says Tim Lynch, another lobbyist who worked for Donohue at ATA. The funds, says Lynch, poured in. He essentially scared the bejesus out of people that if they didnt contribute more money, bad things would happen to their businesses in Washington.
Donohues effectiveness at the ATA did not go unnoticed, and, in 1997, he was recruited back to the U.S. Chamber of Commercethis time to be its president. Characteristically, he kept his eye on the money. Recounts John Schulz, the journalist, He calls me to his office, which he almost never did, and sits me down and says, Im going to ask you a favor and I dont want you to fuck this up. Youre going to write that Im turning down the Chamber for certain reasons. But thats not what Im really doing. Im in negotiations and want to get a better deal out of them. Im going to reject them publicly and then get more money out of them. (The Chamber denies the conversation took place and says that compensation was never an issue in any of [Donohues] negotiations with the Chamber search committee.”)
hen Donohue took over the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the organization had fallen into dangerous disfavor with the Republican Party, with which it has always had a close, if complicated, relationship.
Donohues chief lobbyist, Bruce Josten, can often be seen at press conferences with Boehner
Above all, Donohue sought out fund-raising opportunities. Donohue was much more hands-on than Lesher in terms of pursuing issues he thought were importantimportant to making money, a former Chamber lobbyist told me. Inside the Chamber, this strategy was known colloquially as views for dues. According to the former lobbyist, a large company before [Donohue] arrived would be paying maybe ten to twenty thousand, and overnight would be paying a million dollars. The message was to go after these major companies and get money from as many different funding sources as we could. In return they got greater influence and we did more of their bidding, if you will, on the Hill.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.verini.html
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