Show 1 1915 Business recovery very underway despite politics Uy rd l. l luher President lre Chamber of or k Commerce of or the United States This was supposed to be he a year of or disaster for the business community versus Washington Has lias it been For the answer to toUlat that lets let's go back and review the bidding Among the National Chambers Chamber's major concerns when the 9 Congress Congre s convened convened convened con con- last January were these issues Adoption of or a comprehensive comprehensive comprehensive com com- national energy policy implementation of or congressional budget control procedures amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act tax fax reform proposals proposal's that would worsen our capital formation problem Clean Air Act amendments that would prohibit economic development in most of or the country federal land use controls that would usurp local authority lobbying controls that could infringe the right to petition proposals to create a new consumer protection bureaucracy to watch the old consumer protection bureaucracies and moves f to o increase the powers of organized labor ISSUES are Important important important im Im- to business but their importance imparlance was magnified by bythe the complexion of the Congress The last national election resulted in a lopsided Democratic majority In the House the lineup was Democrats and Republicans a Democratic gain of 43 seats In the Senate there were 62 Democrats and 37 Republicans a Democratic ga gain in of four Another result was wasa a clear gain in the liberal bloc Add to all this a reported gain of 60 pr pro labor votes in the House and five in the Sena te We expected a more active Congress Many freshmen felt they had a mandate to remake the country overnight overnight and and the Congress before lunch It was in intha that tha spirit that they mounted swords in hand handt and headed for Washington Well lets let's see what has actually actually ac ac- ac happened this year VE Wl EXPECTED a more active Congress And we were right The Democratic Study Group reported that the House has worked more time on legislation in committee and on the floor and taken more record votes than any Congress in the past 25 years The Senate has been similarly active Our own record of testimony is further evidence The National Chamber normally makes statements to congressional committees 45 to toSO 50 SO times limes during a full lull year By Bythe Bythe the Ule end of or this year we will have made over 90 such presentations We expected Congress to be bemore bemore bemore more pro And we were right The unions have lost no major battles The political action arm of ol the CIO COPE has evaluated the votes of 59 representatives it supported Supported sup sup- supported ported people who won marginally Through May on about 15 critical matters those 59 had a union pro-union batting average of or We expected Congress to be bemore bemore bemore more liberal And we were tight right Of 22 House votes we have recorded so far we won only five and four of or these were sustained vetoes where a majority was not needed just third one-third plus one We had only one floor victory by majority vote OF 01 20 Senate floor votes we have recorded we are on the winning side on only four and only two of those required a majority vote But in spite of all this Congress has produced little in the way of major legislation affecting business The Tax Rebate and Reduction Act was wasa a significant measure but beyond that not much that is important to business has been enacted So from the business viewpoint Congress' Congress bark has been worse than its bite There are several reasons for this situation First there is an absence of real leadership in Congress The second reason is the Presidents President's use of his veto power AS OF this writing there have been 12 vetoes with a few more in prospect Three have been overridden five have been sustained and no overrides have been attempted on the theother theother theother other four The third reason were we're not hurting yet is simply that many of our problems are still in the th congressional pipeline The potential for tor harm is still very great Inflation Is moderating a little Unemployment is coming down slowly down slowly The economy is recovering gradually IF WE VH are very careful not to rock the boat all of or these healthy trends will continue and what we have just been through will seem a remote nightmare in a few years But year election politics can be very damaging to the economy It Is always tempting for politicians to Increase government spending and Inflate inflate in- in flate the economy just before ore an election letting the bills come due after they are safely re- re elected They will continue to do doso doso doso so until the voters make it plain that the old shell game is not fooling anybody anymore |