President Biden’s inauguration and the new slim Democratic majority in Congress have together shuffled the political deck for America’s industries. The Washington Examiner reached out to a cross section of companies and industry associations to better understand which ones are likely to benefit and which will get dealt weaker hands.
The Democratic-controlled government has pledged to spend money on its priorities, such as infrastructure, healthcare, and green jobs. This unified government also promises a greater willingness to raise taxes to pay for new programs and to be more of an activist on the regulatory front. Many industries are either comfortable with that regulation or have decided to make the best of it.
“Sound policies and regulations add value when they save taxpayer dollars and help create jobs,” Mike Bellaman, president and CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors, told the Washington Examiner.
“I am hopeful that funding in an infrastructure package will be targeted toward transformational projects because those construction projects will help our country and our economy recover faster with long-lasting benefits,” he added.
Bellaman also signaled that the United States’s builders and contractors wish to benefit from one issue in which the Biden administration’s policy could be a departure from the Trump administration: immigration.
“ABC is hopeful we can work with the new administration to establish a temporary guest-worker program that would allow for non-U.S. citizens to apply for the right to work legally in the United States,” he said.
Telecom giant AT&T also called for more investment and more regulation from the Biden administration.
“We would welcome seeing the new administration focus on three areas that further greater fairness and equality: Make internet connectivity accessible and affordable for everyone; hold the big online tech companies more accountable given their sizable influence on markets and society; and work toward equal justice for every American,” an AT&T spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
AT&T’s spokesperson added that “a growing bipartisan consensus” holds that “big online tech companies should be more accountable for decisions that fundamentally shape American society.” This congressional consensus should insist on “greater transparency and oversight” from those companies.
Those Big Tech companies will have their lobbying cut out for them to push back against that evolving consensus. The Consumer Technology Association directed the Washington Examiner to a Jan. 11 op-ed by Gary Shapiro, the organization’s president, in which he attempted to do just that.
Some politicians want to go so far as to “break up leading American tech companies — the crown jewels of the U.S. economy,” Shapiro complained on the Fox Business website.
Shapiro swatted down complaints about “monopolistic behavior,” brushed aside proposals to cut down on the number of mergers and acquisitions by a few large social media companies, and tried to refocus the issue on how technology is “keeping us fit, engaged, and connected as we quarantine.”
He emphasized one area of agreement with the Biden administration and other industry groups by calling for “a fresh look at immigration reform, with an emphasis on high-skilled immigration policy,” and he signed off by warning that hurting Big Tech would hurt the U.S.
“American tech companies are the envy of the world. China is spending billions to catch and surpass our nation’s most innovative companies. Europe targets our tech companies with protectionist rules. If we implement rules restricting flexibility or creating new barriers to entrepreneurship and innovation, we will bolster the efforts of competitor nations,” he pleaded.
One repeated concern voiced by industry groups was the damage that COVID-19 has inflicted and continues to cause for people and institutions.
America’s Health Insurance Plans spokeswoman Kristine Grow told the Washington Examiner, “The next several months will call for swift and decisive action, as well as strong public-private partnerships, to overcome the COVID-19 crisis.”
Due to fears of infection and government mandates not treating particular patients to free up bed space, the healthcare industry has experienced a mini-recession during the pandemic. The American Medical Association reported that medical practices had an average revenue drop of 32% as of October 2020, and almost one in five saw a decline of 50% or more. How to deal with that shortfall so that it doesn’t further erode healthcare will likely be a concern of the new administration and Congress.
American Bankers Association spokesman Ian McKendry looked forward to “working with the Biden administration to address the economic dislocations caused by COVID-19.”
McKendry pointed the Washington Examiner to ABA President Rob Nichols’s statement congratulating Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for winning the presidential election.
“During the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, America’s banks and their more than two million employees have taken unprecedented steps to assist both their consumer and business customers, but we know more must be done to fuel the recovery,” Nichols said.
AT&T explained the need for broadband subsidies by arguing that “COVID-19 proved internet connectivity is essential to how Americans live, work, and learn.” While the country’s “broadband networks have performed extremely well,” AT&T urged, “many rural and low-income families don’t have the internet access they need to work and learn.”
To “close this digital divide,” AT&T’s spokesperson said the company looks “forward to cooperating and partnering with the new administration.” The telecom giant, which had hundreds of store closures and thousands of layoffs in 2020 for AT&T workers, as well as layoffs in its entertainment subsidiaries and significant losses on its DirecTV investment, wants to help the government “provide universal internet connectivity” to all people in the U.S. that is “accessible, affordable, and sustainable.”
