The U.S. Chamber of Commerce will seek to protect the gains that Republicans made in 2014, and back “pro-growth” candidates in the 2016 elections, CEO Thomas Donahue said Thursday in a speech outlining his group’s plans.
While the business group won’t break tradition by supporting a specific presidential candidate, it will step in when needed to fight back against anti-business proposals.
“Our goal is clear and our approach is simple,” Donohue said. “To protect the gains we made in the House and Senate in 2014 by backing candidates who support pro-growth policies and a free enterprise system, and who want to come to Washington to govern and not just shut the place down.”
That last remark is a reference to conservative Republicans who have increasingly fought the Chamber over issues that pit business interests against conservative ideology. Major flashpoints have been over federal spending legislation, reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank and immigration policy.
Donohue said that the national Chamber and state and local chambers would work to elect “pro-growth candidates.”
A particular concern, he indicated in a press conference following his speech, would be protecting the Senate. The Chamber will back candidates, both Republican and Democrat, out of concern for future confirmations of Supreme Court justices.
“Failure to hold the Senate…puts us at risk in terms of what kind of a Supreme Court we might end up with in case there’s changes in the Supreme Court,” he said.
The next president is expected to have the opportunity to nominate one or more Supreme Court candidates, who would be subject to Senate confirmation.
Donohue issued an indirect challenge to comments from Republican candidate Donald Trump, but then said the Chamber would remain on the sidelines of the president candidate.
Nevertheless, he said the Chamber would weigh in on anti-free enterprise proposals that candidates make, a possibility made more likely by the rise of populist candidates in both the GOP and the Democratic Party. “If candidates choose to beat up on business,” Donohue said, “they’re going to hear from us.”
