U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND ITS TARGETS

 “The largest lobbyists in America over the years 1981 to 2004 included AT&T, General Electric, Boeing, Lockheed, and General Motors. These and dozens of other giant corporations are members of the US Chamber of Commerce, which lobbies aggressively for big business. Alyssa Katz [author of The Influence Machine: The US Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life]  has taken on the chamber in her new book, The Influence Machine. Where [Lee] Drutman remains scholarly and cautious, Katz attacks freely. She calls the chamber ‘the most fully realized political influence machine the nation has ever seen.’ She introduces us to the kinds of tactics Drutman largely sidesteps, such as aggressive lawsuits against government regulation and expensive election campaign techniques, including what many would justifiably call deceptive television commercials. The chamber also lobbies Congress and supports think tanks that share its views, including on the danger of big government.

“Among the chamber’s targets have been car safety rules, restraints on smoking, limitations on greenhouse gas emissions, a variety of regulations under the Dodd-Frank law, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Obama health care plan. In each case the chamber employed lobbyists, held meetings, and used advertising in attempts to stop the regulation of business. It also took the lead in developing a business coalition to support candidates, just skirting the campaign laws, according to Katz. Its goal was to provide opposition to the labor unions.”

Jeff Madrick, “How the Lobbyists Win in Washington,” a review of Alyssa Katz’s, The Influence Machine: The US Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life, April 7, 2016, in The New York Review, April 7, 2016, pp: 50-52.