When Washington was on the brink of careening off the so-called fiscal cliff in 2011, recalcitrant congressional Republicans were facing pressure from a crucial ally.
After decades of having every GOP decisionmaker on speed-dial, “the Chamber”—as it’s simply known in Washington—now finds its former relationships with the party frayed. Still, a survey of some key Republican lawmakers found that only a few are eager to hear out the case of their formerly close ally. There are, of course, some Republicans who still tout their Chamber credentials. Rep. Don Bacon , a leader of the GOP’s more moderate wing, proudly noted that he was the group’s highest-rated member of Congress the last two years.
Asked whether the Chamber disagreed with the Republican strategy of leveraging the debt limit to demand spending cuts, Bradley validated the maneuver, saying past debt limit increases have included “really important” measures to address the deficit. “As much as Kevin McCarthy is pretending to be someone, at his core, he is a business-friendly Republican from California,” said one lobbyist. “The Chamber has lost some of its juice, but there’s no way these guys turn down a phone call from the head of the Chamber, or its board members.”
While the leading business lobby is a nonpartisan organization, the GOP’s longtime alliance with big business gave it a most-favored status enjoyed by few other interest groups. Some would quip that the Chamber’s longtime former CEO, Tom Donohue, was the “101st Senator.” The right-wing populist Sen. Josh Hawley , who did not hesitate to say he is not the Chamber’s “favorite senator,” believes the group has left American business and the working class behind.