In a sunny meeting room at Richmond’s Jefferson Hotel yesterday, House majority leader Eric Cantor addressed a select group of Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce members about what the House is doing to stimulate the economy. Even with fresh news that Virginia’s economy seems to be recovering, the folks in the room are at the mercy of the national economy. They want to know what Congress is doing to clean that stable.
Cantor gave them a three point plan. One of them has already passed the House — the JOBS Act. Another, that Cantor is set to roll-out next week, is a proposed 20 percent tax cut for small businesses. The third is likely to be a series of bills aimed at curbing what Cantor called “overly-aggressive” regulation, particularly environmental strictures that conservatives view as being motivated by ideology, not science.
But this being Congress, even the issues the parties agree upon are fodder for dispute. Take the JOBS Act…
The measure, which would ease some of the Sarbanes-Oxley rules for start-ups to ease their access to capital, passed the House 390-23. It earned praise from the White House and even murmurs of assent from Senate majority leader Harry Reid. But that was last week. Since then, Reid has toyed with the idea of adding an extension of the Export-Import Bank to the legislation. The cover is that the Ex-Im Bank helps spur American exports. The reality is that many Senate conservatives see the Bank as corporate welfare and want it eliminated. Attaching this extension to the JOBS Act gives Reid leverage over the rest of the bill, a nice talking point (see, Democrats really are on corporate America’s side) and splits the GOP between its corporatist and populist wings.
That’s quite a trifecta. But it gets better. If the JOBS Act grinds to a halt in the Senate, as so many other House-approved economic measures have, it’s Republicans who will be saddled with the blame.
When I asked Cantor about this yesterday, he said the Bank’s renewal was a separate issue and should be dealt with as such.
But that, too, was yesterday…
This morning, we see that other avenues of attack have been opened on the JOBS Act. Big Labor doesn’t like it because the package of bills:
…would “eviscerate” basic investor protections and open ways for swindlers to defraud households with little savings.
Similarly, Securities and Exchange Commission has voiced its opposition:
…Mary Schapiro, Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, sent a letter to some senators detailing her concerns with the legislation and requesting it be modified. The AFL-CIO issued a public statement on Wednesday condemning the House proposals.
The White House, whipsawed by its labor base and the SEC, is having second thoughts:
…some administration officials [have been lead] to reconsider the degree of their backing, though the White House publicly has remained steadfast in its support. Still, the White House signalled to allies that it would back alternative legislation offered by a group of Senate Democrats that is expected to win the backing of organised labour, state securities regulators and investor advocates, people familiar with the matter said.
So all sides agree that something must be done to spur economic growth. A package of bills is generated that would address at least one facet of the problem. It earns kudos from the President, the Senate leader and the President’s private sector economic advisers. The House embraces it, the Senate stalls it, the Democratic base issues condemnations, the bureaucracy gets defensive and the White House demurs. Finger-pointing and recrimination are sure to follow.
Rinse, repeat.
