Let's just take a walk down memory lane. Back in July, the Republicans announced their big "America Speaking Out" effort, with the Web site designed to let America craft the new Republican agenda. Then we found out who they considered America when they promptly convened a meeting with key lobbyists.
Invitees included Dan Danner, head of the National Federation of Independent Business; Bruce Josten, top lobbyist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Jay Timmons of the National Association of Manufacturers; and Joe Stanton of the National Association of Home Builders.
Fast forward a few months, and we actually see the results of that American agenda, in the release of the GOP "Pledge".
Turns out they don't really care what America wants. Here's Think Progress's Lee Fang:
As the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo reported last week, the second most popular item on the “job creation” section of America Speaking out was the user-submitted idea to “Stop the outsourcing of jobs from America to other countries that do not pay taxes into the U.S. and stop the tax breaks that are given to these companies that are outsourcing."
Guess what's not in the Pledge? Yep, there's nothing about "Stopping the outsourcing of jobs from America to other countries that do not pay taxes into the U.S. and stop the tax breaks that are given to these companies that are outsourcing."
And on the very morning they released the plan:
This morning, just as Republicans finished their press conference officially releasing the "Pledge to America," the idea to remove tax breaks for corporations shipping jobs overseas was the most popular idea on the GOP's America Speaking Out website.
Stopping outsourcing not only didn't make it into the Republican agenda, Republicans in the Senate repeatedly voted against legislation that would have ended tax breaks for companies outsourcing jobs AND given new tax incentives to businesses bringing jobs home.
And what do we hear from the Chamber, planning on spending millions more between now and November 2 to defeat Dems:
It’s become sort of a mantra in business circles: Democrats’ vast array of new regulations is strangling innovation and job growth.
And the mantra gets a much bigger megaphone on Thursday, when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launches a national grass-roots and media campaign aimed at driving home the message to voters ahead of the Nov. 2 midterm elections.
No, it's not about regulation. It's about outsourcing, one of the Chamber's favorite business practices. No wonder the second most popular idea from America to Republicans didn't make the cut. The GOP had to keep a more important, to them, pledge to make sure they reap the benefits of the Chamber's election spending. Handy how that all works out.
Bold emphasis mine
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