Big Business Makes 'Wish List' For New GOP In Congress

This post has been updated.

Big businesses have made "wish lists" for legislation they hope the now even more divided Congress will consider, the Wall Street Journal reports. Until it becomes clear what the new lawmakers' priorities will be, and whether they will be able to implement them, wishing may be all these businesspeople can do.

Business leaders are looking to Republicans, who now control the House of Representatives, to champion their agenda, Bloomberg reports. Priorities include lowering taxes for wealthy individuals and for businesses, repealing environmental protections and paring down health care reform.

These businesses hope, according to the WSJ, that the Republican House will make the president more conciliatory. But even the influx of Republicans won't guarantee much. "Many candidates have not articulated their business stance at the level we're interested in," Johanna Schneider, executive director of the Business Roundtable, according to the WSJ.

Newly elected Tea Partiers, such as Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida, are fairly inscrutable to many business leaders, as the WSJ notes. As Bloomberg reported last month, the Tea Party's radical small-government message tends to alienate businesses.

Wall Street, at least, may be in luck. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Al.) has expressed his disapproval of the Dodd-Frank financial reform and even the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is being currently created by the Obama-appointed Elizabeth Warren. "I thought the creation of it [CFPB] and the way it was created was a mistake," Shelby said in September, according to Reuters.

It won't be the only thing he's likely to attack. From Reuters: "The [Dodd-Frank] bill is so sweeping and such a game changer in many ways that it's incumbent upon us to revisit it," Shelby said.

But others have said the financial reform isn't nearly strong enough. The noted Yale economist Robert Shiller said last week that it won't prevent the problem of "too big to fail," in which big businesses carry an implicit government protection.

And Sheila Bair, who chairs the FDIC, noted that any attempts to repeal the legislation could throw Wall Street into turmoil. "I think to go back and completely reopen it now with a whole other set of question marks and uncertainties about what people are supposed to be doing... I hope people would think hard about that," she said, according to Reuters.

Which pieces of Obama legislation do you think the GOP will try to repeal or weaken? Leave your guesses in the comments section below.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Rand Paul and Marco Rubio are Representatives-elect. They are Senators-elect.

Comments

[RuleofLawNow]

09:03 PM on 11/05/2010

Shelby and others should be able to sneak through major emasculations with a little Phil Graham finesse. His wife Wendy worked with him to create our mess, and it was too complicated for Red Neckerson to get pissed at. Tried and proven formula.

[RedDog79]

02:49 PM on 11/05/2010

it's why bother not why both

[RedDog79]

02:49 PM on 11/05/2010

why both to take the time to repeal anything when the GOP can work on getting the President impeached on the birther claim. Shouldn't be too hard the conservative Supreme court ought to be ripe for the picking. Once that is done, the GOP can declare all legislation passed and signed by Obama's Democratic Congress illegitimate and Viola all the legislation that was passed for the good of the middle class is gone.
so much for democracy in the United States.

[Job Sanders]

01:39 PM on 11/05/2010

Republicans would have a tougher sell defunding reform, or better yet, impeding enforcement if it was aimed at parties guilty of our economic collapse. Instead, Obama placed the priority for reform on an agency regulating ATM fees, payday loans and gift cards—consumer issues that had little to do with the economic downturn. The agency is therefore ripe for a GOP plucking.

[leeman79]

05:59 AM on 11/05/2010

Pay attention tea partiers. It's payback time.

[scodwyer]

04:21 AM on 11/05/2010

"Business leaders are looking to Republicans, who now control the House of Representatives, to champion their agenda, Bloomberg reports. Priorities include lowering taxes for wealthy individuals and for businesses, repealing environmental protections and paring down health care reform." YES THAT IS RIGHT AMERICA!!! Bring back entitlements for the wealthy at the expense of the environment we live in, at the expense of the average middle and lower class health, and at the expense of all the money that government does not get and needs from the wealthy to pay the police, fire department, build roads, pay teachers, post office, roads,,,and the list goes on and on....lets rename them the RESOCIOPATH PARTY.

[WalterJesseSmith]

10:50 PM on 11/04/2010

The best news about the Republicans, every one of them, is that they are all RINOs. Even the Tea Party members.

What do they want to conserve? Civic decency? Citizenly character development through support for families and good schools? Traditional small community integrity at the expense of unrestrained developers? Clean air? Clean water? Healthy streams, lakes, and oceans?

Of course the list goes on. Wherever we look for something decent they want to conserve, the answer is the same. They are all Nancy Reagan Republicans: they love to "Just say 'No!'"

Good Nancy Reagan "Republicans."

It is also good news that they cannot trust one another.

This latter characteristic brings them down to the same level as the Democrats.

[marylandtravelinman]

08:41 PM on 11/04/2010

I didn't read the article. I just can't and keep my dinner down, but I have to comment on the headline alone. "Big Business Makes 'Wish List' For New GOP In Congress" how is the wish list any different than it was (and received) from Obama. I am a patriot and supporter of our President, but BB acts like he took something away from them. They got a higher percentage of the wealth and any other group during the Great Recession. What more do they want? Oh yeah, Corporatocracy, and the Cons will give it to them. All in the hopes that maybe they will be able to trade up to a double wide.

[rainkitty]

08:28 PM on 11/04/2010

Billionaires without borders - Super-rich hide trillions offshore:
"The world's richest individuals have placed $11.5 trillion of assets in offshore havens, mainly as a tax avoidance measure. The new figure - 10 times Britain's GDP - is contained in the most authoritative study of the wealth held in offshore accounts ever conducted.
The study, by Tax Justice Network, a group of accountants and economists concerned at the escalating wealth held in offshore locations, shows that the world's high-net-worth individuals earn $860 billion each year from their assets.

Individuals such as Rupert Murdoch, Philip Green, Lakshmi Mittal and Hans Rausing - among the world's richest men - all make extensive use of tax havens. ... The $11.5trillion does not include the vast amount of money stashed in tax havens by multinational corporations, which are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to run rings round the authorities.

One of the most fundamental changes in our society in recent years is how money and the rich have become more mobile. This has resulted in the wealthy becoming less inclined to associate with normal society and feeling no obligation to pay taxes."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2005/mar/27/politics.economicpolicy

[Ricardo01]

07:07 PM on 11/04/2010

It's not a 'wish list'. The Chamber of Commerce just gave elected Republicans their bill for the financial support they received.

[PoorRichardsHeartache]

09:32 PM on 11/04/2010

fanned, that isnt a wish list, it was marching orders. And, if you dont march smartly on plan, your opponent in the next election will benefit from our promotional dollars.

[judiNJ]

03:45 PM on 11/04/2010

Now we see the enemies of American jobs. So, when do ALL the jobs go offshore? Will that be enough for these thugs?

[guveqzero]

12:34 PM on 11/04/2010

Bloomberg's report on business classifies all businesses with the Wall Street mentality, that profits create jobs. Unfortunately, this is not true. While profits are good for bond holders and stock holders, they do not create significant spending on job creation. Jobs are created in large numbers by creating new businesses that intend to make good profits. Bloomberg talking heads also don't understand that we import many goods with content where labor costs can be justified using US labor. Unfortunately, we always hear opinions rather than fact. When we start importing the most powerful computer in the world from China, will they change their view? With robotic manufacturing now being used overseas, labor costs are not the main expense.

[hankashley]

11:18 AM on 11/04/2010

My wish is that business wasn't involved. I thought this was about capitalism and free markets and all that stuff. Why is big business needing to go back to The Republicans? Oh yeah, The Treasury strings are there. I remember now.

[farmilyman]

10:31 AM on 11/04/2010

Bush lost millions of jobs and the repubs have no new ideas. How do they expect the jobs to suddenly reappear?

[whyus]

02:47 AM on 11/04/2010

Please stop pointing that finger at me!