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Chamber of Commerce gives ultimatum to GOP (immigration)
politico.com ^ | 5/12/14 | Kevin Robillard

Posted on 05/12/2014 11:52:42 AM PDT by cotton1706

Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the GOP shouldn’t even field a presidential candidate in 2016 unless Congress passes immigration reform this year.

“If the Republicans don’t do it, they shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016,” Donohue joked at an event on infrastructure investment in D.C. “Think about that. Think about who the voters are. I just did that to get everybody’s attention.”

Republicans have focused on immigration reform as a way to woo Hispanic voters, who have increasingly drifted to Democrats over the past two election cycles. Growing Hispanic populations in Nevada, Texas and elsewhere could make those states more amenable to Democrats in the future.

Donohue, whose group has spent months pushing House Republicans to support immigration reform, was speaking about what he thought a dysfunctional Congress could still get done in 2014.

“You think Congress can get immigration reform done this year, in an election year?” moderator Eamon Javers asked Donohue.

“Yes, yes,” Donohue replied.

National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said he also thought immigration reform could pass this year, perhaps in a lame-duck session.

“This is a unified position of the business community,” Timmons said.

Reform backers have focused on the weeks before the August recess as a time when the House could move on immigration reform after a bipartisan bill passed the Senate last year.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: aliens; chamberofamnesty; chamberofcommerce; economy; elections; illegalimmigration; immigrantlist; immigration; india; massamnesty; mexico
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It's almost mid-May and still no bill. They're starting to panic!
1 posted on 05/12/2014 11:52:42 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

Funny, I was thinking the GOP shouldn’t even bother if they DO pass an immigration bill.

And - funny thing - I’m also thinking there are more folks out there who think like me than think like the Chambo-O-Comfort druids.


2 posted on 05/12/2014 11:53:56 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: cotton1706

idiot....

The exact OPPOSITE is true.

What the hell does he think is going to happen? They are going to grant amnesty and they will all be grateful and vote republican?

WHO PUT THIS MORON IN CHARGE OF ANYTHING AT THE GOP????


3 posted on 05/12/2014 11:55:36 AM PDT by Mr. K (If you like your constitution, you can keep it...Period. PALIN/CRUZ 2016)
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To: cotton1706

“National Association of Manufacturers President Jay Timmons said he also thought immigration reform could pass this year, perhaps in a lame-duck session.”

And there it is.


4 posted on 05/12/2014 11:56:31 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: cotton1706

Oh, I have no doubt that they already have an amnesty bill squirreled away somewhere...they’re just waiting for the primaries to end before they trot it out later in the summer.


5 posted on 05/12/2014 11:57:01 AM PDT by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: Da Coyote

Funny, I was thinking we the people were in charge of our country.

The C of C is


6 posted on 05/12/2014 11:57:25 AM PDT by stanne
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To: Da Coyote

You’re correct. The majority of U.S. citizens do not approve of changing our immigration laws as they have not been effectively enforced.


7 posted on 05/12/2014 11:57:30 AM PDT by SatinDoll (A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN IS BORN IN THE US OF US CITIZEN PARENTS.)
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To: Mr. K

“What the hell does he think is going to happen? They are going to grant amnesty and they will all be grateful and vote republican?”

The corporatists don’t give a damn. It’s all about money.


8 posted on 05/12/2014 11:57:47 AM PDT by headstamp 2 (What would Scooby do?)
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To: cotton1706

When will Americans figure out that big business and big government are hand-in-glove?


9 posted on 05/12/2014 11:58:02 AM PDT by clintonh8r (Don't give up! The liberals are buggering and aborting themselves into extinction.)
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To: cotton1706
The US Chamber of Crony Fascists knows that if they don't get it now they're never going to get it.

I predict the sellout occurs the day after the midterm elections.

10 posted on 05/12/2014 11:58:39 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
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To: cotton1706

The Chamber of Communism.


11 posted on 05/12/2014 11:58:41 AM PDT by Lazamataz (Early 2009 to 7/21/2013 - RIP my little girl Cathy. You were the best cat ever. You will be missed.)
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To: cotton1706

The US Chamber of Commies should just packup and move in with their Chinese comrads.We don’t need big government welfare whores like them.


12 posted on 05/12/2014 12:00:09 PM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Brutal acts of commission and yawning acts of omission both strengthen the hand of the devil.)
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To: cotton1706; Tennessee Nana; Liz; TADSLOS; EXCH54FE; GeronL; Travis McGee; jimbo123; ...
RE:”Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the GOP shouldn’t even field a presidential candidate in 2016 unless Congress passes immigration reform this year.
“If the Republicans don’t do it, they shouldn’t bother to run a candidate in 2016,” Donohue joked at an event on infrastructure investment in D.C. “Think about that. Think about who the voters are. I just did that to get everybody’s attention.”
Republicans have focused on immigration reform as a way to woo Hispanic voters, who have increasingly drifted to Democrats over the past two election cycles. Growing Hispanic populations in Nevada, Texas and elsewhere could make those states more amenable to Democrats in the future.”

Translation : ‘Don't even bother to have an election until you pass immigration reform”

13 posted on 05/12/2014 12:00:55 PM PDT by sickoflibs (Obama : 'I never said that you can keep your doctor . Republicans lie about me ')
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To: cotton1706

If the Fake White Indian manages to get the Dem nomination, then trust me, they’ll want the GOP to run a candidate.

ANY candidate. Cruz, Sarah, ANY of ‘em.


14 posted on 05/12/2014 12:01:57 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: cotton1706
Show Him the Money

Tom Donohue scares millions of dollars out of corporations and Republicans. But is his U.S. Chamber of Commerce good for business?

Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has a well-developed talent for self-promotion. He makes a point of being the last person on any stage, and he leaves no detail to chance. The Chamber’s event staff is famously fastidious: one of Donohue’s parties involved corralling a Clydesdale horse into the Chamber’s lobby. Such grandiosity is of a piece with how Donohue treats his station. He travels in a chauffeured Lincoln and a leased jet, and his salary, $3.7 million last year, makes him the sixth highest paid lobbyist in the country.

This requires funding, which Donohue secures with exceptional skill. Among his office decorations is a desk plaque that reads, “SHOW ME THE MONEY.” “He used to pound his fist on the desk and say, ‘Show me the money!’” a former Chamber lobbyist recalls. “He got his rocks off on it.”

Press Here

With such torrents of Chamber money raining down on the political process, it’s rather ironic that many Americans believe the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to be part of the government. But, in a way, it’s also fitting. With its legions of lobbyists, policy analysts, economists, and attorneys, its own rapid-response media center and law firm, its hundreds of international chapters and steady stream of officials, legislators, and foreign potentates flowing through its immense bronze-relief doors on H Street, the Chamber does act like a federal agency—or like a third political party on permanent campaign. “The Chamber views itself as a shadow-government policymaking body,” a former Chamber economist, Lawrence Hunter, said.

96 percent of its members have fewer than 100 employees—it is also beholden to a cadre of multinationals whose interests are often inimical to those of small business. In 2008, a third of its revenues came from just nineteen companies.

This sort of conflict doesn’t appear to bother Donohue. One lobbyist at a trade association that shares many members with the Chamber describes Donohue’s tack as “imperial.” “If you don’t like it, you can leave. That’s their approach to members,” he says. Not all members, though. If there’s a consistent pattern to how the Chamber operates, it’s that it follows the money.

15 posted on 05/12/2014 12:03:33 PM PDT by kcvl
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To: cotton1706
Growing Hispanic populations in Nevada, Texas and elsewhere could make those states more amenable to Democrats in the future

Because everybody knows American hispanics prefers importing more lawbreaking invaders.

16 posted on 05/12/2014 12:04:49 PM PDT by Sgt_Schultze (A half-truth is a complete lie)
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To: cotton1706

Suddenly liberals like the business community.


17 posted on 05/12/2014 12:08:08 PM PDT by Williams
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To: cotton1706
Somehow, some way, we conservatives need to cut this sort of asshole and his CC fascist buddies OUT of the political process.

OUT.

18 posted on 05/12/2014 12:08:53 PM PDT by caddie
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To: Mr. K

You are so correct. People forget how immigration led to conservatives staying at home in 2006 which allowed the Progressives control of the House and Senate.

Oh wait, maybe that is what they are after again!


19 posted on 05/12/2014 12:09:17 PM PDT by landerwy (Zero lied, who else will die?)
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To: cotton1706

Oddly, while Donohue casts himself as the voice of business, he has never worked for a corporation or any kind of for-profit concern—only for trade associations, nonprofits, and the federal government. The son of a production manager at the American Can Company, he was born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island. After high school, he attended St. John’s and Adelphi universities, eventually earning an MBA. Early jobs included a stint as a fund-raiser for the Boy Scouts of America and, later, an aide to legendary disabled-persons rights activist Henry Viscardi, founder of the National Center for Disability Services. In a 1998 interview with Newsday, Viscardi recounted how Donohue made his ambition clear from the start. “I sat him down across the desk from me and asked what job he wanted,” said Viscardi. “He said, ‘I want your job.’ That’s Tom Donohue for you.”

Donohue left the Chamber to take over the American Trucking Associations in 1984, quickly turning what was a moribund also-ran into a Washington powerhouse. “Prior to Donohue coming aboard I knew every time I went to work we’d be just kicked in the chops,” remembers Lana Batts, an ATA lobbyist. “When Tom came in, I was not going to be kicked. I’d be the kicker.” Donohue was known for sparing no expense to curry favor with members and impress lawmakers. “Tom’s biggest problem was that he ran out of buildings to name after member companies,” says Tim Lynch, another lobbyist who worked for Donohue at ATA. The funds, says Lynch, poured in. “He essentially scared the bejesus out of people that if they didn’t contribute more money, bad things would happen to their businesses in Washington.”

Donohue’s effectiveness at the ATA did not go unnoticed, and, in 1997, he was recruited back to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce—this time to be its president. Characteristically, he kept his eye on the money. Recounts John Schulz, the journalist, “He calls me to his office, which he almost never did, and sits me down and says, ‘I’m going to ask you a favor and I don’t want you to fuck this up. You’re going to write that I’m turning down the Chamber for certain reasons. But that’s not what I’m really doing. I’m in negotiations and want to get a better deal out of them. I’m going to reject them publicly and then get more money out of them.’” (The Chamber denies the conversation took place and says that compensation “was never an issue in any of [Donohue’s] negotiations with the Chamber search committee.”)

hen Donohue took over the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the organization had fallen into dangerous disfavor with the Republican Party, with which it has always had a close, if complicated, relationship.

Donohue’s chief lobbyist, Bruce Josten, can often be seen at press conferences with Boehner

Above all, Donohue sought out fund-raising opportunities. “Donohue was much more hands-on than Lesher in terms of pursuing issues he thought were important—important to making money,” a former Chamber lobbyist told me. Inside the Chamber, this strategy was known colloquially as “views for dues.” According to the former lobbyist, “a large company before [Donohue] arrived would be paying maybe ten to twenty thousand, and overnight would be paying a million dollars. The message was to go after these major companies and get money from as many different funding sources as we could. In return they got greater influence and we did more of their bidding, if you will, on the Hill.”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.verini.html


20 posted on 05/12/2014 12:13:54 PM PDT by kcvl
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