Federal Issues

  • Card Check/Employee Free Choice Act
    The Chamber opposes passage of the Card Check Bill which was blocked in the Senate after passing in the House in the last session of Congress. Democrats have made this one of the top legislative priorities in 2009. Organized labor made support for the Card Check Bill a litmus test for candidates that it supported in the 2008 elections. President Obama indicated he would sign the bill if passed by Congress. Under current law, if union organizers collect signatures from at least 30 percent of the employees in a bargaining unit, the federal National Labor Relations Board will hold an election to determine whether to certify the union. This process, established and refined through decades of experience, carefully balances the interests of employees, unions, and employers in order to ensure that workers can hear all sides and then make up their minds and vote in private, without intimidation or coercion. Today a majority of elections are held within 39 days and a majority of union elections are won by organized labor. Because union density has dropped so low (to about 7.5 percent in the private sector), organized labor is seeking to change the rules and make it easier to organize. The card check bill would do just that - instead of determining whether a union would be certified through a federally-supervised secret ballot election, the union would be certified the moment it collected a majority of signed authorization cards. The Card Check Bill would therefore eliminate the campaign period and the legal requirements that regulate it, not to mention eliminating the ability of employees to make an informed decision in private. Instead, employee decisions on unionization would be made in front of union organizers greatly increasing the opportunity for coercion and pressure in the union organizing process. The Card Check Bill's mandatory interest arbitration provisions would remove any incentive for the employer or the union to adopt realistic bargaining positions, as each would be posturing for the arbitrator, and would give the arbitrator control of the most basic business decisions. Eliminating the secret ballot process runs counter to that which Americans value most, the ability to make decisions in private and without coercion.
  • DREAM ACT
    The Chamber supports passage of the DREAM ACT that will provide higher educational opportunities for high school students that came to the U.S. under the age of 16, are long term U.S. residents of five or more years, have good moral character, and attend an institution of higher learning or enlist in the military for at least two years. The legislation would allow states to grant in-state tuition rates to these young adults. The DREAM ACT would also provide these young people an ability to move towards permanent residency.
  • Immigration Reform
    The Chamber supports immigration reform that provides for increased national security and control of our nation’s borders including a workable, and accurate employment verification system; create an efficient temporary worker program that allows employers to recruit immigrant workers when domestic workers are unavailable; and allow for earned legal status leading to legal permanent residency for qualified and screened undocumented immigrants now in the country after a lengthy test period, the paying of fines, and working toward achieving English language proficiency.
  • Preserve Right to Work Laws
    Oppose legislation that would prohibit states from passing right-to-work legislation. The National Labor Relations Act allows states to enact laws that preserve an employee’s right to have a job in a union workplace without joining a union. Organized labor wants to take this option away from states by passing a national law.
  • Preserve The 2001 And 2003 Tax Relief, Retool Our Corporate Tax Structure
    Allowing the 2001/2003 tax reliefs to expire would represent the largest tax increases in American history. These should be made permanent. Our corporate tax rates are among the highest in the developed world. These rates should be reduced in order to stimulate our economy.
  • Secure America's Energy Future
    We must move on a path towards an effective long-term energy policy for our future. We must aggressively promote energy efficiency, reduce the environmental impact of energy consumption and production, expand domestic oil and gas exploration and production, commit to and expand nuclear energy use, commit to the use of clean coal, increase renewable sources of electricity, and reduce overly burdensome regulations and opportunities for frivolous litigation. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has outlined an aggressive program which can be found at http://www.energyxxi.org/reports/Transition_Plan.pdf.
  • Support U.S. Infrastructure Improvements
    America's infrastructure-the transportation, telecommunications, energy, and water networks that constitute the physical platform of our economy-is showing its age. Without proper infrastructure investment, our nation's economic stability, potential for job growth, and competitiveness are threatened. We support the U.S. Chamber's Let's Rebuild America initiative, which advocates for the need to modernize and expand our nation’s infrastructure. This initiative focuses on driving public awareness, expanding research efforts, and building strong political action toward four key goals: (1) Establish infrastructure as a core economic issue and a high priority at all levels of government. (2) Engage the public to support sound policies and greater public and private infrastructure investment. (3) Remove obstacles to private investment in infrastructure capacity and promote policies that streamline project delivery. (4) Ensure adequate public sector investment guided by effective policies and programs. A full copy of the report can be found at:
    http://www.uschamber.com/assets/lra/081209lra_transition.pdf.
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