Chamber presents its jobs plan to Obama

Looking ahead to the president’s jobs address, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent an open letter to the White House and lawmakers Monday identifying measures which it says will boost employment and help stimulate the struggling economy.

Chamber President Thomas Donohue called on the administration and lawmakers to pass pending trade deals, increase spending on infrastructure, ease restrictions on oil drilling and provide temporary tax breaks to corporations.

“There are specific steps Congress and the administration can take right now to spur faster job growth in America’s private sector without adding to the deficit,” wrote Donohue in the letter.

But while many of the measures proposed by the Chamber overlap with ideas floated by the administration, there are also key differences.

The Chamber’s letter echoes Obama's calls for government to accelerate spending on infrastructure projects.

“Government at all levels is standing in the way of badly needed improvements in the nation’s infrastructure,” the letter reads.

Infrastructure investments are expected to be a central element of Obama’s jobs plan. Last week, the president called on lawmakers to pass a short-term extension of a surface transportation authorization bill.

The Chamber also called for passage of three pending trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama. There’s general agreement between Obama and congressional Republicans on passing the trade accords. 

The White House however is reluctant to send the bills to Capitol Hill until GOP leaders promise to push through Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), a worker-retraining program that Democrats say is essential to any trade package.

Other proposals from the Chamber may run counter to the White House's own measures.

The Chamber urged the administration and Congress to reduce tax rates so that corporations may repatriate profits earned overseas. They estimate that a repatriation tax holiday could pump $1.2 trillion into the economy and claim that it would also create 2.9 million jobs.

Liberal groups though have pushed back against proposals for a repatriation tax holiday and Obama has said he will only consider the idea as part of a broader overhaul of the corporate tax code.

Additionally the Chamber called for a reduction in the corporate capital gains tax rate. Many Democrats are reluctant to grant more tax relief without assurances corporations will resume hiring.

The Chamber’s push for rolling back more regulations might also face resistance from some Democrats.

The letter claims that regulatory relief could “begin moving $1 trillion - $2 trillion in accumulated private capital off of the sidelines and into business expansion.”

The Chamber urged the president to issue an executive order directing agencies “not to issue any discretionary regulations that would have a substantial economic impact – until our rates of GDP and employment growth have substantially improved.”

House Republicans have taken up the Chamber’s push for regulatory relief. The GOP will push for passage of the REINS Act when lawmakers return from recess.  The act would require all major regulations to get a vote in Congress.

The chamber also called on Washington to streamline visa applications and speed up airport security screening for low-risk travelers, proposals they argue will boost small businesses focused on travel and tourism.

"We're interested to listen to other ideas that meet the same criteria: Quick, fast, workable, and not costing new money,” Chamber President Donohue said in an interview with the Associated Press.

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