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Big business is lining up to support President-elect Obama’s plan to
stimulate the economy with the biggest spending spree on roads, bridges
and other infrastructure projects since the Eisenhower administration.
Business
groups believe injecting funds into rebuilding America’s roads and
highways could put thousands back to work at a time of rising
unemployment. As a result, lobbyists from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) are asking
lawmakers and Obama’s transition team to funnel federal funds to
“shovel-ready” projects as the best way to stimulate the flagging
economy.
“Our view is we need significant investments
in the nation’s infrastructure to meet the needs of the 21st century,”
said Aric Newhouse, NAM’s senior vice president of policy and
government relations.
“Most important to us is that
President-elect Obama is focused on putting money into real projects
that are ready to go,” said Janet Kavinoky, director of transportation
infrastructure at the Chamber.
Support from business groups
that generally are aligned with Republicans could help move Obama’s
stimulus legislation forward. House Minority Leader John Boehner
(R-Ohio) last week voiced opposition to public spending projects,
arguing that “now is not the time to make matters even worse by asking
taxpayers to pay for a slate of new government spending in the name of
‘economic stimulus.’ ” He argued for tax cuts to stimulate the economy.
Not every GOP-leaning business lobby is as excited about Obama’s plans.
Jade
West, senior vice president of government relations for the National
Association of Wholesalers-Distributors (NAW), said her trade group is
worried the massive spending — lawmakers have talked of spending $500
billion to $700 billion for Obama’s stimulus — could lead to
substantial tax hikes in years to come.
“There is no better
way to kill an economic recovery than to raise taxes, even by Congress
failing to extend the 2001 and 2003 cuts,” West said, referring to the
Bush tax cuts. NAWD has not taken a position on Obama’s stimulus
proposal.
At the same time, West said it’s possible the
public spending might be necessary to deal with a recession that some
economists say could be the worst in decades.
“It is an alarming amount of money, but we might need to spend that kind of money to kick-start the economy,” West said.
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