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Tags: business | GOP | reform | tax

NYT: Business Leaders Cautiously Optimistic GOP Gains Will Boost Their Agenda

By    |   Thursday, 06 November 2014 11:23 AM EST

U.S. business leaders grew a bit more hopeful about achieving their legislative goals after the Republican Party scored major victories in the mid-term elections, taking control of the Senate.

Business luminaries hope for approval of the Keystone oil pipeline, corporate tax reform, immigration reform, regulatory relief on the environment and financial system and approval of trade deals with Europe and Asia, The New York Times reports.

"There is a pent-up demand for legislative action, and there was a logjam because of the campaign," Bill Miller, senior vice president at the Business Roundtable, tells The Times.

"The three issues we've got teed up now are corporate tax reform, then immigration reform, as well as getting new trade agreements passed."

But the business leaders are realistic enough not to get their hopes up too much. On many issues, such as immigration, there is widespread disagreement among Republicans themselves.

"There's been dysfunction for the last several years in the leadership of both political parties and both branches of government," Doug Oberhelman, chief executive of Caterpillar, tells The Times.

"People are fed up, and this should be a wonderful wake-up call for our leaders," he adds. "Both parties should hear it, and if they don't we're headed for a really big tidal wave in 2016."

"With the Republicans controlling both houses, the corporations that have been financing their campaigns for years are going to expect to see a return on their investment," notes Robert Shapiro, chairman of Sonecon, a Washington economic and security consulting firm, who was former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration.

And on some issues where Republicans may be able to unite, such as financial reform, President Obama stands ready with his veto pen.

Meanwhile, CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow, a Moneynews Insider, wasn't too impressed with President Obama's press conference Wednesday in which he pledged to work with Republicans where possible.

"I don't think the president recognizes or wishes to admit that the votes [Tuesday] were for a change in direction of economic policy, of healthcare policy, of immigration policy, of all the policies," Kudlow said on the air.

"I also think even though I'm an immigration reform guy, if it's done right, if he goes ahead and uses executive action to legalize and deport and whatever, he is going to create such a rat's nest of arguments and screaming. It will block out any hope of deals, and he knows that."

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U.S. business leaders grew a bit more hopeful about achieving their legislative goals after the Republican Party scored major victories in the mid-term elections, taking control of the Senate.
business, GOP, reform, tax
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2014-23-06
Thursday, 06 November 2014 11:23 AM
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