The U.S. Chamber in the news - August 16

Tech companies make progress on 'blood phones' and 'conflict minerals'

A rule tucked into 2010 financial reform legislation in the United States may soon require companies to disclose whether they source metals form conflict zones. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to vote on those rules concerning conflict minerals on August 22. Some business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, say the SEC should reconsider the rules because they are too expensive or complex to implement.

EPA’s hazy outlook threatens to bankrupt coal-fired power plants

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a report titled, “EPA’s New Regulatory Front: Regional Haze and the Takeover of State Programs,” highlights how the EPA, along with court-mandated deadlines, has wheedled its way into state territory by delaying state plans for emission control.

“By combining this tactic of delaying approval of the state plans with Sue and Settle and a court-imposed deadline to act, EPA has manufactured a loophole to provide itself with the ability to reach into the state haze decision-making process and supplant the state as decision maker. EPA has, effectively, engineered a way to get around the protections of state primacy built into the Regional Haze statute by Congress.”

Maine small business group tells U.S. Chamber: 'Go back to Washington'

A Maine small-business coalition with about 3,400 members says it has a simple message for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: "Go home."

"The U.S. Chamber doesn't care about small businesses in Maine," said Craig Saddlemire, a Lewiston city councilor and local small business owner. "These are the guys who lobbied for BP after the spill in the Gulf. They backed the health insurance industry over small businesses during the health care debate. Their CEO says that outsourcing is a good idea and that people who lose their jobs should 'stop whining.'"

Elections: Look carefully at attack ad sponsor

Whenever I see an attack ad on television, I look to see who paid for it, and the recent attacks on Sen. Jon Tester seem to come from two main sources: the United States Chamber of Commerce and something called the Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies.

According to the group U.S. Chamber Watch, in 2009, just 16 companies accounted for 55 percent of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s total budget of $200 million – and that was in a non-election year. $86.2 million of that total came from health insurers. And guess what the recent attack ads against Tester focused on? You got it – his support of our new national health care policies.