In a Bit of a Turnaround, Business Groups Huddle With Dems

By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff Thu Jul 17, 12:07 AM ET

Senate Democrats met Wednesday with leaders of business groups once closely identified with the GOP, perhaps catalyzing the realignment of Capitol Hill alliances as Democrats prepare to expand their majority.

For the 15 Democratic senators, a group that included Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., it was a departure from outreach meetings with organizations, such as environmental groups, already readily identified with the Democratic Party.

"This is the first time we have brought together all of the major business organizations in one place to have a discussion with us about working together and issues that affect their members," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who organized the meeting in her role as chairwoman of the Democrats' Steering and Outreach Committee.

Former Republican Rep. Jim Greenwood, now the president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, described it as "sort of like [Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell bringing all the labor unions in town together."

Many of the business groups represented, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Beer Wholesalers Association and America's Health Insurance Plans, have significantly increased the percentage of their political contributions that go to Democrats, according to CQ MoneyLine.

Those contributions and the rosy electoral outlook for the majority party suggest that business groups have an interest in acclimating themselves to working with Democrats to advance their agendas. Democrats are eager to reap the political benefits of getting business groups to buy into the party's agenda.

"We know that the White House and the Republican leadership would prefer the business community not work with us. But the reality is ... it's the Democrats putting forward the agenda that is beneficial to their members," Stabenow said. "Part of this for us is to indicate to them that if they are willing to step up and work in a positive way on issues rather than just make decisions based on what a Republican president wants, we can really get things done."

"Nobody ignored the fact that sometimes the politics haven't been aligned," said an industry-side participant who described the meeting as encouraging.

The Democratic senators pointed to possible confluences of interest in the legislative agendas of the Democratic Party and the gathered organizations, including technology issues, health care and the extension of expiring business tax breaks, according to participants.

"I viewed it as a continuation of conversations that our group has had with these same senators," said former Texas Rep. Steve Bartlett, who is now head of the Financial Services Roundtable. "Sometimes we agree with them and sometimes we don't."

Bartlett noted that his association favors the housing bill Democrats are moving through Congress but opposes pending energy legislation.

Democrats were interested in figuring out how better to court business groups than they have in the past, Greenwood said.

"They wanted to know how the Senate majority can work better with each of our trade associations, the industries we represent, what it is we may have liked better about working with the Republican majority and what it is that has frustrated us [about Democrats]," Greenwood said.

For Greenwood's biotechnology group, the frustration comes from listening to lawmakers "extol the virtues of biotechnology ... on one day and then turn around the next day and attack and lambaste the drug industry."

He said it should not be surprising to see Democrats working to establish stronger ties to the business community.

"It's a fairly normal thing for a new majority to do, and that is to remember that politics is ultimately about addition and not subtraction," he said.

Here is a list of the groups that had representatives at the meeting with Democrats:

American Association of Certified Public Accountants

American Bankers Association

America's Health Insurance Plans

Associated General Contractors of America

Biotechnology Industry Organization

Business Roundtable

Financial Services Roundtable

Independent Community Bankers

Mortgage Bankers Association

National Association of Manufacturers

National Beer Wholesalers Association