By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A Congressional observer says a lot has changed in Washington lately, and not for the better.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President for Governmental Affairs, Ron Eidshaug, spoke at the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Chairman’s Breakfast at the St. Joseph Country Club, giving Chamber members an update on Congressional action.
He tells reporters afterward Congress has become more partisan, even with the margins between Democrats and Republicans being so thin.
“It takes two to Tango and it seems that there’s an unwillingness on both sides to reach out to the other side on many of the issues that are out there,” Eidshaug says. “Right now, the Democrats are in control and they haven’t shown a lot of willingness to reach out on many issues.”
The United Sates House of Representatives is as close as it has ever been, with 221 Democrats holding the majority over 213 Republicans. There is one vacancy. The Senate is evenly split at 50-50 with Democrats holding the tie-breaker in Vice President Kamala Harris.
Eidshaug says he has been somewhat surprised Democrats have pressed such a partisan agenda with little effort to reach out to Republicans.
Still, Congress has agreed to coronavirus pandemic spending as well as a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that the Chamber supported even though Eidshaug acknowledges the Chamber didn’t support some aspects of the measure.
The $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, dubbed the reconciliation bill, is another matter. Eidshaug says the Chamber adamantly opposes it, calling it a progressive’s wish list. He says the Chamber fears the legislation will fuel even more spending than currently in the economy now, by flooding the economy with even more money than already spent to fight COVID-19 and its aftereffects.
Eidshaug says Congress should be working on bills dealing with military funding, transportation, and international competitiveness, among other issues.
“But those have been sort of pushed to the wayside of a very, very extreme collection of government spending, new requirements, new taxes on business that are extraordinarily troubling,” according to Eidshaug.
Eidshaug adds Congress needs to address the national workforce shortage, which he calls the biggest challenge facing business.
“Whether you’re a small business, whether you’re a big business, whatever the region of the country is, getting workers who are qualified, getting workers to just show up and get the job done is really, really a pressing concern and something that we would like to see some more action on,” Eidshaug says.
Eidshaug says Congress also needs to address the debt ceiling, military spending, and transportation issues.