Name:Haley Pobari and Mary Owen Date:12/10/13 Per:3
Interest Group Project ~ AP US Government & Politics ~ Mr. Tumino
Complete a grid for your interest group.
Name of Interest Group: U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Mailing address:
1615 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20062-2000
Website address:
http://www.uschamber.com/
Phone number to contact:
202-659-6000
Summarize the group’s purpose:
In what ways does the group try to
influence the policy process?
How is the group funded?
Essentially, the Chamber of
Commerce exists in order to
strengthen the economy
through increased competition.
The Chamber of Commerce
website listed several areas that
they have established a focus on
to achieve this goal which
include: Tax and entitlement
reform, energy, health care,
capital markets, workforce
competition, infrastructure,
legal reform, innovation, and
regulatory reform.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
consists of more than 1,500
volunteers from member
corporations, organizations, and the
academic community who strive to
develop and implement policy on
major issues affecting the business
industry.
Key to this effort is the work of
committees, subcommittees, task
forces, and who serve voluntarily. In
almost every instance, significant
policy and public issue positions
originate with one of these Chamber
components
What is the major piece of
legislation that concerns the
group?
How closely aligned is the group
aligned with one particular
party/ideology?
The U.S. Chamber’s Institute for
Legal Reform (ILR) hosted its
14th Annual Legal Reform
Summit to explore ways to heal
the U.S. lawsuit system. The daylong summit brought together
top experts to discuss legal
reform’s importance to the
greater business community and
national economy. Participants
addressed and offered remedies
to various issues related to the
U.S. lawsuit system, including
False Claims Act reforms,
litigation trends, class action
loopholes, the effect of U.S.style litigation across the globe,
The Chamber of Commerce is by
definition and by claim bi-partisan,
but many view the interest group
as mainly republican. This claim
comes from the contributions from
the group to the republican
campaign and the fact that most
of the groups donors are big
corporations, including oil
companies, automakers, and
others.
Dues amounts are typically determined
by the size of the member company,
rather than by the number of people
engaged in the chamber from that
company. Some chambers have
adopted pay-as-you-go or funding
models based on specific categories or
quantity of services provided to
member companies. Occasionally,
chambers will “bundle” memberships,
allowing a single dues investment in
one organization to qualify a company
for membership in a group of
chambers. This is sometimes referred
to as “federation” membership and it
can even extend to the national level.
Chambers have other features in
common. Most are led by privatesector employers, self-funded,
organized around boards/committees
of volunteers and independent.
What were the contributions to and
from this group in recent years?
They gave different businesses awards,
for example the corporate citizenship
award, in order to promote social
activism with a focus on the
community, and the worlds problems.
Some of the corporations that won this
award were Walmart, UPS, IBM, and
Citi Bank. The Chamber of Commerce
also have a program called Hiring our
Heroes , and awards were given for
individuals leadership in helping gain
employment for veterans and military
personnel.
and privacy in the digital age.
During today’s Legal Reform
Summit, the following pieces of
original research will be
featured.
Names/politicians associated
with this group
Thomas J Donohue (CEO and
President): in his term, Donohue
has expanded the chamber and
brought global influence
through political lobbying.
R. Bruce Josten (executive vice
president of Government
Affairs): is the most experienced
Government and political affairs
executive. He is second in power
below Donohue.
Give one or two important contributions (judicial, legislative, etc.) from this
group.
Due to Chamber lobbying and outreach, the Jumpstart our Business Startups
Act (JOBS Act) was signed into law. The JOBS Act will enhance capital formation
needed to build new businesses, expand existing ones, and create jobs. SEC
promulgated rules on general solicitation disclosures that include investor
protections. These protections are needed to avoid potential fraud and
preserve efficient capital formation. The SEC and the Public Company
Accounting Oversight Board 3(PCAOB) acknowledged that proposed auditing
standards will now have to go through a cost-benefit analysis for emerging
growth companies as required by the JOBS Act. The action of the SEC and
PCAOB was in response to a Chamber letter on the subject.
Spend time on OpenSecrets.org reading through your interest group’s financial records. What important
information did you learn?
We found that even though the group is bi-partisan, 89% of their contributions are to a republican cause. Almost
all, or over 99% of the donations to the interest group, come from organizations and not individuals. On the same
note, over 95% of the interest group’s contributions go to the funding of 527 groups, which are again tax-exempt
organizations that support political activities, instead of funding candidates.