Kos' Joan McCarter: Why does the US Chamber of Commerce hate US consumers?

Why does the US Chamber of Commerce hate U.S. consumers
by Joan McCarter

Wed, Jan 19, 2011 at 06:30 PM PST

Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue has declared war on the American consumer, telling Congress to "starve to death financially" the consumer financial protection bureau.  What will really send a chill down your spine: he "added that the Chamber would be “deeply involved in the regulatory rulemaking” moving forward."

In an address before 200 business executives in Minneapolis yesterday, Donohue pledged to “starve to death financially” new regulatory agencies:

He decried a “regulatory tsunami” that is “keeping your children out of work, that’s putting your father out of work.” He called for the repeal of health care reform, said the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation vastly overreached, and described the consumer protection agency created by that legislation as, “the most intrusive you’ve ever seen anywhere.” He pledged to work with Congress to “starve to death financially” new regulatory agencies and rule-writing efforts.

This is a pretty clear declaration that the Chamber will push Republicans to complete their drive to defund the Consumer Protection Bureau, denying it the money it needs to get off the ground. (In July, the Bureau will begin to receive an independent funding stream from the Federal Reserve.) Donohue also seems to want to deny funding to the other federal regulatory agencies involved in implementing Dodd-Frank.

The Chamber of Commerce needs to be kept as far away from the regulatory rulemaking process as they can be, though with their ally Bill Daley in the White House, it doesn't seem likely that they'll be denied access to the executive branch rulemakers. They essentially own the House majority now, so they'll have plenty of help there in their drive to starve not just the CFPB, but any agency that threatens profits at the expense of keeping Americans healthy, safe, and not at the mercy of their corporate overlords. They've got the House, they need to be stopped by the White House.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2011/1/19/937391/-Why-does-the-US-Chamber-of-Commerce-hate-U.S.-consumers