Chamber of Commerce Loses a Member
This is huge news:
Amid a growing split in the business community over climate policy, Pacific Gas and Electric, a major California utility, is withdrawing from the United States Chamber of Commerce, citing “fundamental differences” with the chamber’s approach to global warming.
“We find it dismaying that the chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored,” Peter A. Darbee, the chairman of PG&E, wrote in a letter to the chamber.
Remember, the Chamber of Commerce isn’t just a leading climate change denier—so extreme that utility companies are having problems with it. The Chamber is also a major opponent of just about any change in law that would benefit working people. It’s a major opponent of health care reform. They’ve lobbied against health care reform.
Recent polls have shown that a broad majority of Americans favor a “public option” for health insurance. Yet public opinion may not be as powerful a force as the lobbying efforts of industries seeking to protect the status quo. Consumer groups that favor President Obama’s proposals to lower costs and expand coverage are being decidedly outspent and out-lobbied by drug manufacturers, insurers, HMOS and doctors’ associations.
In the first three months of 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has spent more money on lobbying since 1998 than any other company, trade association, or advocacy group, and the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America (PhARMA)–the No. 6 all-time spender–paid lobbyists a combined $22.5 million to promote their interests.
And they’ve run misleading ads against it.
The Chamber of Commerce is a major opponent of the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Chamber of Commerce tries to pretend they speak for small business owners, because small businesses are popular. In reality, in the words of one small business owner,
“The US Chamber of Commerce doesn’t speak for small businesses any more than Burger King speaks for cows. While the Chamber works overtime to represent the narrow interests of bloated, wealthy corporations, our nation’s small businesses are struggling simply to keep their doors open.
The Chamber uses small businesses as a cover while it advances the interests of multinational corporations—against small business owners, against working people, against families, against children. Their climate change denialism is a perfect example of how they’ll hurt any and all of us to benefit big money.
Next time you hear the Chamber of Commerce trying to pretend their policies are in your best interest, remember: They’re Burger King, and in their eyes, you’re a cow.
(And PS, no, you are not a cow.)
Update: Add another one: New Mexico utility holding company PNM Resources has left the Chamber over its climate change position as well.
Tags: Chamber of Commerce, Employee Free Choice Act, Health Care
