The Washington Post reports that over the past few years, business groups have heavily bankrolled the conservative Republicans who voted against raising the debt ceiling last week. That’s no surprise. The bigger question is what they’re going to do in the future. Will they continue to support tea party firebrands who threaten the U.S. economy and the health of the business community by playing games with the debt ceiling?
The chief lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Bruce Josten, said the debt-ceiling roll call would be only one of many factors considered by the Chamber when it decides which candidates to support in 2014.
“Everyone has their own number one issue, and in the Chamber’s membership, again unlike any other association, we have a lot of members with a lot of different number one issues,” Josten said.
Similarly, Scott Talbott, senior vice president for policy at the Financial Services Roundtable, said: “This vote will be a factor in the future before we make contributions, though it will not necessarily determine the outcome.”
….Lobbyists say they are also aware that some of the Republicans may have voted against raising the debt ceiling to give themselves political cover from angry tea party constituents, knowing there were enough votes to avoid a default.
Well, that ought to put the fear of God into them! Something tells me that these tea party heroes are getting a somewhat clearer message from groups like Heritage and Club for Growth, that are on the other side of this issue. This story make it pretty obvious that the Chamber of Commerce has no real intention of punishing anyone who voted against the debt ceiling increase; has no real beef with the tea party wing of the GOP; and has accepted that its role is to oppose Democrats but otherwise STFU. Everyone hoping for a bit more adult supervision in the Republican Party is going to have to look elsewhere.
