Lobbyists for the nation's leading business groups have been toasting the success of what they describe as an unprecedented effort this year to help elect President Bush and Republican congressional candidates. Now they plan to collect on that investment.
Business was generally pleased with the first four years under Bush, but Tuesday's victory now brings within grasp some of the things it was unable to secure in his first term.
The list, according to interviews with lobbyists and trade associations, includes making tax cuts for capital gains and dividends permanent, limiting liability lawsuits, changing bankruptcy laws and opening previously restricted land in Alaska and elsewhere for energy exploration.
Business groups also count on more narrow shifts, such as changing health insurance rules in a way that benefits some of the GOP's most ardent allies, easing corporate government reform measures at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and making specific adjustments to the tax code.
Bush's first term brought tax cuts, loosened rules on clean-air standards and workplace safety sought by business, and Medicare reforms emphasizing private sector solutions.
Campaign support from business this election did not come in the form of higher direct contributions to campaigns รข€” business giving roughly matched the $1.2 billion donated in 2000.
The big push came from a new direction as trade associations and Washington lobbyists, flexing their grass-roots skills as never before, produced elaborate get-out-the-vote drives in battleground states.
Thousands of businesses urged their employees to vote and educated them on pro-business positions.
Business was generally pleased with the first four years under Bush, but Tuesday's victory now brings within grasp some of the things it was unable to secure in his first term.
The list, according to interviews with lobbyists and trade associations, includes making tax cuts for capital gains and dividends permanent, limiting liability lawsuits, changing bankruptcy laws and opening previously restricted land in Alaska and elsewhere for energy exploration.
Business groups also count on more narrow shifts, such as changing health insurance rules in a way that benefits some of the GOP's most ardent allies, easing corporate government reform measures at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and making specific adjustments to the tax code.
Bush's first term brought tax cuts, loosened rules on clean-air standards and workplace safety sought by business, and Medicare reforms emphasizing private sector solutions.
Campaign support from business this election did not come in the form of higher direct contributions to campaigns รข€” business giving roughly matched the $1.2 billion donated in 2000.
The big push came from a new direction as trade associations and Washington lobbyists, flexing their grass-roots skills as never before, produced elaborate get-out-the-vote drives in battleground states.
Thousands of businesses urged their employees to vote and educated them on pro-business positions.
And the poor stiffs bought it.
The drug industry was the biggest spender of any industry in the 2000 and 2002 elections. Its contributions, always difficult to trace, were even more obscure this cycle.
...PhRMA spokesman Jeff Trewhitt declined to discuss campaign-related spending but said the organization had two major priorities: keeping the Bush Medicare drug plan on track in 2006 and blocking efforts to permit importing drugs from Canada. The association's members were concerned about proposals by Democratic candidate Sen. John F. Kerry that would encourage Medicare to bargain for lower drug prices.
...PhRMA spokesman Jeff Trewhitt declined to discuss campaign-related spending but said the organization had two major priorities: keeping the Bush Medicare drug plan on track in 2006 and blocking efforts to permit importing drugs from Canada. The association's members were concerned about proposals by Democratic candidate Sen. John F. Kerry that would encourage Medicare to bargain for lower drug prices.
You mean it's not because the drugs aren't safe? It's because the drug companies are lobbying against it and funding the GOP campaigns? It just can't be!
Oil and gas companies that have been loyal benefactors of the Bush-Cheney ticket are likely to see immediate results. The Interior Department is expected to announce decisions in the next few weeks that would permit some oil and gas drilling on once-protected land on Colorado's Roan Plateau and New Mexico's Otera Mesa.
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