America’s Businesses Are ‘Fed Up’ With Washington Amid Overregulation, Inflation, Border Crisis: US Chamber

CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, speaks during plenary session of the 9th Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 10, 2022. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. businesses are dissatisfied with Washington’s attempts to overregulate firms and its inability to deal effectively with issues such as the border crisis and inflation, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently said, while highlighting the dangers of foreign regulation.

“There is a long and meaningful list of policy priorities that our lawmakers should tackle, things that only they can do. There is an equally long list for what government shouldn’t do—and overregulation is at the top. It is not the role of government to direct the behavior of business, redistribute power in our economy, or undermine the competition that fuels free enterprise,” Chamber CEO Suzanne Clark said during an event on Jan. 12.

“Business demands better from our government. Because when it comes to Washington, the state of American business is fed up.”

Over the past two years, “unprecedented regulatory overreach” has accelerated. Last year, Clark pledged that if the Biden administration does not stop getting in the way of businesses through overregulation, the chamber would “lead the fight to stop it.”

The chamber eventually sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Clark warned that the chamber won’t hesitate to “do it again” if such actions are necessary to protect business interests, preserve competition and innovation, and position the American economy for growth.

In July’s lawsuit against the FTC, the commerce chamber accused the organization of circumventing due process and utilizing “dubious legal means to achieve preordained ends.” The FTC was accused of potentially coordinating with foreign governments to block mergers that the U.S. law may not have prohibited as well as circumventing civil service laws.

In September 2022, the chamber filed a lawsuit against the CFPB, challenging an update it made to the unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices of its examination manual.

“When regulations are driven by ideological agendas and imposed on business without transparency, accountability, or clarity—government isn’t working,” the chamber head stated.

A survey published in March 2022 by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers showed that “federal overregulation” was deemed the number-one threat facing businesses in the sector in 2022.

Last year, the Independent Community Bankers of America told the CFPB that easing the regulatory burden of rural community banks would drive prosperity in such regions.

Foreign Regulation

Clark insisted on the need for the United States to “set global standards and global policy.” Even though American innovation, investment, and creativity have established a template for prosperity that other nations follow, this is now at risk due to overregulation by foreign governments.

Digital regulations and taxes now target American companies “almost exclusively.” Such actions threaten to choke sectors that are presently the main drivers of economic growth.

For instance, the European Union Digital Markets Act that came into effect in November 2022 aims to regulate tech giants. The law also affects American tech companies such as Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Amazon.

Clark also called on Washington to “stand strong” against China’s intellectual property theft and digital protectionism.

Clark gave the example of GMOs and how they are banned “despite scientific evidence of their safety.” This makes it much harder to feed a hungry world, she claimed. Similarly, nuclear plants are being shut down at a time when clean, safe energy is needed.

Clark asked government leaders to put pressure on the world’s regulatory councils, warning that regulatory overreach “endangers the dynamism” needed for a fragile global economy.

In areas where regulation is needed, like artificial intelligence or data privacy, it is America that should set the standard, she said. “Congress should pass good legislation here, not simply leaving it to places like Brussels.”

Other Challenges

Clark also criticized the Biden administration for being unable to deal with a border crisis that allows millions of illegal aliens into the country while at the same time making it difficult to get visas processed for nurses and engineers that “businesses are desperate to hire.”

Inflation is another challenge that businesses are facing, she noted. Despite rising prices, businesses still have to pay workers, buy supplies, set pricing strategies, and “make ends meet.”

And if American workers do not procure necessary skills, it will create a labor shortage that can fuel inflation and act as a barrier to long-term growth and competitiveness, she warned.

Clark shed light on Washington’s energy policy which created a “false, binary choice” between energy transition and energy security.

“Let me close with a message to our partners in government today: Do your jobs, so we can do ours. Make government work, so business can keep working ... so we can keep doing the things that society needs, expects, and trusts us to do,” she stated.

Issues like inflation have been plaguing businesses for a long time. JPMorgan Chase’s 2023 Business Leader Outlook survey found that 45 percent of small businesses and 91 percent of mid-size businesses saw inflation as a major challenge.

According to a recent survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, inflation was cited as the single most important business problem by 32 percent of respondents.