The U.S. Chamber is getting a lesson in "be careful what you wish for," or be careful what you spend hundreds of millions trying to get. Their investment in securing a GOP House is coming back to bite them.
WASHINGTON—House Republican leaders said Tuesday highway and mass-transit programs should no longer be shielded from budget cuts, and immediately drew fire from states, the construction industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce....
Groups that back more highway spending aren't waiting to see specific cuts to register their opposition. Congress is expected to take up a new multi-year highway and transportation funding bill this year, and a diverse array of groups ranging from the Chamber to big labor unions are calling for more funds to rebuild the nation's infrastructure.
The Chamber, which contributed heavily to GOP congressional candidates in the midterm elections, said in a letter last week that subjecting highway spending to the uncertainty of annual budget cuts would lead to more job losses in the battered industry. The letter was also signed by groups tied to the construction industry....
At stake is about $41 billion a year the federal government provides to states for repairs to roads and subway systems. For most states, the money constitutes almost half of their budgets for highway capital projects.
House Republican leaders plan to bring to a vote as early as Wednesday that would end a congressional policy that since the late 1990s has effectively guaranteed federal highway spending would rise each year.
Unfortunately, the pain will be felt by more than just the Chamber. With the GOP in slash and burn mode, transportation funding might have been the only thing that provided any jobs at all for the foreseeable future. But with pushback coming from the people that matter, i.e., the Chamber, at least this funding might be salvaaged.