Chamber Of Commerce Head Calls For The Repeal Of Health Care Reform

By Rachel Whitt

During the annual State of American Business speech Tuesday, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue endorsed Republican efforts to repeal the health care reform law.

“We see the upcoming House vote as an opportunity for everyone to take a fresh look at health care reform—and to replace unworkable approaches with more effective measures that will lower costs, expand access, and improve quality,” Donohue said.

The repeal vote was initially scheduled to take place in the House this Wednesday. However, the Congressional leadership has postponed the bulk of their legislative activity following the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in Tucson, Arizona this Saturday.

According to Donohue, the Chamber, which has often been at odds with the Obama administration, will also focus on combating “excessive regulation.”

“In recent years we have seen an unprecedented explosion of new regulatory activity,” Donohue said. “The administration is likely to turn increasingly to the regulatory agencies now that getting legislation out of congress could be more difficult.”

However, Donohue did promise that the Chamber would work with the White House on some key issues, including infrastructure investment and the pursuit of free trade of agreements. In addition, Donohue praised the White House for their work on education reform and appointing pro-business allies such as the new Chief of Staff William Daley.

The Chamber’s head provided an optimistic outlook of economic recovery and predicted that the U.S. economy will expand by 3.2 percent this year and pick up 2.4 to 2.6 million jobs.