President Barack Obama walked from the White House across the street to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 7 to urge businesses to work with the administration and invest in American jobs. However, the president gave little indication that the administration plans to roll back environmental rules that many in the business community consider burdensome.
Emphasizing many of the points he made in his Jan. 25 State of the Union address, Obama said the administration is making investments in biotechnology, information technology and clean energy technology. In the State of the Union, the president called for greater investment in clean energy sources, including not just wind, solar and other renewables, but also clean coal, natural gas and nuclear power. He advocated a goal of generating 80% of the nation's electricity from "clean energy" sources by 2035.
Noting that U.S. companies have nearly $2 trillion sitting on their balance sheets, the president urged business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to "get in the game" and help create U.S. jobs.
The president emphasized his administration's effort to reconsider and roll back "outdated and unnecessary regulations." He added, "I've ordered a government-wide review, and if there are rules on the books that are needlessly stifling job creation and economic growth, we will fix them."
Obama noted that the EPA has delayed greenhouse gas permitting rules for the biomass industry "based on the need for further scientific analysis." However, he added, "Even as we eliminate burdensome regulations, America's businesses have a responsibility, as well, to recognize that there are some basic safeguards, some basic standards that are necessary to protect the American people from harm or exploitation."
In particular, the president made it clear that rules ensuring clean air and clean water are valued by all Americans. "Not every regulation is bad. Not every regulation is burdensome on business. A lot of the regulations that are out there are things that all of us welcome in our lives. Few of us would want to live in a society without rules that keep our air and water clean."
Obama highlighted trade deals that will ease the way for exports of American products. "We recently signed export deals with India and China that will support more than 250,000 jobs here in the United States. We finalized a trade agreement with South Korea that will support at least 70,000 American jobs," he said. "That's the kind of deal that I will be looking for as we pursue trade agreements with Panama and Colombia, as we work to bring Russia into the international trading system. Those are going to be our top priorities because we believe Americans have the best products and the best businesses, and if we're out there selling and we're out there hustling, there's no reason why we can't do a lot better than we're doing right now when it comes to our exports."
Obama's address came just days after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy released a plan that it said represents the business community's perspective on how Congress should best pursue new energy resources and streamline energy regulations.
The plan, "Facing Our Energy Realities: A Plan to Fuel Our Recovery," resulted from an "Energy Reality Tour" in which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found the business community "gravely concerned about the direction of our energy policy." The plan recommends reducing regulatory uncertainty through streamlining federal regulations. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for example, called on Congress to take control of the siting of new transmission lines to eliminate uncertainty.
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