In a glimmer of hope for American businesses, President Joe Biden’s administration appears to be steering away from hardline Democrats who want to impose the highest corporate income tax in the industrial world — 28 percent. 

Now, White House officials said that Biden is willing to bend on his tax proposal to gain GOP support for a substantial infrastructure bill.

“He is personally leaning in, willing to compromise, spending time with senators — Democrat and Republican — to find out what is the art of the possible,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo . “The only thing he won’t accept is inaction. It has to be big and bold, $1 trillion or more.”

Bipartisan groups in both houses also indicated Wednesday that they are working to find alternatives to tax increases to pay for the package. 

That doesn’t mean the threat of a harmful tax increase is going away anytime soon, said Erik Paulsen, a former U.S. congressman who now is a consultant with political consulting firm , which is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has in Arizona.  

“It’s good that the new administration is floating new ideas as alternatives rather than just a straight increase to 28 percent, which is what many Democrats in the House and Senate would still like to see,â€� said Paulsen, a former leading member of the chief tax writing House Ways and Means Committee. “It’s important to really view these proposals with a lot of caution because the devil is in the details. There’s lots of fine print.â€�

Compromise possible?  

Biden is backing off of his original request for $2.2 trillion for the infrastructure package, which would be financed by relying heavily on tax increases on corporations and the wealthy. The current corporate income tax rate is 21 percent.

With little support from the GOP, Biden is now calling for at least $1 trillion for the package.

“If anything, it’s pretty safe to assume that Democrats want a rate increase,� Paulsen said. “And they want it badly. Some say 28 percent. Some are saying 25 percent is an acceptable level.�

Congress needs to act with care in considering changes to the current tax code, which came out of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and has fueled jobs, innovation and tax revenues in Arizona, he said. 

“There is the potential that you would be giving up some very real economic incentives that are in the tax code right now and those could go away. These are incentives like research and development or clean energy for instance.�

Bipartisan groups in both houses seeking to avoid tax hikes 

After negotiations with Republicans failed this week, in both houses are working to find consensus on an infrastructure package.    

On Wednesday, a member of the Senate group, which includes Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D), told that it is taking tax hikes off the table as they try to reach consensus on how to pay for the plan after White House negotiations with GOP leaders failed. 

“That’s my understanding. I think there’s ways to do that; hopefully it won’t be smoke and mirrors. Bottom line, this is probably the hardest part from my perspective, is how you get it paid for,” Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said.

The group is expected to produce a $900-billion plan. 

Meanwhile, in the House on Wednesday, the bipartisan released a $1.25 trillion infrastructure plan. It also indicated it is avoiding tax increases right now as they enter into discussions about how to pay for it. Among the proposals being set forth are increased tax enforcement, reducing inheritance tax breaks for the wealthy, and using unspent Covid-19 relief funds. 

Increase would punish more than 1 million small businesses

Pro-business groups, trade associations and chambers of commerce including the Arizona Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce & Industry are calling on Capitol Hill to tread lightly when it comes to raising taxes on companies right now, particularly small businesses.

About 1.4 million small businesses that are organized as C-Corporations will pay the higher rate, according to an by Curtis Dubay, senior economist for the U.S Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­, the world’s largest business organization. 

“There is a false assumption that only big businesses will pay a higher rate. In fact, over a million small businesses— ‘Mom-and-Pop’ retailers, small manufacturers, and professional services firms that often suffered the worst during the pandemic—would also see their tax bills increase significantly,â€� Dubay said. 

These small businesses employ almost 13 million American workers across various sectors. Most are small businesses and many are very small: over 84 percent have fewer than 20 employees. 

“Hardest hit would be the sort of skilled jobs that politicians love to praise, but often in practice, do too little to support,â€� Dubay said. 

They include manufacturing small business C-Corps which employ the most workers, about 1.8 million; professional, scientific, and technical services are next with 1.3 million employees, followed by retail with about 1.2 million workers. 

Report shows more than half of small businesses need time to recover 

Many of these small businesses are just now beginning to return to normalcy, surveys show. According to the latest , 59 percent of small businesses believe it will take more than six months to return to normal.

That should be reason enough to hold off on a punishing tax hike right now, Paulsen said. 

“We’re coming out of a significant economic crisis coming out of the pandemic and we don’t want to see that stall out —and it is stalling out right now. Unfortunately, despite the rebound, it’s not coming back out as robustly as it should be.�

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As Arizona industries produce products in high demand like semiconductors, aircraft engines, electric vehicles and copper ore, the state is well poised to help the world recover from the pandemic.

But strong U.S. leadership is needed to ensure that Arizona and other states are able to flourish on the international stage, said government and business leaders from across the world who spoke at the U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce’s inaugural Global Forum on Economic Recovery. 

“We now join a small number of generations that have collectively experienced disruption on a  global scale“ the president and CEO of the , Suzanne Clark, said at the event. 

Moving forward, the chamber is advocating for policies that will help American businesses better reach the 95 percent of customers that live outside of U.S. borders, she said. 

“The wrong policies from government could stop the U.S. economic recovery in its tracks. That’s why the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ is fighting back against proposals such as raising corporate tax rates to the highest in the developed world, which would disincentivize inbound investment. And it’s why we are fighting for policies to rebuild our infrastructure, welcome global talent, and enable our workforce to get back on the job and drive our economy forward.â€�  

Business and political leaders from 140 countries attend   

Attending the virtual event were government leaders and business executives from 140 countries across six continents. Amazon, Google and UPS were the sponsors. Participants spoke about strategies for recovery. Free enterprise and strong alliances with trading partners were overriding themes. 

Among the speakers were: Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury; the president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta; the president of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez; the prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong; the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates; and others.

Creating roadmap for recovery with U.S. in leadership role  

Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ officials emphasized the need for U.S. leadership to ensure the nation can compete against global rising giants like China.

Clark outlined the chamber’s top three top priorities to accomplish that — strengthen international trade and investment; advocate for policies to allow data and innovation to flow and flourish; and promote legislation to stimulate innovation in technology to reduce greenhouse emissions for a sustainable planet.  

First priority: managing the pandemic

All participants agreed that the most important task is the rapid development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide. While 35 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, other countries are not faring as well, Clark said.  

“A strong U.S. recovery is needed to help lead the global recovery. We also understand that the pandemic won’t be over anywhere until it is over everywhere—no nation will truly get back to strength until all nations get back to health,� Clark said.

To that end, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ has teamed up with the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs of America’s leading companies, and leaders of more than 50 top American companies to form the —a public-private  partnership to coordinate relief for COVID-19 surges globally. Currently, the Task Force is working to address the India crisis.  

Global leaders talk top priorities 

Here are takeaways from some of the speakers:

Janet Yellen, U.S. Treasury secretary 

“America needs to have a strong presence in global markets. We will fight for a level playing field for trade and investment, and we will confront adversaries who take advantage by ignoring or abusing rules and norms of behavior.â€�  

Kent Walker, senior vice president for Global Affairs, Google 

“As hard as the last year has been, it’s shown the value and the potential of technology – millions of small businesses coming online for the first time. A third of businesses are saying that they were able to stay open because of digital connections.â€� 

Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya 

“I personally am very keen on seeing the arrangement between Kenya and the United States under the free trade arrangement coming into force as two countries who understand each other and have similar and shared values. [Who] understand the private sector is really the driver of growth and job creation.â€� 

Antoinette Sayeh, deputy managing director, International Monetary Fund

“Right now, vaccine policy is the most important economic policy. Investing in ensuring everyone rapidly has access to vaccines may well be the highest return public project. If you consider that faster progress in ending this crisis would add almost $9 trillion to global GDP by 2025, enabling over $1 trillion in additional tax revenue, coordinated international action on vaccines is key.�

Iván Duque Márquez, President of Colombia 

“We have to do something very significant in terms of protecting the poorest of the poor and the people who will be the most affected by the crisis and that’s why we launched a social safety net program that has allowed us to attend to almost 10 million families around the country.â€�

Bill Gates, co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 

“You know, the actual cost of being ready for the next pandemic is not gigantic—if you look at the precautionary measures of what we spend on our defense budget, you know this won’t be more than about 1percent of that. Even our overall health research budget, the overall cost of what we, the U.S. teams do, will be about 10 percent of that…Climate on the other hand, the numbers are quite large.â€�

Lee Hsien Loong, prime minister of Singapore  

“You’ve got global trading needing to be on a stable basis in order for companies to import and export trade and develop their business and prosperity. The two countries (U.S.& China) must work together.â€�

Tom Bell, CEO and chairman, Rolls-Royce North America 

“…Incentivizing these sustainable alternative fuels production: It’s wonderful that yesterday an Air France jet left Europe and landed in Canada on sustainable aviation fuel. In this particular case it was a kitchen grease that was repurposed. But let’s be honest, we all don’t want to eat enough french fries to feed that stock, that’s not healthy for the world. So, how are we going to really bring to scale sustainable alternative fuels?â€�

Carol Tomé, CEO, UPS 

“When we think about the impact of the pandemic, we know that women were impacted more than any other group and even before the pandemic women had barriers for global trade… we really gotta think about how we can leverage women at the top and down to grow global trade.â€� 

Erik Oswald, vice president, strategy and advocacy, ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions 

“We’ll need support from many different parties, both private and public, to succeed. Regulatory and legal support at all levels of government will be crucial for establishing incentives and attracting investment. First, we need Congress to allow for Co2 from non-coal sources to be stored offshore. Second, we need a significant increase in the production tax credits in Section 45 to allow more difficult but abundant sources to be captured. And finally, we need government grants for transportation and storage infrastructure that will ultimately facilitate market growth.â€�

Charlene Barshefsky, chair, Parkside Global Advisors 

“Xi Jinping believes that China’s model and its focus on innovation, that its programmatic desire to dominate in industries of the future is the direction of the world. As he says, history is on China’s side and the momentum is on China’s side. And for the United States, the key and most important factor in the nature of the relationship with China is a strong United States economically and militarily—nothing compensates for that and nothing substitutes for it.â€�

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) 

“We can’t be fighting with Mexico and China, and the EU, and South Korea and Japan, we’ve got to come together and say we collectively are going to have to make sure that China understands what the rules of the road are.â€�

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Legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would overturn Arizona’s right-to-work law that has been in place for 75 years, stirring alarm among business groups here and in other states with similar laws.

Advocacy groups like the U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce are calling on the Senate to reject the anti-jobs proposal, saying it would hurt employees, employers, independent contractors and freelancers.  

“The PRO Act would, for all practical purposes, eviscerate Arizona’s right-to-work law, which would mean that workers in the state who happen to be in a union work setting would have to pay dues or they would be at risk of losing their jobs, said Glenn Spencer, senior vice president of the Employment Policy Division at the in Washington, D.C., the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses.

“Their employers may well be forced to terminate them if they don’t wish to pay dues in that setting,â€� said Spencer, who spoke with Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ (CBN) about the implications of the proposed law.

Sweeping proposal would set dangerous precedent 

The PRO Act, which stands for , would enact dozens of sweeping changes to current labor law in favor of unionization. Labor unions like the AFL-CIO are backing the measure. President Joe Biden has promised to sign the bill if it gets to his desk. Meanwhile, Arizona’s two senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly, are current holdouts preventing the bill from moving forward. But the pressure is on. 

Of concern to businesses are a long list of new provisions, from requirements limiting freelancers’ ability to have flexibility over their own hours to allowing union organizers to engage in coercive tactics long held to be illegal.

Simply put, the proposed law would strip employees’ right to decide if they want to be in a union, disrupt the thriving gig economy, and hurt employers’ bottom line, Spencer said. 

Protect or harm workers’ rights?

The U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ and hundreds of business advocacy groups are calling on senators to say “noâ€� to the proposal. In Arizona, , including the Arizona Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce & Industry, are joining the U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ in opposition. 

Proponents of the PRO Act contend the measure would restore fairness to the economy by strengthening the federal laws that protect workers’ right to join a union. But what they fail to mention is the number of measures that could have damaging consequences for employees and job creators, Spencer said. 

Here are some of the key reasons business groups oppose the measure: 

Elimination of right-to-work laws

Currently, Arizona and 26 other states have right-to-work laws, which give workers the choice of whether to join a union. States without right-to-work laws require employees to pay union dues and fees as a requirement for employment. 

“The bill represents a pretty dramatic intrusion into state laws,â€� Spencer said. “States since 1947 have been authorized to pass right-to-work statutes. Courts have ruled on those statutes, and this bill would essentially wipe all that out without any action by the state legislature.â€� 

The Act would allow coercive tactics long held to be unlawful 

Another concerning provision in the PRO Act would be the ability for workers of a company to picket companies that their employer conducts business with, called “secondary boycotts,� Spencer said.

“Most people aren’t aware of that concept and that’s for a very good reason because secondary boycotts and pickets have been illegal since 1947. For more than 70 years it’s been against the law to engage in that kind of activity,â€� he said. “Congress outlawed it specifically because it was so disruptive to the free flow of commerce.â€�

Under current law, union organizers can talk to an employer and employees where they are trying to unionize. If secondary boycotts are allowed under the PRO Act, union organizers could target any businesses the company does business with, occupying their parking lots and disturbing their customers.

“So you can see how widely disruptive a labor dispute at a single company could become. A whole range of neutral third parties that have nothing to do with a labor dispute suddenly get drawn into it,â€� Spencer said. “Just because you’re providing services as a third party, suddenly that could make you the subject of labor protests and pickets around something you really have no part of.â€� 

Strips independent contractors of their classification 

Another concerning aspect of the PRO Act is the redefining of independent contractors and freelancers similar to the controversial that was passed in California in 2019. 

Under AB 5, when a hiring entity claims that the person it hired is an independent contractor, the law requires the application of the “ABC testâ€� to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors. For many independent contractors, the PRO Act would mean they would be considered employees for purposes of federal labor law, giving them the right to unionize. 

In California, the penalties for businesses that “wrongly classify an employee as an independent contractor� are civil penalties of $10,000 for a first violation, $30,000 for “repeat or willful� violations, and 1 percent of net profits if “widespread.�

Given the penalties, it could severely limit ’ ability to get hired, forcing them out of business.

Independent contractors could end up in union without knowing it 

Independent contractors tend to be dispersed, so if a union patches together a bargaining unit of independent contractors, it typically has to occur by mail, Spencer said. 

“What we’ve seen in other contexts like this is that a lot of these workers don’t even realize there’s any kind of union campaign going on and these campaigns are won by a majority of those who actually vote,� he said. “So if you have a hundred independent contract workers, if only 10 voted, six of them would constitute a majority of voters and that would be enough to impose a union on all 100.

“So you’d wake up one morning and suddenly discover you’re a member of a union and you have to pay union dues because right to work is gone.â€� he said. 

Economic growth would likely be hampered 

Research by the U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ shows that right-to-work states tend to have higher rates of economic growth, higher rates of job creation and lower rates of unemployment, Spencer said. 

“So there’s certainly a personal cost to workers, but there’s a larger economic cost to the states as well,â€� he said.  

Sinema and Kelly key players in the debate 

For the most part, Democrats are leading the charge on the PRO Act. There are currently 47 Democrats co-sponsoring the bill in the Senate. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said he will bring the bill to the floor if he can get 50 co-sponsors.

So far, Arizona’s two Democrat senators, Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly have not co-sponsored the bill. One reason given for their reluctance is the lack of bipartisan support for the bill. They also have a large cadre of constituents who support the state’s right-to-work status.

“Senators Sinema and Kelly have not co-sponsored this bill. That’s a good thing. People in Arizona should thank them for standing up for workers and right-to-work and employers,â€� Spencer said. 

Large opposition from business community 

Business leaders and advocacy organizations across the U.S. are sending letters to Congress, calling for an end to the PRO Act, including the , composed of hundreds of organizations representing millions of businesses that employ tens of millions of workers nationwide in nearly every industry.

Arizona chambers calling on Congress to vote “noâ€� 

In Arizona, at least 20 chambers of commerce oppose the measure:

• Arizona Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce & Industry 
• Buckeye Valley Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Chandler Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Carefree Cave Creek Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Coolidge Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Glendale Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Greater Phoenix Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­
• Greater Flagstaff Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Green Valley Sahuarita Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Lake Havasu Area Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Marana Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Nogales-Santa Cruz County Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Peoria Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Prescott Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Prescott Valley Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Queen Creek Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Southwest Valley Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• Surprise Regional Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce
• West Valley Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce Alliance 
• Wickenburg Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce

To read more about why business and industry oppose the bill, visit:.

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Arizona U.S. Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly updated the business community on legislation important to industry and commerce Wednesday during the Arizona Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce & Industry’s annual 2021 Update from Capitol Hill.

The two senators detailed measures in the recent federal relief package that will benefit businesses in Arizona and priorities for the rest of 2021. They also fielded questions about top business concerns including corporate tax rates, preservation of the filibuster, and the feared Pro Act, which has been labeled “the worst bill in Congressâ€� by many in the business community.  

Neil Bradley, executive vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ in Washington, D.C., also offered an insider view into the goings on in the nation’s capital as far as business is concerned. More than 500 attended the virtual event, which was sponsored by Salt River Project and the Arizona Indian Gaming Association. 

How businesses are benefiting from recent federal relief bill 

Senator Sinema (D) talked about measures she has successfully supported and lobbied for in the federal relief packages including the most recent $1.9 trillion .

Sinema emphasized her record of working across the aisle despite criticism from party loyalists at times. For her, ensuring that Arizona employers and employees weather the pandemic is her first priority, not party politics, she said.

“Over the past year, employers have had to make tough choices, adapt, and contend with bureaucratic obstacles that delayed relief,â€� Sinema said. “That’s why as a member of the Senate bipartisan group on Covid relief, I listened closely to Arizona leaders and worked to ensure that the new relief law addresses Arizona’s urgent needs.â€� 

Among the measures Sinema helped to pass are:

Restaurant relief fund: Sinema and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., introduced and helped pass a restaurant relief fund of $28.6 billion to help small and mid-sized restaurants, bars, caterers, food trucks, breweries and other food service providers in need of assistance with rent and operational expenses. It provides grants of up to $10 million per entity with a maximum of $5 million per location based on the difference between 2020 and 2019 revenue. 

Save our Stages Act This legislation created a $15 million fund to provide relief to the entertainment industry like nightclubs, theaters and concert halls. 

Employee Retention Tax Credit This is a refundable against certain employment taxes equal to 50 percent of the qualified wages an eligible employer paid to employees after March 12, 2020, and before January 1, 2021. Eligible employers can get immediate access to the credit by reducing employment tax deposits they are otherwise required to make. Also, if the employer’s employment tax deposits are not sufficient to cover the credit, the employer may get an advance payment from the IRS.

CHIPS for America Act Another bipartisan effort led by Sinema resulted in the CHIPS Act being adopted in December. The CHIPS Act — Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors — established federal grants to enable advanced research and development, secure the supply chain and ensure long-term national security and economic competitiveness. 

Soon after Congress passed the act, announced a $20 billion expansion of its manufacturing operation with two new factories in Arizona, Sinema said. The project is expected to create more than 3,000 permanent, high-wage jobs and more than 3,000 construction jobs, beginning this year. 

Relief for border communities The measure provides $110 million to help border cities and towns overwhelmed trying to provide humanitarian aid to asylum seekers flooding across the border. 

Looking ahead: immigration, infrastructure, broadband

Sen. Kelly, who stepped into public office in December, said he spent his first five months doing a “lot of listeningâ€� to ascertain what is the most effective use of federal dollars in Arizona. Protecting public health while encouraging economic development are top priorities. 

“There’s a lot of work ahead to beat this virus and rebuild our economy. That’s been my focus,â€� said Kelly, who also spoke about his commitment to working in a bipartisan manner. 

In the coming months, Kelly said he is focused on a number of packages with business in mind including:

Infrastructure Congress has failed to pass a major infrastructure bill in the past but there could be enough momentum to get it done this year. The bill would include funding for not only roads and bridges but water and wastewater facilities and the expansion of broadband to shrink the digital divide between the haves and the have nots.

Immigration reform Another top priority is to finally pass immigration reform to secure a future workforce for the state and provide a pathway to citizenship for longtime immigrant employees as well as Dreamers, young adults who were brought here as children by their undcoumented relatives.

Upgrades to ports of entry Keeping the border secure and expanding trade in Arizona will require investing in new technology and infrastructure at ports of entry, another key goal, Kelly said.

“The federal government is failing our state when it comes to border security,� Kelly said. “We need a secure, orderly and safe process at the border.�

Business worries: corporate taxes, filibuster, the PRO Act 

U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ executive Bradley rounded out the event by touching on a number of concerns to businesses. 

One is the growing national debt from three massive Covid relief packages, topping $5 trillion. In order to accomplish an infrastructure package and other important projects, federal relief in the last round should have been more focused and targeted to real need, he said.

“When you think of last spring, we knew Congress had to provide broad based support. But what we’ve seen is not every family, every industry and every state needs relief,â€� Bradley said. 

Bradley also talked about President Biden’s proposal to raise the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent. He does not believe the measure has enough support to succeed, but if it does, it will risk the progress Arizona and the nation have made in becoming more globally competitive, he said. 

Changing the corporate tax rate would likely reverse the successes that followed passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, he said. Prior to the Act, the nation had one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. American companies were looking abroad for growth and new investment. 

“Tax changes would give a leg up for competitors abroad. Why would we want to do that?� he said.

When asked about efforts by many Democrats in Congress to remove the filibuster, Bradley said that would likely hurt the nation, too. With strong division between the right and the left, the filibuster ensures that that congressional members have to work to find common ground, he said.

Another concern is the proposed PRO Act of 2021, which also does not appear to have strong support in Congress, Bradley said. The Act would force employees to pay union dues regardless of whether they support a union, threaten private ballots in union elections, and strip workers of their independent contractor classification.

It’s an issue that is extremely worrisome to Arizona businesses, said Garrick Taylor, interim president and CEO of the Arizona Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­. 

“This proposal is a litany of almost every failed idea from the past three decades of labor policy,� Taylor said. “It would undermine workers rights, most likely trap employers in a maze of labor disputes and force individuals to pay union dues regardless of their wishes.�

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American voters came out in force and elected pro-business leaders on both sides of the aisle last week, including hundreds of local and national candidates endorsed by the United States Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ of Commerce. 

Now, the chamber is calling on those still in power and those about to take power to immediately move forward on two top priorities to help America fully recover from the pandemic. 

“This is a pivotal time for our country, our economy, and for generations of Americans. We not only face the tremendous burden of overcoming a pandemic and recession, but also a historic moment to unleash a new era of inclusive growth, widespread opportunity, and boundless innovation,â€� Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ CEO Thomas Donohue said Monday. 

Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ congratulates president-elect Biden, calls for quick action

After the results of the presidential election became apparent, CEO Donohue quickly congratulated Democrat and President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris. 

Now, is the time to move forward quickly together, he said. 

“The U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ stands ready to work with the Biden administration and leaders on both sides of the aisle to restore public health, revitalize our economy, and help rebuild American lives and communities,â€� Donohue said.

Top priorities for American businesses and workers in 2021    

Now that the election is winding down, national lawmakers, regardless of whether they were reelected, must end the gridlock and act to help businesses and workers still struggling from the pandemic, chamber officials said. 

On Monday, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ listed two it is advocating for at the national level:

1. Pandemic relief for workers and businesses

The first order of business will be pandemic relief for workers and businesses still hurting from COVID-19 setbacks.

The nation still has than it did before the pandemic. The number of long-term unemployed Americans—those unemployed for 27 weeks or longer— continues to rise, hitting 2.6 million last week. Unemployment insurance will expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, have closed. Almost 60 percent, or 100,000, report being permanently closed.

In Arizona, the unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, compared to the nation’s 7.9 percent. But close to residents remain jobless, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

Based on input from members of all sizes across all industries as well as state and local chambers from every state and territory, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ on Monday called on Congress to enact targeted and temporary measures in a phase 4 package that addresses six areas:

• COVID-19 testing and healthcare
• Liability protection against unwarranted coronavirus lawsuits
• Support for small and midsize employers
• Support for childcare and K-12 schools
• Unemployment and job training
• State and local pandemic assistance 

“We have not yet beaten the coronavirus or achieved the economic recovery we all desire. Our leaders have wasted five months already. They can’t waste another three,â€� Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley said Monday. “We urge our leaders on both sides of the aisle to find common ground, finish the work they started, and pass additional relief measures during the lame-duck session to help the businesses, industries, and workers who continue to suffer.â€�

2. A package to rebuild nation’s decaying infrastructure 

Last year, the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ pushed for significant new investments in roads, bridges and broadband but was unable to see the legislation reach the finish line. How to pay for such investment was the main stumbling block.

Enacting an infrastructure modernization plan will ensure the nation’s long-term economic growth and competitiveness, the chamber said. It is recommending a three-prong plan:

Roads, Bridges, and Transit

• Enact changes to ensure that there is sufficient dedicated revenue to maintain the solvency of the Highway Trust Fund
• Enact a long-term infrastructure modernization bill that addresses highways, bridges, air and sea travel, rural areas, broadband, energy, and water 
• Provide a toolkit of options for supplemental funding and financing of other critical infrastructure, including through public-private partnerships, dedicated user fees, and revolving loan programs

Permitting and Regulatory Reform 

• Continue to streamline the federal permitting process, including the use of concurrent reviews and time limits for agency decisions
• Encourage similar permitting reforms at the state and local levels
• Oppose efforts to reregulate transportation industries

Infrastructure and Transportation Workforce 

• Highlight workforce shortages in the infrastructure and transportation sectors and push for regulatory reforms and skills programs to address these shortages

The chamber is calling on citizens and businesses to contact their congressional members to act on these priorities. 

Businesses, citizens must also do their part  

U.S. Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­ President Suzanne Clark says businesses and citizens must also do their part and double down on efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19,  

“Everything that businesses can do to instill confidence in their communities—that it’s okay to be out as long as your following these guidelines� will keep our economy open, she said. “Science is going to save us, but the role businesses have in getting us to the other side is really gigantic.�

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