Business has lost influence over the GOP, which is one of Ezra Klein's "13 reasons why Washington is failing":
Here's an amazing fact: The Chamber of Commerce, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting the Republican Party in the last two elections, completely supports the Democratic Party's position right now. They're for a "clean CR" to reopen the government. They want the debt limit raised. They're even considering spending money to protect business-friendly Republicans from tea party challengers.
Business leaders aren't amused
But they're not being listened to. Nor is the Business Roundtable. "There is an element of the more independent, tea party coalition Republicans that, frankly, don't listen to very many people," John Engler, president of the Business Roundtable, told Talking Points Memo. "They are on a mission, often defined on the basis of their view of the world, and they aren't paying very much attention to what this means beyond maybe their own districts.
There are plenty of times when the business community's agenda diverges from the public interest. But the business community needs a functioning government and a growing economy just as much as everyone else does. The problem is they helped elect a group of Republicans that isn't particularly interested in such mundane matters of effective governance.
"The Tea Party comes in and it isn't a case of being responsible," says Greater Washington Board of Trade Director Jim Dinegar. "They don't want to spend a dime, they want to reduce, reduce, reduce. It's a very effective and destructive third party that doesn't play well with others."
