Business Roundtable today released "Invested in America -- A Growth Agenda for the U.S. Economy," calling on Congress and the Obama Administration to enact policies that will revive the private-sector investment needed for stronger economic growth and hiring. This ambitious economic growth plan for 2014 challenges political leaders to act now on four key priorities: tax reform, trade promotion, immigration reform and fiscal stability.
BRT Chairman Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO of AT&T, previewed the report in a Wall Street Journal column today, "It's
All About Growth: America's Future Depends on It." Joined by BRT President John Engler, he also briefed reporters on the growth agenda at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.
The report, letters to Congress and the Administration, a news release and other materials related to the economic growth plan can be found at www.brt.org/growth. Video excerpts are available here.
News coverage has been serious and detailed. A round-up:
Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire, "New Head of Business Roundtable Outlines 2014 Agenda":
U.S. business leaders are redoubling their efforts to push a reluctant Congress to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws and grant the president authority to negotiate international trade deals, diving into battles already raging between the business and tea party wings of the Republican Party.
Randall Stephenson, chief executive of AT&T Inc. and the new head of the Business Roundtable, met this week with members of Congress to press them to take action on both fronts. To boost economic growth, the group is also calling for a lower corporate tax rate in exchange for closing loopholes. And it wants Congress to avoid any repeat of the budget brinksmanship of recent years, which they say has discouraged business investment and hiring.
The Hill, "CEOs give Washington their 2014 wish list":
Leaders of The Business Roundtable said they were encouraged by the passage of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) budget proposal last month, and said lawmakers should follow it up with legislation to cut taxes, slash regulations and promote trade.
Randall Stephenson, the Roundtable’s chairman, said economic growth has lagged for far too long.
“To be content with anything south of 3 percent or around 3 percent, we just think it's not logical. The potential is here for this thing to grow at a 4 percent clip,” Stephenson told reporters at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor.
Washington Free Beacon, "Top CEOs Lay Out Economic Agenda":
“U.S. growth right now, we consider it not only substandard, but it’s just well below and kind of potential that the U.S. economy could be doing at this stage,” Stephenson said. “The key source of this is a lack of investment.”
“I cannot believe that it is coincidence that we’re experiencing this kind of long-term subpar growth and long-term significant unemployment consistent with the period of time when the amount of private sector investment going back into this economy is at its post-World War II low,” he said.
Topping Stephenson’s “Invested in America” platform was business tax reform, which he said is the “number one thing” that can drive investment
- Washington Times, "Roundtable to Obama: ‘Start a business’ to aid economy"
- Blog of the Legal Times, "Business Roundtable Plans Its Moves for 2014"
- US News, "Another Business Group Has Learned to Live With Obamacare"
- Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, "Washington reporters parrot Obama's 'income inequality' mantra"
Photos of Randall Stephenson and the Christian Science Monitor breakfast below courtesy of Michael Bonfigly/The Christian Science Monitor.
