[CTC] BRT to lobby Congress for TPP passage this year, one CEO at a time

[Arthur Stamoulis]

POLITICO
BRT to lobby Congress for TPP passage this year, one CEO at a time

By Victoria Guida
06/15/2016 11:21 AM EDT

The Business Roundtable will be making its push on getting the TPP ratified this year by having CEOs visit the Hill in a steady drip, over an extended period of time, rather than hold a single group fly in, John Engler, president of the business group, said today.

TPP was a top focus of the BRT's call to talk about its second quarter CEO survey. It's important to pass the deal this year because of opposition to the pact from the two leading presidential candidates, Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar's CEO and BRT's chairman, indicated. 

"There's no question where the candidates are on this, but again we feel this is kind of the leading issue that business has this year," Oberhelman said. "We're doing all we can in high gear to make sure we have every opportunity to have it approved before the end of this term, and that's really why we're ramping it up now, and whatever happens later, happens later."

Party platforms "generally tend to follow where the candidates are," Engler said, but "unfortunately both the major party candidates at this point are negative on TPP." The deal is a high priority for President Barack Obama and has "strong support" from Republican leaders in Congress, he added.

Engler said CEOs have been "actively on the Hill" lobbying for TPP and that business groups from agriculture to technology to manufacturing "have all been working very hard." The group also plans "a series of nearly a dozen meetings" for Cummins CEO Tom Linebarger, who heads BRT's International Engagement Committee, to have with committee and chamber leaders during the two days he's in town this month, Engler said.

"What we've also done, which is a little hard to see in Washington, we've spent a lot of time out in the congressional districts," the former Michigan governor said. He said suppliers for larger companies still depend heavily on exports to sustain double-digit growth.
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