United States Chamber of Commerce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| United States Chamber of Commerce | |
 |
|
| Founder(s) | Charles Nagel |
|---|---|
| Type | advocacy group |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Headquarters | Washington D.C. |
| Key people | Tom J. Donohue President |
| Area served |  United States |
| Focus | Business advocacy |
| Method | Media attention, direct-appeal campaigns Political lobbying |
| Slogan | Fighting for your business |
| Website | U.S. Chamber of Commerce Official Website |
The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the world's largest not-for-profit business federation, representing
- 3,000,000 businesses (via its Federation of local chambers and association members. Actual direct membership is several tens of thousands.)
- 2,800 state and local chambers
- 830 business associations
The Chamber is staffed with policy specialists, lobbyists and lawyers. It is known for spending more money than any other lobbying organization on a yearly basis.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Mission statement
"To advance human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility."
[edit] Board of directors
- Tom J. Donohue, President and CEO
- Paul S. Speranza, Chairman of the Board of Directors[2] and vice chairman, general counsel, and secretary of Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
- Donald J. Shepard, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors [3] and CEO of AEGON
- Gerald L. Shaheen, Immediate Past Chair and Chair of the Executive Committee [4] and group President of Caterpillar Inc.
- Maura W. Donahue, Past Chair [5]
- John W. Bachmann, Past Chairman [6] and Senior Partner at Edward Jones Edward Jones Investments
[edit] History
The idea of a national institution to represent the unified interests of U.S. business first took shape when President William Howard Taft, in a message to Congress on December 7, 1911, addressed the need for a "central organization in touch with associations and chambers of commerce throughout the country and able to keep purely American interests in a closer touch with different phases of commercial affairs."
Four months later, on April 12, 1912, a group of 700 delegates from various commercial and trade organizations came together to create a unified body of business interest that would later become the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
More than 90 years later, the Chamber has grown to represent more than 3 million businesses, nearly 3,000 state and local chambers, 830 associations, and over 90 American Chambers of Commerce abroad.
[edit] History of the USCC Building
In 1841, friends of Daniel Webster purchased a three-and-a-half story home on the ground now occupied by the U.S. Chamber building. Webster's home was the site of a number of historic events, including final negotiations with Great Britain over Maine's boundaries that resulted in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842.
In 1849, Webster sold his house to William Wilson Corcoran, whose art collection today remains close by. Several other dignitaries lived in Webster's former home over the years before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ultimately purchased the land. It broke ground in 1922, having selected Cass Gilbert, designer of the United States Supreme Court building and the Treasury Annex in Washington, D.C., to design a building to reflect the organization's mission. The U.S. Chamber building was completed three years later at a cost of $3 million.
[edit] On the issues
The Chamber is:
- Supportive of immigration reform
- Supports the Ledbetter v. Goodyear decision
- Pro-Energy Source Diversity
- Pro-Social Security Reform
- Pro-ANWR Drilling
- Pro-Offshore Oil Drilling
- Pro-Nuclear Power
- Pro-Health Savings Accounts
- Pro-globalization/free trade
- Supports restrictions on naked short selling
- Against taxation increase on businesses
- Against raising the Minimum Wage
- Against many union-supported polices
- Anti-Environmental regulation
- Neutral on social questions such as abortion and gay marriage
- The Chamber campaigned against portions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
- The Chamber has recently begun a campaign against the proposed Employee Free Choice Act[7]. They suggest the act will reduce worker's rights. The act is widely supported by organized labor[8].
[edit] Affiliate organizations
- National Chamber Foundation [9]
- Institute for 21st Century Energy [10]
- Americans for Transportation Mobility [11]
- Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) [12]
- Institute for Legal Reform (ILR)[13]
- Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)[14]
- Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW)[15]
- Essential Worker Immigration Coalition [16]
[edit] See also
- American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium (AmCham Belgium)
- American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU)
- American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil
- U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce
- United States Commercial Service
