Bayh, Card plan road show for Chamber on regulations

June 23, 2011

The Hill

Kevin Bogardus

Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and ex-Bush White House Chief of Staff Andy Card are embarking on a summer road trip to preach regulatory reform for the U.S Chamber of Commerce.

On Wednesday, the Chamber held a press conference to announce that the two Washington heavyweights were heading out to several states, including Wisconsin, West Virginia, Illinois and Georgia, to talk about the need for regulatory balance.

"We are not looking to say that all regulation is bad," Card said. Instead, the two will be looking for "common sense" to return to the rule-making process.

The Obama administration has proposed several regulations since coming into the office that have been heavily lobbied against by business groups. Many of those new rules come from the healthcare reform and financial services reform laws.

"Big chunks of both laws were left open to interpretation for the bureaucracy," Bayh told reporters.

Both Bayh and Card argued that when the need for job creation is paramount, the added weight of new regulations will not help the economy.

"This is just a very difficult time to put additional burdens on the job creators in this country," Bayh said.

Chamber executives said they have heard back more from the Obama administration on regulations. Agency officials have begun to call the business group after they file comments on rules they are working on, according to Bruce Josten, the Chamber's executive vice president for government affairs..

"There is some movement back and forth," Josten said.

Josten said he has met at least twice with Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Cass Sunstein to discuss regulations. The Chamber has also organized meetings between Jeff Zients, a senior Office of Management and Budget official, and other trade association executives, as well as with the Chamber's board of directors, according to Josten.

Earlier this year, President Obama signed off on a government-wide review of regulations that won praise from the business community. But the Chamber would like the administration to go further and slow down the regulatory process.

That's why the business group is launching the campaign with Bayh and Card. The Chamber hopes to attract media attention with the road show, and has set up a new website to mobilize its grassroots network.

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