WASHINGTON — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent millions of dollars last year helping elect Republicans to Congressional seats, is struggling to convince the House it helped to build that the debt ceiling must be increased.
The chamber and other business groups have pressed with increasing urgency for Congress to raise the maximum amount that the government can borrow. They have cataloged the consequences of default at meetings, parties and dinners and over drinks.
On Tuesday, the chamber threw its weight behind the proposal of the House speaker, John A. Boehner, telling recalcitrant Republicans that a pending vote on the plan was a with-us-or-against-us moment that would be remembered during the next election campaign.
But as the government runs out of money, those efforts have not produced the desired result. The freshman class of House Republicans, along with longer-serving members, is balking at Mr. Boehner’s plan, let alone anything that Senate Democrats and the White House might be willing to accept.
The tension highlights the distance between the pro-business stalwarts of the traditional Republican Party and the populism of its newer representatives, many of whom seem to view Wall Street and Washington with equal suspicion.
“I think they’re very pleased with the antigovernment inclinations of the Tea Party Republicans when it comes to taxes and regulation,” said David Axelrod, one of the president’s chief political advisers. “But now we have a situation where the integrity of the economy and the U.S. financial system is at stake, and they’re being hoisted on their own petards.”
The chamber and its allies say that they remain confident that Congress will act to raise the debt ceiling, and moreover that they have supported the demands of House Republicans that the government should be allowed to borrow more only if it starts spending less.
“There’s nothing more important for financial stability than getting the debt ceiling raised and putting our nation on a prudent financial path, a message we have been delivering to lawmakers for weeks,” said Rob Nichols, president of the Financial Services Forum, which has joined with the chamber and the National Association of Manufacturers to press the issue.
The manufacturers’ association joined the chamber on Tuesday in endorsing the Boehner plan, which the White House has described as unacceptable because it allows only enough borrowing room to pay the government’s bills until early next year, when a new agreement would be required.
The chamber made a big splash during the midterm elections with advertisements that attacked Democratic incumbents, particularly those who supported the president’s health care legislation, for being antibusiness. It issued endorsements describing their Republican opponents as “invaluable” leaders on business issues who would support economic growth.
Among the beneficiaries was Daniel Webster, a Florida Republican. The chamber spent $250,000 on ads blasting the Democratic incumbent, Representative Alan Grayson. Mr. Webster won.
In July, Mr. Webster introduced legislation instructing the Treasury to prioritize interest payments, then military spending, then Social Security checks, then Medicare payments, “in the event the debt ceiling is reached.” Experts regard the idea as unworkable.
The chamber spent $436,953 helping to elect Steve Pearce, a New Mexico Republican, almost 20 percent of the total that he was able to raise and spend on his own.
This month, Mr. Pearce told the radio program “News New Mexico” that cutting federal spending was just as important as increasing the debt ceiling.
“We have talked a lot about Armageddon if we don’t pass the debt ceiling,” he said. “There’s an equal Armageddon on the other side if we don’t start curing the spending problems.”
In May, the chamber gave $2,000 to Representative Patrick Meehan, a Pennsylvania Republican already building up a war chest for the 2012 campaign.
A few weeks later, Mr. Meehan said he was “hopeful that we will reach an agreement that stops our massive borrowing and reckless spending without risking a default."
It has been clear since last fall that the government would hit the debt ceiling, the legal maximum that it can borrow, at some point during 2011. In May, the Treasury said that it had reached the legal limit and that it would begin to cancel obligations to other parts of the government, allowing it to borrow enough money to pay all of the government’s bills until early August.
The president asked Congress to increase the limit. House Republicans refused unanimously, insisting that Democrats first agree to cut spending by the same amount.
Business groups stayed mostly on the sidelines for months. The chamber orchestrated a May letter from business groups to political leaders calling for an agreement. In July, the groups sent a second letter, this time signed by several hundred chief executives. It was nothing in comparison with the efforts the same groups have made in recent years to oppose legislation on health care and financial regulation, or their recent advocacy in support of free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.
One reason for the relative silence was the assumption that the ceiling would be raised. Even now, there is widespread confidence that the parties will strike a deal — a state of affairs most clearly reflected in the ease with which the government continues to borrow money from investors.
“Also you don’t want to be on the wrong side,” said Tom Block, the longtime head of government relations for JPMorgan Chase and now a private consultant. “They had the confidence that this is going to be resolved without their participation, so why participate?”
Another difference has been the absence of a piece of legislation to hail or hammer.
Mr. Axelrod said business groups were constrained by their desire to win the support of House freshmen on other issues, including the trade agreements and efforts to roll back regulation.
“I just think that there was, at least on the part of the chamber, a reluctance to tangle with, or pressure, the same group in the House that they’re depending on to gut financial reform and undo environmental regulation and so on,” he said. “But I think the gravity of the situation is now clear.”
Business groups disputed that characterization, but agreed with the conclusion.
“We’ve worked with the broader business community over the last month,” said Aric Newhouse, senior vice president for government relations at the National Association of Manufacturers. “It’s the right thing to do to provide certainty for the country and the economy.”
J. P. Fielder, a spokesman for the chamber, said it the group was encouraging members to address the debt ceiling so they could return to other issues.
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