While President Joe Biden and his team see corporate America as a traditional foe, they also see an opportunity to leverage increasingly socially-conscious boardrooms
Last weekend, more than 100 business leaders held a rare online meeting to discuss what action they should take in the wake of similar voting bills being considered in states across the country. Lynn Forester de Rothschild, founder of the Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism and one of the three people who helped coordinate the meeting, urged Biden to be more vocal about his desire to work with business leaders.
In February, at a CNN town hall, he signaled that businesses could help push policies around police reform, noting that they’d be inclined to respond to the attitudes of their consumers. “When you look at the outreach we’re doing it’s almost equivalent to an all hands on deck type situation,” Richmond said. “Some CEOs and a lot of businesses get multiple touches from many people.”
Sen. Josh Hawley promised a sustained effort to defeat “woke capitalists,” whom he accused of waging a war of “retaliation and suppression” against “anyone who stands for election integrity.” Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threatened “” for corporations that retaliate against state Republican bills on voting laws. “My warning, if you will, corporate America is to stay out of politics,” he said. “It’s not what you’re designed for.
Biden’s ambitious infrastructure package could test his ability to keep that coalition together. CEOs and business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, which represents leaders of more than 200 companies, have, criticizing the proposed corporate tax hikes that would pay for the projects. The Business Roundtable, which is running digital and radio ads against it, declined to offer an official to be interviewed for this story.