What the Newly Elected Congress Means for Business

One area where President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans could find common ground is trade. Mr. Obama wants to submit a revised South Korea free-trade agreement for congressional approval in January, and hopes to unveil new terms addressing U.S. auto and beef exports during the Group of 20 meeting of global leaders in Seoul next week. Mr. Obama has said he wants to boost U.S. exports by 50% during the next five years. Trade-skeptics in the Democratic caucus have blocked movement on trade-opening deals such as the South Korea treaty.

Jerry Seib and Neal Lipschutz discuss whether the GOP's House victory will impact the implementation of financial reform and health care.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.,) said trade is one area where his caucus and the White House could work together. But it is unclear whether the new class of populist, tea-party Republicans share the traditional GOP view that free-trade deals are good for the U.S. economy overall. Big business groups see passage of the South Korea pact as a critical test of whether the White House and Congress can break the stalemate on trade issues.
—Elizabeth Williamson

Defense

Within national-security circles and the defense industry, there is some nervousness about whether the new Congress could push broader cuts in defense spending as part of an attack on the swelling federal deficit. In the past, a Republican House and a more conservative Senate would have been a guarantee of continued defense budget growth. But the influx of tea-party candidates, elected on promises to oppose pork-barrel deals and earmarks and reverse the growth of federal spending, could chart a different course. Debate over how much more to spend on the war in Afghanistan could become a test of the new Congress's direction ahead of the administration's deadline to begin phased withdrawals in July 2011.
Adding to the uncertainty is the expected departure of Defense Secretary Robert Gates in 2011. Mr. Gates, who served as a secretary of defense under George W. Bush before joining the Obama administration, commands the respect of congressional Republicans.
—Nathan Hodge

Energy and Environment

A Republican House represents a big challenge to Mr. Obama's ambitious agenda on energy and the environment. House Republican leaders have said they intend to fight and if necessary deprive funds to the effort by Mr. Obama's Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Lisa Jackson, to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions across wide swaths of the economy using the Clean Air Act. Ms. Jackson could also come under fire from coal-state Democrats in the Senate.
Another potential flash point: offshore drilling. Republicans are expected to call on the Interior Department to speed approval of permits that oil companies need to drill in deep-water areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
Republicans also could challenge the Obama administration's effort to stop construction of a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada—a decision opposed by the nuclear-power industry. Tuesday's victory by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a longtime foe of the project, should keep Yucca Mountain in the deep freeze for now.
—Stephen Power

Transportation

This is supposed to be the year that Congress acts on a big, multiyear bill to finance road building, airport construction and other transportation projects. The Obama administration last year successfully pushed for a delay of action on a proposed $500 billion transportation bill, despite strong protests from House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, (D., Minn.) Now, Mr. Oberstar is gone—defeated in his bid for re-election. Ready to take his place is U.S. Rep. John Mica (R., Fla.) Mr. Mica said in a statement Wednesday that passing a long-term highway and transit plan and measures to fund the Federal Aviation Administration and water projects are his top priorities. Mr. Mica also called for a "better directed high-speed rail program." Mr. Mica is more likely than Mr. Oberstar to encourage a bigger role for private investors in building new infrastructure projects, and has called for streamlining the process of getting projects approved.
Infrastructure spending is one area where business groups welcome federal spending. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which invested heavily to defeat congressional Democrats in the 2010 elections, has supported raising taxes to fund transportation improvements.
—Melanie Trottman

Health Care

Health-care companies see the Republican win as a chance to chip away at aspects of Mr. Obama's health overhaul least favorable to the industry. Insurance companies, drug manufacturers and hospitals say they will press to peel away the law's new taxes on health-care companies, pass tougher medical malpractice curbs and knock down a new board that recommends Medicare spending cuts. Opponents of the law may have the most success removing the law's new tax-reporting requirement that requires businesses to file a 1099 tax form when they pay a vendor more than $600 in a year. Where the health industry is most concerned about the Republicans' plans is the party's strong opposition to the law's requirement that most Americans carry insurance or pay a fine, something that could cost health-care providers millions of new customers. House Republicans say they plan to pass a bill repealing the law. That will almost certainly die in the Senate or on Mr. Obama's desk.
—Janet Adamy

Pharmaceuticals

The pharmaceutical industry wants to hold on to concessions it won from Democrats during their reign in Congress, while benefiting from antiregulatory sentiment among Republicans who captured the House, industry lobbyists said.
In negotiations over the health bill that passed in March, the industry offered $80 billion in savings and won a promise from the White House not to pursue certain cost-cutting steps such as importing cheaper drugs from Canada. About half of the savings was intended to close a gap or "doughnut hole" in Medicare drug coverage that some seniors face. Despite Republican calls for a repeal of the health law, drug-industry lobbyists say they don't expect a GOP bid to reopen the doughnut hole because it would anger seniors and risk giving wounded Democrats a rallying cry. The incoming Republicans also may be more sympathetic to industry views on regulation, such as the industry's push to continue a system under which companies pay user fees to get faster decisions on drug applications.
—Alicia Mundy

Wall Street

House Republicans didn't wait for the final results of Tuesday's vote to launch their assault on the Obama administration's effort to tighten regulation of Wall Street.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, an Alabama Republican who will be one of the contenders to take over the House Financial Services Committee next year, said Wednesday he wants to rewrite "job-killing provisions" of the Dodd-Frank financial-overhaul law, starting with new rules on derivatives trading. Also high on Mr. Bachus's agenda: overhauling mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Republicans want to wind down the two companies, currently under government control.
But any effort to change Dodd-Frank would need Democratic support in the Senate, and then Mr. Obama's signature. In the event those aren't forthcoming, House Republicans could try to cut off funding for agencies implementing Dodd-Frank or grill administration officials in Capitol Hill hearings.
—Victoria McGrane

Telecommunications

House Republicans will likely put the brakes on efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to re-regulate Internet lines. Phone and cable companies are fighting the plan, and Republicans have already warned the FCC to drop the plan.
Telecom and tech policy issues are likely to take a back seat next year. But Republicans and Democrats could find common ground in efforts to write stronger rules on Internet privacy.On Wednesday, two leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton (R., Texas) and Rep. Ed Markey (D., Mass.), jointly warned that they plan to put "Internet privacy policies in the crosshairs" with hearings and legislation.

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