Business groups that worked hard to install a Republican majority in the House equated Republican control with a business-friendly environment. But the majority is first and foremost a conservative political force, and on key issues, its ideology is not always aligned with commercial interests that helped finance election victories.<\/p>\n
\u201cFree market is not always the same as pro-business,\u201d said Barney Keller, spokesman for the conservative political action committee Club for Growth.<\/p>\n
There could be real-world consequences to the conservative rebellion. The 90-day extension of the highway trust fund that House Republican leaders say they will pass this week in lieu of a broad highway bill would keep existing projects moving for now. But business groups say few new government-funded infrastructure projects can get under way without longer-range certainty about federal backing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of the work is supposed to go out in spring and get done by the fall,\u201d said Jeff Shoaf, senior executive director of government affairs at the Associated General Contractors, a group that donated $1 million to candidates in 2010, 80 percent of that to Republicans. \u201cInstead of spending 60 or 70 percent of their budgets, they\u2019re going to cut back to 50 or 40 percent to make sure they have some cash in the fall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exports have been one of the bright spots of the fragile recovery, but without Export-Import Bank financing, companies could struggle to complete contracts with overseas buyers. Those buyers will most likely turn to foreign competitors whose governments have more robust versions of the bank, businesspeople say.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a bank in the United States that\u2019s going to loan money to that customer of mine in Argentina to buy my airplane,\u201d said David Ickert, vice president of finance at Air Tractor, which makes crop-dusting and firefighting airplanes in Olney, Tex. \u201cThere is not a free-market system that operates like that. It does not exist. We need the Ex-Im Bank, period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like so much else in Congress these days, it is not that simple.<\/p>\n