We’ve got a plan to go after the US Chamber of Commerce for blocking climate progress–and it all starts with a single phone call to your local Chamber of Commerce.
Part 1: The US Chamber of Commerce is a corporate front group that’s blocking every effort to cut climate pollution. Contrary to the claims of its slick PR machine, the US Chamber does NOT represent the interests of small businesses or every day Americans.
Part 2: The US Chamber is vulnerable. How can a group with hundreds of millions of dollars at its disposal and a building full of lobbyists be vulnerable? Well, the US Chamber’s influence is based on its claim that it represents thousands of small businesses and local Chambers of Commerce around the country. But this claim couldn’t be further from the truth.
This is the US Chamber’s Achilles heel. If we can make it clear that the the US Chamber doesn’t represent local businesses and local Chambers of Commerce, we can start to undermine their influence on our democracy.
Here’s the good news: our team at 350.org has a strategy to expose the US Chamber for what they are and strip them of their influence. But it will take everyday citizens to make it work. Can you jump in today?
The first step is to get your local Chamber of Commerce to disassociate–publicly–from the US Chamber. This might sound hard, but is often as easy as making a phone call and asking them to put out a statement.
Getting a few dozen local chambers of commerce across the country to say “The US Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me” on climate and energy issues will make a big impact on the US Chamber’s credibility.
Of the nearly eight thousand local chambers of commerce in the country, just a fraction of that are officially accredited by the US Chamber. The US Chamber is happy to play into people’s confusion–in fact, they do everything they can to make it seem as if they represent every local chamber in the country.
You and I know the truth–that the US Chamber doesn’t represent American businesses, it represents a handful of wealthy corporations. It lobbies hard and swings elections to protect CEOs. In the last few weeks, the U.S. Chamber has continued it’s assault on clean air and our democracy–going to bat for more offshore drilling, fighting campaign disclosure laws, running misleading ads in local elections, and more.
The time has come to go after the fundamental barriers to climate progress–and the US Chamber is enemy number one on that list. Luckily, we can all pitch into this fight.
