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White House Officials Met With CEOs to Talk Economy

 
     

    As the Obama Administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce continue battling over policy issues, White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with five chief executive officers of top companies -- four of them Chamber members -- at a private dinner Wednesday, Administration officials said.

    According to administration and business sources, Jarrett and Geithner met with Frank Blake, Chairman and CEO of Home Depot; Rob Henrikson, Chairman and CEO of insurer MetLife; Christopher Nassetta, President and CEO of Hilton Hotels; Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of casino operator and real estate developer MGM Mirage, and Jonathan Tisch, Chairman and CEO of Loews, which operates hotel, insurance and energy interests.

    Home Depot, MetLife, Hilton and Loews are Chamber members.

    An administration official with knowledge of the meeting said participants discussed the economy, bank lending conditions and other topics. But one business source with knowledge of the meeting said they also talked about the administration's feud with the Chamber. President Obama has attacked the 300,000-member group for its opposition to health care reform, "cap and trade" energy legislation and some of his other initiatives.

    The business source said Jarrett asked executives to pressure the Chamber to moderate its opposition to creating a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The Chamber has opposed the administration's proposal to create the agency, which would regulate sales and marketing practices of credit cards, mortgages and consumer loans.

    The Chamber has launched a multi-million dollar advertising campaign against the CFPA, attacking it as a new government bureaucracy that would impose "crippling" new regulations, higher credit costs and taxes on "dozens of industries," as a recent Chamber statement put it.

    "Virtually every business that extends credit to American consumers would be affected -- even the local butcher and the credit he extends to his customers," a Chamber print advertisement says.

    The business source said Jarrett asked the executives to "put pressure" on the Chamber to back down on the issue, but that the executives declined to get involved in the dispute.

    The government official with knowledge of the meeting said he was not aware of any discussion of the Chamber or CFPA among the dinner participants.

    White House spokesperson Jen Psaki called reported discussions of the CFPA at the dinner “inaccurate.” She declined to discuss further details of the meeting and said Jarrett and Geithner meet with business executives regularly.

    Of the Chamber, she said, "It is no secret that we have had some disagreements on issues like regulatory reform and climate change. But we look forward to continuing to work with the Chamber on issues we agree on, including job creation for large and small businesses."

    She also noted that the President has invited the Chamber to the White House on Thursday for an event on small business and that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will deliver the keynote address at a dinner for the Chamber Board of Directors early next month.

    Last week, the House Financial Services Committee approved CFPA legislation. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to take up its version of the legislation by the end of the year. The proposal is part of the administration's broader plan to reform regulation of financial markets in the wake of the recent financial crisis.

    FOX Business was seeking comment from the Chamber on the dinner meeting.

    In an interview on Fox News on Sunday, R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber's executive vice president for government affairs, said of the Administration’s criticism of his group, “What we think they're missing is that they simultaneously talk about small business being the engine of job growth. And as I've said, I am certain they get good advice from the corporate CEOs. These are smart people running huge companies. But they're not the engine of job creation. And we need to get to that point.”

    He added: "There's been a number of invectives that have come out of the White House, such as trying to neuter the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or trying to marginalize the U.S. Chamber as we continue our efforts and work to represent our members to get the best possible outcome on health-care legislation, which we strongly need and want; on cap and trade legislation with respect to climate change; and with respect to the financial consumer product safety agency."

     
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