The U.S. Chamber of Commerce takes advantage of several widespread misconceptions about what it is and what it does.
The Chamber is not a part of the government, for example, nor does it represent small businesses or all local chambers of commerce. It is a highly active, secretive lobbyist and campaign spender for some of the largest corporations in the world.
The Chamber is tied to a sprawling network of organizations that circle the globe. Click below to learn more.
The arm of the Chamber that spends tens of millions of dollars lobbying to drastically limit individuals and small business’ access to the courts. Favors forced arbitration and class action bans that often allow giant corporations to escape liability for wrongdoing. The ILR spends millions to elect like-minded politicians in state races including notably, state supreme court races. It also owns several newspapers including the Legal News Line, Cook County Record, Louisiana Record, Penn Record, Madison County Record, Southeast Texas Record, Northern California Record, West Virginia Record, Florida Record that voice strong support for limiting access to the courts.
The USCLC is a key part of the Chamber’s strategic arsenal and uses litigation to advance its pro-big business, anti-consumer, anti-worker, anti-environmental, anti-regulatory agenda. Read our reports on the Chamber’s litigation here and here.
The Chamber’s political arm, responsible for endorsing candidates, sending key vote alerts to member of congress, and producing often cringe-worthy political ads.
The arm of the Chamber that lobbies on environmental and energy policies. Despite superficial claims of supporting all forms of energy, it advocates almost exclusively for fossil fuels to the detriment of renewables.
An offshoot of the Chamber that lobbies on issues related to the financial services sector. Has been a major opponent of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and other legislative and regulatory efforts to protect consumers and the American economy by stricter oversight of Wall Street.
Division of the Chamber that lobbies on intellectual property protection, patent law, and trademarks. Seeks to unreasonably strengthen IP protections, thereby harming consumers, particularly those in developing countries that often depend upon generic drugs to treat life-threatening diseases.
An international network of accredited business groups, currently numbering more than 115 that work to push the Chamber’s agenda abroad. Has been active in lobbying against anti-smoking laws and regulations in many countries.
The educational arm of the Chamber that runs several campaigns and educational centers, including the Corporate Citizenship Center, Hiring Our Heroes, the Institute for Organization Management and others.