CEOs to move their White House talks underground
Still eager to work on tax reform, infrastructure and health care, business leaders will focus on Trump aides and agency officials.
By NANCY COOK
08/17/2017 06:45 PM EDT
Chief executives no longer want to appear in photo-ops with President Donald Trump following his race comments about Charlottesville, but that doesn’t mean they’re giving up on trying to shape his agenda.
There’s simply too much money at stake with tax reform, infrastructure and health care in play — billions of dollars in a tax overhaul alone — for corporations to disengage entirely with the White House or official Washington.
So while companies will rely less on direct access to Trump through advisory councils and meetings at the White House, their advisers and lobbyists still plan to engage with top White House aides such as Vice President Mike Pence or National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn, political appointees at agencies, and Congress to make their case for rolling back regulations, keeping specific tax breaks, or cutting the corporate tax rate.
more
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/17/ceos-take-trump-talks-underground-241758
