CEOs Press Congress on Debt; Executives Step Into Deficit Debate Amid Fears of Looming Tax, Spending Measures
WASHINGTON--Top business executives, many of whom sat on their hands during last year's frantic debate about raising the federal debt ceiling, have begun mobilizing and plan to be more vocal in urging Congress to reach a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal by the end of the year.</br></br>Executives have been meeting privately with lawmakers, urging them to start laying the groundwork now so they can reach an agreement after the November elections to avoid the large tax increases and heavy spending cuts scheduled to take effect in January. They worry those measures could tip the economy back into recession and create turmoil in financial markets, according to people who have attended some of the meetings.</br></br>J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. chief executive James Dimon hosted a lunch for several dozen chief executives and two U.S. senators late last month, one of the latest in a series of private meetings aimed at drumming up support for a political agreement.</br></br>Several executives left the J.P. Morgan lunch, held at the company's headquarters in New York, resolved to speak more forcefully in favor of a deal. Many believe both Democrats and Republicans will have to compromise on a deal that includes both tax increases and spending cuts, and several have pointed to the 2010 Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan as a model Congress should begin working on immediately. Mr. Dimon, in public remarks last week, called for Republicans and Democrats to come together to enact such a plan. "We've got to get it done," Mr. Dimon said. "Our problem is we don't have the will. We can't seem to get our act together."</br></br>In separate initiatives, chief executives such as Laurence Fink of BlackRock, Terry Lundgren of Macy's Inc. and Mark Bertolini of Aetna Inc. have told lawmakers over meetings and dinners they should start discussing a deal soon, people attending the meetings said.