Neil Hare is the President and CEO of GVC Strategies, a former VP of Communications at the US Chamber of Commerce and a long-standing member of the Chamber’s Small Business Council. The views expressed here are his own.
The recent GOP attacks on the business community, including its leading advocacy group the US Chamber of Commerce, arguably contributed to a poor showing in the 2022 midterms and is not the answer for success in the presidential and congressional elections in 2024.
The main policy targets for these attacks include business endorsements of Democratic candidates in the midterms, “wokeness” in corporate strategy and support for free trade and immigration reform. Fear mongering on these topics has yielded positive results in rallying some of the GOP base, but most Americans take as much pride in our free enterprise system as they do in democracy and our military, so overall trashing it is a losing message.
One key area for the GOP to flip the script is on meaningful immigration reform. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex), is attempting to introduce a bill that would empower the Homeland Security Secretary to unilaterally bar all undocumented migrants from entering the United States if he deems it necessary to reestablish “operational control.” The so-called Border Safety and Security Act of 2023 is opposed by some Republicans who believe it would prevent legitimate asylum seekers, including children whose lives are in danger, from entering the country. In addition to Republicans opposed to the bill, it would be dead upon arrival in the Democrat controlled Senate.
So why should the GOP embrace meaningful immigration reform that would garner bipartisan support and more votes? Perhaps, a bit of history may prove illustrative regarding the last Republican president to win reelection, President George W. Bush. Due in part to the controversy surrounding his election, Bush understood how important the support of the business community was for him to overcome doubts about his legitimacy. And, one of the first issues he wanted to tackle of key importance to American business – immigration reform.
In the summer of 2001, Bush was considering a proposal to grant permanent legal residence status to approximately 3 million Mexicans living illegally in the United States. To highlight the importance of this issue, Bush’s first state visit was with Mexican President Vincente Fox, where immigration reform was on top of the agenda. On September 7, 2001, Bush hosted Fox at the White House for his first formal state dinner. The dinner concluded with an, unannounced, fireworks display from the Ellipse that startled many DC residents, wondering ironically if the capital was under attack. And, four days later it was.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, derailed Bush’s plan for an immigration overhaul, as he led the country into war to avenge the death and destruction heaped upon our country. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan created heightened security and border controls, but did not completely quash Bush’s desire for immigration reform. After winning reelection in 2004 (the only Republican to do so since Reagan), Bush again supported a measure to grant 12 million illegal immigrants legal status and to allocate $4.4 billion for more border enforcement. In June of 2007, the Senate failed to pass the bill, as Bush could not rally fellow Republicans who considered “amnesty” a reward for illegal immigration and unacceptable. The following year Democrat Barack Obama was elected President.
Today, immigration reform remains a top priority for the business community. The December 13, 2022 National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index showed that while 32% of businesses reported that inflation was their biggest problem, 44% also stated that they were unable to fill open positions. The unemployment rate in December was an historic low of 3.5%. While there are many reasons for the current worker shortage, an outdated and ineffective immigration policy is certainly one of them. From small business to the Fortune 500, and sectors from agriculture, construction, health care, retail and restaurants, business supports comprehensive immigration reform.
Republicans can and should still argue for enhanced border security and even earmark funds for building a wall, something the Democrats should accept as long as American companies get the contracts. But maybe instead of a wall we need security checkpoints like we have at airports. Due to the war on terror, we have the technology to document and track all people coming into our country whether by land, air or sea. It is time to figure out how to make those seeking to come and work in our country legal immigrants and not “illegals.” Congress can increase visa caps, create new visa categories and establish a path to legality and citizenship for out of status immigrants. Without the demagoguery, the answers are well within bipartisan reach.
The numerous Republican candidates running for president in 2024 should go back to the successful messaging of being the party of lower taxes, less regulation, free trade and the rule of law. Further, go back to the party that supports American businesses by listening to them and pursuing the policies they need to succeed – like immigration reform that brings more workers into the country. Whether it is large public companies fulfilling a fiduciary duty to shareholders or small businesses supporting their communities, the American business community is about creating jobs, bolstering our economy, and solving problems, and it will support candidates that bring answers and not fear. That message is a recipe for success for either party to embrace.
A view of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2026. President Donald Trump jolted Republicans during a fiery appearance at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, scrapping a housing bill signing ceremony and clashing behind closed doors with a party rebel who challenged him over the Iran war. Trump had been expected to sign the bipartisan housing.
Only Trump doesn’t care about housing
It was August 15, 2024. Then candidate Donald Trump stepped out of his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club’s columned clubhouse to a gaggle of reporters. He was flanked by tables of groceries and signs showing the rising cost of food. Also on one of the tables was a dollhouse, meant to represent the equally alarming rise in housing prices.
It was a speech about the economy, the single most important issue of the 2024 election cycle, full of promises that went right to the heart of Americans’ anxieties. While former President Joe Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris were contorting themselves to posture a good economy that just needed more time to recover from the pandemic, Trump was preying on voters’ very real fears of unaffordable gas, groceries, and homes. It was obviously a winning message.
In that speech, Trump promised, “We’re going to open up tracts of federal land for housing construction. We desperately need housing for people who can’t afford what’s going on now.”
As of mid-2023, there had been a housing shortage of nearly four million homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. Americans all over the country were either priced out of buying new homes due to low inventory, trapped in their existing homes by sky-high mortgage rates, or facing exorbitant rent hikes thanks to corporate investors buying up rental properties. Americans needed help, and Trump promised it.
Cut to March of 2026, when Trump reportedly told House Speaker Mike Johnson, “No one gives a sh*t about housing.”
That kind of thinking may explain why Trump this week suddenly announced he was canceling a signing ceremony for the bipartisan “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” a housing bill co-sponsored by Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Tim Scott that passed the House 358-32 and was approved in the Senate on Monday.
Trump instead demanded Congress pass the SAVE America Act, his controversial election grievance bill that doesn’t have enough Republican support to get passed in the Senate.
It’s just the latest in a line of policy self-owns where Trump has seemingly intentionally made life more difficult for Republicans hoping to keep their majority. Despite midterm elections occurring in the midst of a blistering economy and an unpopular war, they were surely hoping the housing bill would give them something — anything — to brag about when they returned home to their districts.
And very much to the contrary, Americans do give a sh*t about housing. According to a recent survey by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a whopping 79% say the cost of housing is extremely or very important to them. Eighty-three percent say Congress should take action on the issue — like it just did. Eighty-nine percent say the House and Senate need to work together to pass affordable housing legislation — like they just did. And 63% say they would be more likely to vote for a lawmaker if they helped pass legislation to build more affordable homes and lower housing costs — like they just did.
There aren’t many issues that unite Americans like housing does, and very few bipartisan policy wins Congress can point to, and yet, Trump is holding that bill hostage in order to get his pet project — which doesn’t even have the support of his own party — pushed through.
If you’re trying to make sense of something so nonsensical, as I’m sure many Republican lawmakers are, it’s certainly sad but not actually all that complicated. Trump said what he needed to get reelected and then promptly abandoned his promises in order to pursue his own self-interests, even if those interests are bad for Republicans and bad for voters.
That’s just the kind of guy he is.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.