No turning point yet in Obama relations with business

U.S. businesses are heartened by President Barack Obama’s push to extend Bush-era tax cuts, but they are not ready to declare a breakthrough in an often-tense relationship with the White House.

Obama’s first two years in office have been characterized by conflict with companies over policies ranging from his controversial healthcare law to financial regulation reform.

When Democrats lost their majority in the House of Representatives to Republicans in the November elections, a chastened Obama promised to would work harder to reach out to the business community, an important constituent in his drive to boost the economy.

The tax cut package is part of that process. The compromise bill would extend low tax rates for two years for all income levels, including the wealthiest Americans and small business owners who fall into a high-income tax bracket.

Obama disliked extending the cuts for higher earners as Republicans demanded but agreed to do so in order to secure middle class tax relief and unemployment insurance extensions.

Companies welcomed that move.

“He certainly came out and compromised on the big tax deal... to keep tax rates low for business owners”, said Chris Walters, manager of legislative affairs at the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), a lobby group for small companies that have an average of 8-10 employees.

Walters said it was too early to tell whether a major change between Obama and business had taken place.

“The proof will be in the pudding for what types of actions the administration makes working with the new Congress next year”, he said.

The White House believes progress has been made already. It points to Obama’s recent business-oriented trip to Asia and successful negotiation of a free trade agreement with South Korea as evidence of a business-friendly administration trend.

Further, on Wednesday the president will meet with 20 chief executives from corporations such as Dow Chemical Co, Google Inc, and Boeing Co to discuss job creation, export promotion, tax reform, and deficit reduction.

“The president believes a robust economic recovery will only come through a partnership with the public and private sector”, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

“The working session (with CEOs) is an opportunity for the president to continue building strong partnerships in the business community toward that goal”. (Reuters)

Exercise 8. Make a summary of the news issue below and translate it into Ukrainian.

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