Dear Members:

Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in the U.S. Chamber's Chamber of Commerce Committee of 100 and meet with my peers from across the country to discuss our strategies for promoting economic growth and gain insight into how Washington is working. Serving on this committee of leaders of the top chambers from across the country is one of the highlights of my job, and it ensures that your thoughts and questions are being raised with businesses community leaders from across the nation.

I wanted to share with you some highlights of what I learned and how Naperville compares to our peer communities across the nation. From Naperville to Washington, to chambers in Alabama and all across the country, business leaders are working to secure our economy and support job creation.

Here are the key takeaways of what the business community needs to do to encourage all of our elected officials to get our economy heading in the right direction:

1. Support the immediate passage of the South Korean, Colombian and Panamanian free trade agreements, and tell your members of Congress to vote “yes” on these important projects. Click here to weigh in with Congress.

2. Allow our nation’s talents and resources to be used to secure our energy supply and put Americans back to work. By allowing our best and brightest to work on energy exploration and recovery projects across our nation, we can put more than one million Americans to work.

3. Reduce the regulatory delays that are holding up key infrastructure and development projects. Regulatory and permitting challenges are holding up nearly two million jobs, and $250 billion in global private capital is at stake with 351 stalled energy projects.

4. Provide stability and improve our infrastructure. Illinois is at the crossroads of our nation’s infrastructure, and our state leaders have done their part, passing the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program and the Illinois Tollway’s recent capital program. It’s time for the federal government to own up to its responsibility in sustaining an efficient national system to help our economy move and grow.

5. We need to be given certainty on the future and need to explain to all of our officials how the decisions they make impact economic development, job creation and how we run our businesses. Every elected official has a responsibility to support the businesses in their jurisdictions.

Your Chamber will continue to work on these issues on your behalf. We want to continue to provide you with the information, resources and opportunity to improve and grow your business.

Together, we can improve our economy and support one another.
 

 Sincerely,

John Schmitt

President & CEO

Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce

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