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this (pressure) would occur.” Motley also said that the Chamber “was inundated with
complaints and large numbers of members (businesses) dropped out.”
Motley told me that the two to three days of pressure from Republicans appears to
have worked due to the fact that the testimony before the House Ways and Means
Committee was changed. Ed Gillespie, was an aide to House Republican Dick Army
(Tex.), in 1994. Gillespie implied that House Republicans agreed with Motley’s
assessment. “The United States Chamber of Commerce endorsing government imposed
employer mandates is a precedent many in Congress on our side didn’t want to see set”
(Mathis, 1994, p. A2).
The Chamber’s explanation of its quick shift in expressed preferences for the
employer mandate is different. Robert Patricelli said, “that statement (the advanced text)
was not reviewed by me and was inadvertently sent to the committee by the Chamber
staff and does not accurately reflect the position of the Chamber on health reform”
(Mathis, 1994, p. A2). Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s current executive vice president who
was in a different leadership position until April 1994, explained the shift in the
following manner (personal correspondence, October 18, 2002). Josten confirmed that
the Republicans publicly pressured the Chamber several times. He referred to the NFIB
as “harsh opponents who were trying to attract recruits from the Chamber”. Yet, Josten
said that it was an “eruption within our membership that led to the changed tone of the
testimony.” This opposition that arose within the Chamber’s membership occurred prior
to the pressure from the NFIB, according to Josten. Josten also said that the Chamber’s
members’ views were gauged in a survey. This survey was sent to all of the Chambers
215,000 members. The 45,000 responses to the survey showed that both opposition to
Convention