The Bailout: Business Lobbyists Bear Down

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And a host of organizations, from the National Association of Manufacturers to the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), the small-business lobby, have jumped into the action.

The clear message in all those efforts: The package is needed to stanch the bleeding (BusinessWeek.com, 9/28/09) throughout the American economy, not just in the financial sector. With credit conditions tightening all over, warns Todd Stottlemyer, the president and CEO of the NFIB, "We must ensure that Wall Street's problems don't become Main Street's problem."

Conference Call with Paulson

Stottlemyer, talking to reporters on Wednesday morning, added that the national leadership of the NFIB would be speaking on a conference call with Paulson later that afternoon. And to make sure Congress hears its message loud and clear, the NFIB has sent e-mails and held telephone briefings with its small business owners, encouraging them to contact their local members of Congress directly. It also placed a full-page ad backing the bill in USA Today.

As a result, the small business lobby has seen its members shift from largely opposing the legislation to generally supporting it, adds Dan Danner, the NFIB's executive vice-president for public policy. "It doesn't change the fact that they're mad and they're frustrated and they'd probably like to see a public hanging. They want somebody to be accountable," Danner said. "But they're coming to the realization that this does affect me: I need credit, my customers need credit, my suppliers need credit."

Those members, meantime, have become a potent lobby. That's where people like Rich Gallo fit in. A city councilman and owner of Office Outlet, an office-supply store in Indiana, Pa.—actor Jimmy Stewart's hometown—Gallo is seeking a $400,000 loan from a midsize bank to expand the strip mall housing his business. He is concerned he might not get the credit he needs. He's active in the NFIB, and he dialed in to some of its conference calls this week, including the one with Paulson.

Spreading the Word in Pennsylvania

Those calls, he says, along with what he has been hearing on the news, have convinced Gallo that the bill is necessary and "more serious than bailing out the CEOs and the big businesses."

Gallo called his own lawmakers but he is also spreading the word, talking to fellow Republicans, customers, and acquaintances. "I've been talking to a lot of people throughout the day here," he said. He started his day on Wednesday at a 7 a.m. prayer breakfast with membership ranging from businessmen and retirees to college professors and doctors. "Of course, we always get talking politics," he said. "I explained how it trickles down to impacting local economies," Gallo added. "As much as we don't want to see government intervention, there are times where it's the country at stake."

Much the same is happening at the other end of the business spectrum. The Business Roundtable's Castellani says the group has "activated" its members as well.

CEOs Charge Up Workers, Suppliers

"We've had CEOs calling members of Congress from where they're headquartered, as well as where their plants and factories are located," he says. But the efforts hardly stop there: The Roundtable is also trying to spur a "grassroots" communications effort by getting its members to reach out to customers, suppliers, and employees to encourage them, too, to contact their representatives. "It's a very active effort," Castellani added. "We'll do as many [things] as it will take to get this passed."

That message seems to be getting through. A lobbyist for one of Detroit's Big Three automakers said that following Monday's defeat, the company began calling lawmakers from the states where it has plants, as well as those who voted against the bill.