Democrats around the country, led by President Obama, are making similar overtures, suggesting tax- and trade-law reforms they hope will excite manufacturers, and urging business owners to push Republicans to work with them toward common goals.
Hoyer said he wanted Democrats to appeal to the "10 percent" of Americans who lead companies, found businesses, and create jobs that the rest of the nation depends on.
The Philly crowd was a tough sell.
'Killing us'
"The federal government is killing us,"
Bruce Entwisle, president of
Harry Miller Co., a North Philadelphia industrial-chemicals-maker, told the reps.
"There's so much insecurity and uncertainty. The president is antibusiness. We've got one of the highest [business] tax rates in the world."
Fattah stood on the defensive, pointing out that a lot of U.S. companies don't pay taxes.
But Hoyer said he felt the owners' pain: "We want to bring tax rates down" while ending loopholes - a position he said Fattah, Schwartz, and Obama shared.
"I don't think the president is really as antibusiness as you do," Hoyer said. But he conceded that past "rhetoric has not been helping."
"You need to talk about health care," said Ronald "Boots" Nissenbaum, boss at Cover Sports, a Southwest Philadelphia company that makes coverings for baseball fields.
"What other industry can raise its prices 15 percent a year? Health care and higher ed. That's it. There should be a public option, but I believe in competition" among health plans.
Schwartz defended Obama's health-care expansion bill.
"The voters didn't agree with you," Nissenbaum said, raising his voice.
"It's hard to lead the way," Schwartz said, smiling - a little.
