Washington Report: The Election and the NACS Agenda
Our take: Not much will change for the nation or for NACS.
WASHINGTON – Yesterday, America went to the polls to select the next president of the United States, 33 senators and 435 representatives. As of the early morning today, we know the following:
The president continues to be Barack Obama.
The Senate will remain in the control of the Democratic Party.
The House of Representatives will remain in the control of the Republican Party.
As for what this election means for the NACS agenda and for the national division of power, not much will change. NACS remains committed to our core objectives and issues — reform credit and debit card fees, protect retailers’ ability to sell motor fuels in a safe manner without unreasonable risk of liability, ensure equitable and reasonable enforcement of regulations, pursue a level playing field for all who compete in our business, and promote economic policies that will allow convenience and fuel retailers to make legitimate business decisions and grow their businesses.
Yesterday’s vote will likely have little effect on how NACS pursues these objectives and the specific issues that we advocate. With a status-quo outcome for the nation, it is unlikely that any significant shift in priorities or change in direction will be necessary for NACS to effectively represent our membership.
To best prepare our agenda going into the next Congress, the NACS Legislative Committee is meeting at the NACS headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, next week. The committee will review the outcome of the elections and consider which strategies NACS might pursue as we strive to best represent our members.
In addition, the NACS Political Action Committee is meeting next week to review the performance of NACS political efforts, rally resources for the rest of 2012 and begin preparing the association to be active in the 2014 elections.
As the dust settles from the election, NACS will be closely reviewing the effect of the outcome on each individual issue affecting the industry and will provide more in-depth analysis once it is available.
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