This election has been rife with stump speeches about getting America back to work, but Congressman Tim Scott (R-SC) is putting word into action. He’s hosting an upcoming conference entitled, “Encouraging Entrepreneurship,” where politicians and business leaders will come together for a day to have a meeting of the minds. The conference is the first in his "Revitalizing America" series.
Rep. Scott has been on both the business and political sides of the economy. An entrepreneur himself, he owned an insurance agency for several years before holding office at the local, state, and now national levels. He first began hosting forums like this one in South Carolina. “I would have a quarterly meeting with CEOs from my community to talk about how to build a better economy,” he says. “So for about six or seven years, I did different meetings in different locations, and found that when people gather, it creates synergy, and from that synergy, opportunity springs.”
He’s hoping to bridge the gap between business and government, and devise the best way to relieve the country’s economic woes. “We have such a national debate coming our way, during that lame-duck session,” he says. “So I wanted to take the opportunity to engage stakeholders in our economy, in the business community, with the decision makers in Congress and by putting those two teams together, I thought we might find some solutions.”
Joining him on May 31st in Washington is a high-profile cast of business and political leaders alike. Steve Forbes, Patrick Doyle, CEO of Domino’s Pizza, Rep. Eric Cantor, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers with gather to discuss job growth, market regulation, and healthcare innovation, among many other topics.
Despite the usual stalemate that occurs during a lame-duck session, Rep. Scott says he’s hoping the politicians will take what they learn at the conference and use it to craft responsible economic policy. After all, the economy won’t wait for political squabbles to resolve themselves.
An agenda with a full list of speakers can be found here, and anyone interested is encouraged to RSVP.