Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-MI) returned an award the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave him because of the business group’s support for amnesty for America’s illegal aliens.
Earlier in the 113th Congress, Bentivolio’s office noted, the Chamber gave him its Spirit of Enterprise Award–something the business group gives to many members of Congress.
But, on Thursday, Bentivolio decided he will return the award to the Chamber because of its support for amnesty.
“The US Chamber is in the pocket of Communist China and big companies seeking cheap labor in the United States,” Bentivolio’s chief of staff, Rob Wasinger, said in a press release. “We think it is morally repugnant for the chamber to pursue, as a matter of public policy, initiatives which exploit the poor and oppressed, just so they can keep labor costs down for their fortune 500 member companies.”
Bentivolio himself added that he doesn’t like the Chamber, because it is “beholden to special interests and has long since forgotten the main street businesses that struggle every day to make payroll and keep their company afloat.”
“It is with great pride that I reject their award, and call on them to stand on the side of America, instead of on the side of China and corporate interests seeking to exploit people for profit,” Bentivolio said. “I am with Main Street, not Wall Street.”
U.S. Chamber spokeswoman Sally-Shannon Birkel fired back in an email to Breitbart News: “following up on your request regarding Bentivolio, the Chamber is proud to have endorsed the next Congressman from MI-11, Dave Trott.”
Bentivolio is struggling against the Chamber-backed Trott in his primary, trailing Trott–who has also been endorsed by 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney–by double digits in recent polls.