For 250 years, free enterprise has been the foundation of American growth, innovation, and rising living standards. It continues to earn broad support from voters across both parties, with 76% saying they want America to remain a free enterprise nation. Yet today, this system is being steadily undermined.
An organized movement is working to erode public support for free enterprise and business. A network of well-resourced nonprofits is working to upend and dominate the economic debate—supporting journalism, influencing academic institutions, and advancing policy ideas through aligned think tanks. Their objective is to redefine the relationship between government and markets by giving government more power to determine market outcomes.
As that effort continues its damaging impact, a new political convergence is concurrently taking shape. Rising populism in both parties is realigning our government, replacing the free enterprise consensus of the 1980s to 2000s with a new “post-neoliberal” approach, one that raises barriers to trade, distorts prices, curbs competition, bolsters organized labor, and treats successful businesses as problems to be managed rather than as drivers of solutions and innovations that improve people’s lives.
Left unchecked, these emerging forces against free enterprise will stifle growth, reduce opportunities, and stagnate the dynamic American economy.
Join us in standing up for American free enterprise.
Your voice is essential, and your participation is critical.
Our Response
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was founded 114 years ago to defend, protect, and advance free enterprise, and we have done so generation after generation, across a shifting landscape of challenges and political movements.
Today will be no different, but this moment demands a counter veiling response larger than the scale of the threat. Responding to individual policy debates is not enough. We must reshape the public imagination around free enterprise, helping people see it for what it is: not a perfect system, but the surest path to opportunity, affordability, and upward mobility for all.
That is the purpose of the New Fight for Free Enterprise. To meet the moment, we are organizing our work in four defining arenas.
The Public Debate
Public support for free enterprise depends on whether Americans see business as a source of opportunity and practical solutions to the challenges they face. Yet in media, academia, and in pop culture discourse, successful business is too often portrayed as working against everyday people rather than a driver of its growth and opportunity. That shift is shaping how voters think and how policymakers act.
The U.S. Chamber is competing directly in this arena through a modern and data-driven communications effort. We are using our platform, convening power, and national reach to elevate credible voices, equip business leaders to speak with clarity and confidence, and ensure that free enterprise is represented accurately in the national and local conversation.
How Americans understand business will determine how they choose to govern it.
The States
The center of gravity in economic policymaking is shifting to state capitals, where harmful policies can move quickly and spread widely.
The U.S. Chamber’s federation of over 1,500 state and local partners gives us a powerful advantage in this environment. We are strengthening that network by building the infrastructure needed to identify threats in real time, coordinate responses across states, and equip local leaders with the tools to act quickly and effectively.
The goal is to make nationwide, local-level advocacy faster and better connected so that free enterprise has well-coordinated defenders in every state where the future of the economy is being shaped.
The Courts
The legal environment determines whether businesses can grow and innovate with confidence. When federal or state governments impose unlawful mandates, excessive regulation, or sweeping new limits on business decision-making, the consequences hurt everyone—citizens, workers, and government included.
The U.S. Chamber is using its litigation capacity both offensively and defensively to shape the law for the long term—challenging harmful policies, setting pro-business precedents, and bringing cases that protect the ability of businesses to operate and compete freely.
This work ensures that the rules governing American business support investment, innovation, and opportunity.
The Political Arena
Policy outcomes reflect the priorities of those elected. The debate over the role of government in our economy isn't just happening between the two parties it is happening within each party. Beginning with a massive wave of deregulation in the late 1970s, most of the significant free market reforms of the last 50 years have garnered bipartisan support.
Ensuring that leaders in both parties understand the value of free enterprise and are equipped to advance policies that support growth and improve lives is critical to the long-term success of our economy.
We are investing in a long-term effort to build a pipeline of pro-growth leaders—engaging candidates early, strengthening relationships, and providing them with the tools, knowledge, and support they need to succeed.
This work is essential to building a durable governing coalition that can carry free enterprise principles into the next Congress and beyond.
What Success Requires
The New Fight for Free Enterprise is already delivering results. We are strengthening the case for free enterprise in the public debate, equipping leaders to engage more effectively, and successfully challenging harmful policies before they take hold.
But the work ahead is larger than any single policy debate, public affairs campaign, or election cycle.
Success will be measured by whether free enterprise remains the defining framework for economic growth and opportunity in the United States—whether policymakers in both parties are equipped to advance it, whether state-level threats are identified and stopped, and whether the broader public once again sees business as a force for progress.
Meeting that standard requires both surge capacity and staying power: the resources to respond quickly when opportunities or challenges arise and to sustain the work for as long as the moment demands. The U.S. Chamber is committed to leading this effort, but we cannot do it alone. Our success will come down to the strength of the network of advocates, investors, and supporters we build.
For the generations of Americans the free enterprise system, success is not optional. Preserving this system for the next generation requires leadership in our time.
Leadership
 | Suzanne P. Clark Suzanne Clark is the voice of American business and leads the U.S. Chamber’s efforts to defend and advance free enterprise at the national and global level. Under her leadership, the U.S. Chamber has expanded its advocacy, legal, and state-based operations to adapt to the modern threats facing free enterprise. She plays a central role in the New Fight, elevating free enterprise in the public debate and aligning the business community around a plan of action. |
 | Ross Perot Jr. Ross Perot Jr. brings decades of business leadership and entrepreneurial experience to the organization’s mission. As someone who has lived the American dream, built successful businesses, and created countless opportunities for others, he is a central voice in the U.S. Chamber’s work to extend free enterprise to future generations. His strategic guidance and leadership help define the New Fight’s mission and operations. |
 | Jill Wyant Jill Wyant is CEO of Madison Air and Vice Chair of the U.S. Chamber’s Board of Directors. Under her leadership, Madison Air entered the public markets in one of the most significant industrial IPOs in decades, a powerful example of free enterprise creating opportunity, investment, and shared value. She brings that experience to the Chamber’s efforts as a business leader committed to ensuring others can build, grow, and succeed. |
 | Neil Bradley In leading the U.S. Chamber’s policy and strategic advocacy work, Neil Bradley translates the principles of free enterprise into a forward-looking economic agenda. As a central architect of the New Fight, he brings deep expertise in markets and policymaking to shape the U.S. Chamber’s positions across federal, state, and local issues. His work ensures the initiative is grounded in rigorous analysis and real-world impact. |
 | Jessica Boulanger Jessica Boulanger leads the U.S. Chamber’s communications and public affairs strategy, overseeing efforts to shape the narrative around business and economic policy. With more than two decades of experience in high-stakes communications roles across government and the private sector, she helps drive the New Fight’s engagement in the public debate. Her work is central to ensuring free enterprise is represented clearly and effectively across media and public discourse. |
 | Rodney Davis Rodney Davis leads the U.S. Chamber’s engagement on Capitol Hill and with policymakers across the country. A former member of Congress, he brings deep legislative experience and a bipartisan approach to advancing pro-growth policies. His work is central to building the political relationships and leadership pipeline that underpin the New Fight. |
 | Courtney S. Felts Courtney Felts leads the strategy and execution of the New Fight, overseeing its development, communications, partnerships, and operations. She also directs the U.S. Chamber’s marketing and messaging strategy, using data-driven insights to shape how the story of business is told across the country. Drawing from a career of messaging and writing experience, her work sits at the center of the initiative’s efforts to build a stronger narrative for free enterprise. |
 | Daryl Joseffer Daryl Joseffer leads the U.S. Chamber’s litigation strategy, directing efforts to challenge regulatory overreach and defend the legal foundations of free enterprise. A former senior official in the Office of the Solicitor General, he brings deep appellate and Supreme Court experience to the New Fight’s work. His leadership ensures the organization can take decisive action in the courts when it matters most. |
 | Agnes Warfield Agnes Warfield leads the U.S. Chamber’s fundraising and donor engagement efforts, supporting the initiatives that drive its advocacy and impact. With decades of experience building and sustaining major programs, she plays an essential role in securing the partners and resources needed to advance the New Fight. Her leadership ensures the initiative is positioned for long-term success. |
 | Stephen Waguespack Stephen Waguespack leads the U.S. Chamber’s legal reform efforts as well as its state and local advocacy work, strengthening its federation of partners across all 50 states. With extensive experience in state policy and business advocacy, he plays a key role in building the infrastructure needed to respond to emerging threats in both the legislative and legal arenas. His work helps align local, state, and national efforts to defend free enterprise. |
