Business Roundtable

People take note when 168 CEOs of America's leading companies sign a letter urging Washington to take action to prevent the fiscal cliff.

On Tuesday, five members of Business Roundtable's executive committee held a phone call briefing reporters on a letter the BRT ad just sent to Congress (here) and the White House (here) calling for action to avoid the economic harm that will result if the cliff's higher tax rates and across-the-board spending cuts all go into effect. They were:

• Andrew Liveris, Chairman & CEO, Dow Chemical Company
• David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell International, Inc.
• Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman & CEO, General Electric Company
• Alexander ‘Sandy’ Cutler, Chairman and CEO, Eaton Corp.
• Doug Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar Inc.

Liveris, who moderated the briefing, and Cote are both vice chairmen of BRT as well.

We posted excerpts from all five's opening comments here. Business Roundtable also ran the letter as full-paid ads in The Wall Street Journal, The Hill and Politico.

Here's news coverage:

• Wall Street Journal (subscription), "Corporate Taxes on Table in Cliff Talks"
• New York Times, "Wall Street Titans End Fight Against Higher Taxes"
• Dow Jones, "Chief Executives Urge Lawmakers to Consider Revenue"
• The Business Journals, "Big business: Tax hikes OK as part of fiscal cliff deal "
• National Journal, "Business Roundtable Defends New Tax Stance"
• Agence France Press, "CEOs Press U.S. Lawmakers to Avert Fiscal Cliff with 'Market-Credible Deal'"
• Bloomberg, "Blankfein Joins JPMorgan’s Dimon in Seeking More Revenue"
• Dallas Morning News (blog), "CEOs: raise taxes, cut spending to break stalemate on fiscal cliff"
• Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Top CEOs push for 'credible' cliff deal"