Into the Lion's Den: Emanuel to Speak at Chamber of Commerce Dinner

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will address a dinner for the leaders of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a group targeted by the administration in a bitter war of words over health care and climate change legislation.

Emanuel will speak to some of the White House's fiercest critics at a dinner for the Chamber's board of directors on Nov. 4, journeying into the lion's den in an ongoing feud with the pro-business lobby over government spending and growth.

"We appreciate the Chamber reaching out to the White House," said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki in a written statement Saturday. "While we have big disagreements on issues like energy and financial regulatory reform, we want to work together on areas where there is agreement like creating jobs."

The White House has criticized the Chamber for its opposition to current efforts at health insurance reform and climate change legislation, singling it out for trying in a well-funded ad campaign to "weaken" and "kill" White House efforts.

At a White House event in October, Obama himself blasted the Chamber for opposing the creation of a new consumer protection agency, describing the group's ads on the topic as "completely false."

Emanuel, who engineered the Democrats' takeover of the House of Representatives in 2006, said at that time that he was afraid of the group's clout, worrying that the pro-business lobby would harm election efforts for Democrats nationwide. A series of Chamber ads were "scaring the s--- out of me," Emanuel said, according to an account in "The Thumpin'," a book about the 2006 elections.

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