Generally, I think the business community is feeling good.

Conoco Phillips, CEO Ryan Lance, a member of the Business Roundtable.

Optimistic about the economy, but wary about regulation.

When you pull most of the CEOs today, it's attacking us from every direction.

An energy industry hungry for mergers facing

scrutiny across the board. It's every three-letter acronym that you have in the

government today. It's the EPA. It's the DOI. It's the BLM. It's the FTC. It's the EPA it's the D.O. I it's the BLM it's the FTC it's the

SEC now coming out with some of their rules and I think that it is just that

environment that is that is not pro-business.

And his long-term concerns about the White House's

pause on U.S. permits to export natural gas.

Why would I sign up for a long-term contract today to get gas from the United States if I think

there's a chance that that pause is going to cause the gas supply not to be there.

Plus no industry is immune from interest rates, that is.

Certainly the high interest rates stifle a bit of the global growth,

certainly around the world and here in the United States

that does have an impact on demand at the end of the day.

I'm C. NBC producer Cameron Costa.

Squawkpad reports from the Business Roundtable Conoco Phillips CEO Ryan Lance

begins right now.

Today we're bringing you interviews from the Business Round Table's Spring Meeting in D.C.

The Business Roundtable, or BRT, is a group of over 200 American CEOs who advocate in Washington for policies to

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