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Presented by HCA Healthcare: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | | With Daniel Lippman FORBES TATE NABS AT&T’S McGRANN: Kevin McGrann is joining Forbes Tate Partners as a senior vice president. McGrann, who served as chief political adviser to former Speaker John Boehner , more recently served half a decade on AT&T’s government relations team lobbying the Hill and helping with the telecom giant’s federal political work. McGrann told PI that he expects to bring that same hybrid approach between the political and policy realms to Forbes Tate, adding that he was attracted by the firm’s “one-stop shop of grinders” as well as its holistic approach to advocacy, including new investments in insights and digital public affairs. — McGrann, whose boss was of course no stranger to volatility on the Hill, argued that current political dynamics, in addition to Democrats’ razor-thin margins in the House and Senate, require “a firm with the ability to reach both sides of the aisle, and most importantly, a firm that understands policy and political drivers impacting decision makers. That's really what I'm going to be focusing on, is where are those niche points for client wins?” BIF DEAL: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is cheering on lawmakers as the Senate faces a potentially down-to-the-wire procedural vote on the bipartisan infrastructure framework as soon as tonight. “We applaud the bipartisan group of Senators — led by Senators [Rob] Portman and [Kyrsten] Sinema — who worked tirelessly to achieve agreement on this much needed infrastructure proposal,” Jack Howard, the Chamber’s senior vice president of government affairs said in a statement, calling the benefits for Americans and the economy contained in the $1.2 trillion deal “enormous.” Howard urged lawmakers to move quickly on a cloture vote for the package, for which there is still no legislative text, by the time senators head out of town for the August recess. — Other trade groups on K Street took a similar tack after Portman and Sinema announced a breakthrough this afternoon on the negotiations. “We call on the full Senate to vote yes on the cloture motion to proceed to consideration so that infrastructure legislation can be approved as soon as possible,” Kip Eideberg, a top lobbyist for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, said in a statement. Jay Timmons , the head of the National Association of Manufacturers, heralded the news as “one step closer to bold, historic infrastructure investment,” pledging to work with lawmakers and the administration to see the bill over the finish line. — Joshua Bolten, who leads the Business Roundtable , praised negotiatiors “for their leadership on and commitment to reaching an agreement on how to proceed in crafting a bill both sides of the aisle can support — a critical step toward unleashing historic investment in our nation’s physical infrastructure.” Bolten added his group still wanted to review the final agreement as he called for senators to hold a cloture vote this evening. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Shoot me your K Street tips, gossip and musings: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. | | A message from HCA Healthcare: At HCA Healthcare, our nurses are the cornerstone of our mission: Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life. Through our affiliation with nursing schools across the country and advanced certification programs, we invest abundantly in our current and future nurses. HCA Healthcare is also the largest provider of graduate medical education with 304 programs throughout the U.S.
Learn more about how HCA Healthcare shows up to create healthier tomorrows. | | | KNIVES OUT FOR McINTOSH IN TRUMPWORLD: Former President Donald Trump’s inner circle is scrambling to place the blame after the former president’s chosen candidate fell short in last night’s Texas special election, and some of Trump’s allies are pointing fingers at Club for Growth President David McIntosh. Trump himself told Axios’ Jonathan Swan that he endorsed Susan Wright at McIntosh’s behest, even as he blamed Democrats for Wright’s loss in her GOP showdown with eventual winner Jake Ellzey. Trump allies vented to POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt “about the growing influence of McIntosh, whose organization forcefully opposed Trump during the 2016 primary but has since become one of his closest allies. … And others disagreed with how the Club for Growth was waging its Texas campaign.” That includes former Energy Secretary and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who backed Ellzey, and “ attacked the Club for Growth on Wednesday, saying it had ‘fed’ the former president ‘a bill of goods’ by encouraging him to get behind Wright.” KLEIN/JOHNSON ADDS ANOTHER: Klein/Johnson Group, the lobbying firm founded by former advisers to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), has hired Kate Lynch as a principal. Lynch was previously a government affairs consultant at Cascade Associates and director of government affairs at the Federal Performance Contracting Coalition and is an alum of senior Ways & Means Democrat John Larson (D-Conn.). Lynch will help the firm on energy, environment and defense issues, she said in an interview, as well as the “ever-complex appropriations landscape.” Lynch is fourth principal to join the firm and its second since February, when Klein/Johnson Group hired Ian Rayder. ACTIVISTS STAGE COVID DISINFO PROTEST AT FACEBOOK D.C.: A group of Facebook detractors lined the sidewalk in front of the social media giant’s D.C. offices with staged body bags this morning in an effort to target Covid-19 disinformation on the platform. The stunt was organized by the Real Facebook Oversight Board, which has no affiliation with Facebook but popped up last fall around the same time as Facebook announced the formation of a company-approved oversight board to judicate content decisions. The so-called RFOB includes leaders of the #StopHateForProfit movement; the heads of the NAACP, Color of Change and the Anti-Defamation League; Yael Eisenstat, Facebook’s former head of elections integrity operations for political advertising; and Roger McNamee, an early Facebook investor-turned-prominent-critic. Photos posted online show rows of the fake bags in front of Facebook’s downtown headquarters, affixed with tags reading “disinfo kills.” — The group has set out to pressure the platform over its content moderation policies, appearing with members of Congress at times, and today’s stunt was designed to draw attention to a report released ahead of Facebook’s quarterly earnings call laying out the company’s alleged “harms around COVID-19, and human life, and democracy.” According to the group, more than 83 percent of the platform’s top posts during the last quarter originated from just five “known disinformation superspreaders,” which the activists say makes disinformation “far easier to combat it than Facebook admits.” — The protest also comes as the Biden administration has struggled to convince large swaths of unvaccinated Americans to get the jab, prompting a frustrated Biden earlier this month to accuse Facebook of “killing people” because of an inability to curb misinformation about the shot, an allegation he later walked back. Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone dismissed today’s protest as a “cheap stunt,” linking to a blog post laying out what he said was “the truth about the steps, not stunts, we're taking to address this serious issue.” | | | |   | | | BOXER RECOUNTS ROBBERY: Former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who now co-chairs Mercury Public Affairs ’ Los Angeles office, took the high road in an interview Tuesday while recounting an attack near her Oakland apartment on Monday that left her “sad” and without a phone but otherwise physically unharmed. In an interview with ABC7 News in San Francisco, Boxer said the attack took place while she was on a work call around 1 p.m. walking around Oakland’s Jack London Square. According to Boxer, she noticed a man following her, who got into a car. When someone got out of the drivers’ side and came toward her, “at that point I knew I was in big trouble,” she said, adding that she started to run away before being hit from behind “very hard.” Her attacker then reached around and grabbed her phone and ear plugs before running off, Boxer said. — “As he was running away, I said, ‘How could you do this to a grandmother who is just trying to have a phone call to call her grandkids,’ or something to give him some guilt,” she continued. But though Boxer said the midday attack was “alarming,” she was doing alright, all things considered. “I was very fortunate in the sense that I didn't fall, and I wasn't hurt. And I was able to give them a piece of my mind,” Boxer added. “I'm here now, and I'm going to keep on using my voice for the things that will stop this sort of thing from happening.” Asked if she had a message to share with her attacker, who Boxer said she didn’t believe knew who she is, Boxer urged them to “have love in your heart” and “have hope in the future.” PHARMA QUIETLY LOBBYING AGAINST GLOBAL TAX DEAL: “Big drug companies and their lobbyists have a message for Congress: Don’t raise taxes on the industry that brought you fast-tracked Covid-19 vaccines,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jenny Strasburg and Laura Cooper report. “Pharma executives, lobbyists and consultants are mobilizing to fight what has become a threat to drug companies’ bottom lines: a sweeping agreement by many of the world’s biggest economies to better harmonize corporate taxation around the globe. Earlier this month, 130 countries agreed to broad outlines of a deal that would, among other steps, establish a minimum corporate tax of 15% within their countries, reducing opportunities for international tax avoidance.” — “The yearslong effort accelerated in recent years as a way to more equitably tax U.S. tech giants. Many of those companies have said they support the deal because it simplifies taxes around the world, even if it will raise their tax bills. Big pharmaceutical companies, however, are quietly pushing back against the overhaul. The effort comes at the same time the industry is fighting U.S. proposals to cut drug prices. Lawyers and company officials estimate the tax overhaul, if adopted, could cost some of the biggest pharmaceutical companies hundreds of millions of dollars more each year.” | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | | | | — Hanna Abou-El-Seoud has been promoted to lead Nestlé’s government affairs team. She was most recently a government affairs manager and is an American Soybean Association and Senate Ag Committee alum. — Joanne Duncan is joining the Association for Accessible Medicines as chief operating officer. She was most recently president of the membership and business operations division at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. — Jennifer Reddien has joined Venable’s D.C. office as chief diversity and inclusion officer. She most recently served as the director of diversity and inclusion at Haynes and Boone LLP. — Kate Kahan will be director of federal affairs for the Vera Institute of Justice. She previously has been the longtime legislative and advocacy director for Community Change. | | | Illinois Georgia Victory Fund (Sens. Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth, Jon Ossoff) | | | Conservative Action League Inc (Super PAC)
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We The People USA PAC (PAC) | | | | Be a Policy Pro. POLITICO Pro has a free policy resource center filled with our best practices on building relationships with state and federal representatives, demonstrating ROI, and influencing policy through digital storytelling. Read our free guides today . | | | | | | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Capitol City Group, Ltd.: Ligado Networks, LLC
Capitol City Group, Ltd.: Roger Williams University
Carmen Guzman, LLC: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP On Behalf Of Fisheries Survival Fund
Carmen Guzman, LLC: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP On Behalf Of Nmac
Dla Piper LLP (US): Fortescue Future Industries Pty, Ltd.
Lsn Partners, LLC: Atlantic Red Crab Company
Lsn Partners, LLC: Nova Consulting
Monument Advocacy: Ranpak Corporation
Sl Strategies, LLC: Helix Opco, LLC
The Madison Group: Partner Therapeutics
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale And Dorr LLP: National Association Of Theatre Owners | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Esp Advisors, LLC: Waxman Strategies On Behalf Of Ocean Power Technologies
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