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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 MASTUI CHIEF HEADING BACK TO K STREET: Kyle Victor is leaving the Hill, where he is currently chief of staff to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), to return to cloud software firm VMware as senior director and head of U.S. government relations. He previously served as the company’s director of public policy from 2015 to 2018. Matsui chairs the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s telecom panel, where Victor bulked up his expertise on critical IT-related issues. He also served on the Biden transition team working on technology and innovation issues. He’ll report to Michael Kennedy, VMware’s vice president of global government relations and public policy. LET THE RECONCILIATION LOBBYING BEGIN: The Senate has yet to solidify the legislative text of its $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package let alone pass it and already groups on K Street are turning to the next major legislative priority to angle for their industry’s priorities: the $3.5 trillion Democratic reconciliation bill on so-called soft infrastructure. Several industries still hurting from the coronavirus pandemic view the reconciliation package as their last, best chance to secure federal relief, despite the rapid spread of the virus’ Delta variant. — In a letter to the top Democrats on the House and Senate Budget and Small Business committees this week, a coalition of live business event groups cited the continued threat of the virus which, combined with lackluster vaccination rates, has resulted in persisting travel restrictions and the return of indoor masking. “Events continue to postpone and/or cancel, and a full recovery for live business events continues to be delayed,” the groups, whose members help put on trade shows and conventions, wrote. “Small businesses that support these events cannot absorb additional debt, and many of our companies are hanging on by a thread.” — The signatories, which include the National Trade Show Alliance, the Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance, Exhibitor Appointed Contractor Association, the Experiential Designers & Producers Association and two industry unions, asked the reconciliation bill to expand the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program, an issue-plagued aid fund for live entertainment venues like concert halls or theaters, to include live business events industry. “As other sectors of the economy move toward a successful recovery, live business events will remain at a standstill for some time to come,” they argued, “and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of our employees will be impacted. The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program is providing invaluable assistance to live entertainment events. We urge you to extend this program to include suppliers and service providers for live business events, who are equally hard hit.” — And late last week, a coalition of more than 150 national, state, and local organizations and child care providers from across the country urged the top Democrats in the House and Senate and on three key committees to include “robust and multi-faceted investments to address the clear, persistent, and systemic problems facing our nation’s early learning and care structure.” Among the groups’ asks are investing in “a mixed-delivery system” of child care and preschool options “that includes center-based, home-based, and family child care, Pre-K programs, and Head Start;” investments in construction and improvement of child care facilities, and making permanent President Joe Biden ’s new child tax credit. “The COVID-19 crisis exacerbated many of the problems already facing the child care industry,” the groups wrote, adding that “now is the time to address these pervasive flaws in the fabric of the American economy.” Happy Friday 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. | | | FARA CRACKDOWNS MAKING PR EXECS WARY: The Justice Department’s crackdown on unregistered foreign agents is sweeping up the PR firms who also must register under the law, and it’s got some industry leaders rethinking foreign lobbying work, according to Insider’s Sean Czarnecki. “PR execs who talked to Insider said they saw the need for regulation to prevent illegal foreign influence. Richard Levick, CEO and founder of PR firm Levick, said he embraced FARA as a way to root out bad actors who ‘don't want people to know their bread is being buttered on both sides.’” — “But some execs said they feel the current level of scrutiny is excessive and said they may stop representing foreign clients as a result. They spoke to Insider on the condition of anonymity so they could speak candidly about sensitive matters and because they feared repercussions from FARA. Insider confirmed their identities. Insider spoke to two PR firm CEOs who said they went through DOJ inspections in recent years. They said DOJ attorneys visited their offices to interview employees and review all records related to their foreign lobbying, including bank statements, invoices, and emails not protected by client privilege.” — “One agency CEO said the process cost him ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ in legal fees.’” Another noted that “the level of DOJ interest feels more akin to a proctology exam,” adding that “We've turned down international work due to how restrictive and invasive the process is.” Some execs complained that the law is too broad, and “argue that most PR work for foreign entities isn't about influencing public policy but instead involves activities like promoting tourism.” BPI PROMOTES 4: The Bank Policy Institute has announced a round of promotions: Sarah Mamula will be vice president of government affairs, Tara Payne will be vice president of communication, Whitney Roberts will be assistant vice president for meetings, events and membership, Ayeola Alexander will be senior vice president of operations and chief human resources officer, and John Court will assume the role of chief operating officer. PELOSI TELLS INDUSTRY SHE’LL SEEK CHANGES TO CHINA BILL: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not bring the Senate’s sprawling anti-China bill to the floor of her chamber unchanged, a staffer told industry representatives on a Thursday call,” according to POLITICO’s Gavin Bade. “Instead, Pelosi will likely combine a group of bills that House committees have crafted to confront China economically into her own package, aiming to reconcile it with the Senate version in a conference committee, according to a person with knowledge of the call.” — “The strategy is not unexpected after months of hearings and committee votes that pointed toward the House producing a rival package to the Senate’s version, which passed the upper chamber in June in a 68-32 vote.” The Pelosi staffer “told dozens of representatives from large U.S. corporations that the speaker believes that bill has revenue-raising provisions that must originate in the House,” and the chamber could incorporate recently passed research bills, add trade provisions, and amend the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act to insert language from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that has won over corporations. | | | |   | | | SPACE LOBBYING PICKS UP ALONG WITH SPACE (EXEC) RACE: “This month’s sub-orbital rocket launches by former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which followed Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s SpaceX, attracted attention to billionaires’ efforts to commercialize space travel. These billionaires’ ‘space race’ comes as lobbying spending by their space travel and aerospace manufacturing companies also soars,” OpenSecrets.org’s Anna Massoglia and Julia Forrest write. — “Branson’s Virgin Galactic, along with its affiliates VOX Space and Virgin Orbit, spent $360,000 lobbying the federal government in the first half of 2021 with its spending jumping from $60,000 in the first quarter of the year to $300,000 in the second. Musk’s SpaceX spent $1.2 million on lobbying in the first half of 2021, on track to outpace the $2.2 million the company spent on lobbying in 2020. Bezos’ Blue Origin spent $910,000 in the first half of 2021, boosting its spending from $320,000 in the first quarter to $590,000 over the last three months after the space company was beat by SpaceX for a $2.9 billion NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon.” — The surge in lobbying cash comes as “Branson, Musk and Bezos’ business empires have all drawn significant amounts of money from the federal government while spending money to lobby the government for even more funds. Blue Origin has been awarded more than $480 million in federal government contracts since the start of 2020. The federal government awarded more than $2.5 billion to SpaceX during that same period and Virgin’s VOX Orbit and Virgin Space were awarded around $35 million.” | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | — Taylor Sexton has joined Todd Strategy Group. He most recently served as a senior adviser to the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS and assistant director of federal relations and public health faculty at Texas A&M University. — Sam Myers Jr. will be a managing director at Rational 360. He most recently was president of BCW’s Direct Impact. — Cristal Downing has been appointed EVP and chief comms and public affairs officer at Merck. She most recently was VP of comms and public affairs for medical devices at Johnson & Johnson. — Tricia Busch is joining the Alliance of Community Health Plans as comms manager. She previously was an associate at Kivvit. — Ian Conyers is joining the Madison Group as senior director of government relations. He’s a former Michigan state senator and the founder of Ruth Strategies. | | | | 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 . | | | | | | | | None. | | | Equality Project PAC (PAC)
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