With Daniel Lippman CHAMBER SPENDS TO BOOST MODERATE DEMS: As the House prepares to return to Washington next week, setting up a showdown between Speaker Nancy Pelosi, liberals, and nine moderate Democrats over how to handle her party’s infrastructure and jobs plans, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is putting money behind the moderate lawmakers that are looking to quickly pass the Senate-passed, $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill and hit the brakes on a party-crafted $3.5 trillion social spending package. — The business group is running ads on Facebook thanking the centrists — Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Filemón Vela, Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, all of Texas, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jared Golden of Maine, Jim Costa of California, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia and Kurt Schrader of Oregon — for pushing Pelosi to take up the bipartisan bill before a budget resolution unlocking the reconciliation process. Pelosi has said she plans to hold off on a final vote on the bipartisan bill until after the reconciliation package, which would contain trillions in spending on Democratic priorities from universal pre-K to high-speed rail, to be paid for with tax hikes on the rich and corporations and which are fiercely opposed by Republicans and those in the business community like the Chamber. — The Facebook ads thank the lawmakers in large text “for fighting to pass infrastructure legislation,” and say that the bipartisan bill “will create jobs and drive economic growth.” The Chamber is also running local radio ads in the lawmakers’ congressional districts, but a Chamber spokesperson declined to comment on how much the trade group, whose endorsement of some Democrats last year sparked outrage on the right , is spending on the ad buys. Facebook’s ad tracker shows 18 active ads placed by the Chamber priced mostly between $100 and $199 each. — This morning the Chamber was one of 70 business associations, unions and public policy groups supporting the bipartisan bill on a call with Gottheimer and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) to discuss the path forward for the infrastructure bill, according to the Chamber spokesperson, during which Gottheimer said the group of moderates planned to hold firm in its request to pass the bipartisan bill. — Neil Bradley, the Chamber’s top lobbyist, argued on the call that “the promises of infrastructure are not going to become projects unless this bill gets through the House of Representatives and to the president’s desk for his signature,” and pledged to support Republican House members who vote for the bill, too. Dave Mallino, the legislative director of Laborers’ International of North America, called infrastructure the union’s No. 1 issue. “Our message is pass the infrastructure now,” he said on the call. “It represents an economic boon to the country and the benefits are wide and diverse.” Happy Friday and welcome to PI . The next time we talk I’ll be another year older. Send lobbying tips and advice for how to cope with creeping another year closer to 30: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. |
BISHOP CHIEF HEADS DOWNTOWN: Michael Reed has left the Hill, where he worked for Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) for nearly two decades, to join the American Forest Foundation as vice president of public policy for the trade group, which represents family forest owners. Reed spent the past six years of his 18-year tenure as chief of staff to Bishop, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee’s agriculture and FDA subcommittee. MEANWHILE, IN STATEHOUSES: “When Apple wanted to kill off two bills in Georgia this year, it rushed lobbyists to the state legislature, threatened to abandon key economic projects and persuaded the state attorney general to push for an Apple-friendly amendment,” POLITICO’s Emily Birnbaum reports. “Two months later, the bill that had appeared to have the most momentum stalled in the Georgia House Judiciary Committee. The committee chair did not bring the legislation to a vote during this year’s legislative session, effectively killing it in the lower chamber.” — “Apple’s aggressive lobbying efforts in Georgia, the extent of which were previously unreported, highlight a pattern that has played out with little national attention across the country this year: State lawmakers introduce bills that would force Apple and its fellow tech giant Google to give up some control over their mobile phone app stores. Then Apple, in particular, exerts intense pressure on lawmakers with promises of economic investment or threats to pull its money, and the legislation stalls.” EVICTION BAN WILL STAY FOR NOW: “A federal appeals court on Friday declined to block the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium, setting up a showdown at the Supreme Court,” POLITICO’s Katy O’Donnell and Josh Gerstein report. “The three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit acted without recorded dissent and did not provide a detailed explanation for its ruling. — “The decision went against local chapters of the National Association of Realtors , who on Saturday asked the appeals court to halt enforcement of the moratorium while they challenged the legality of the policy. The Realtors plan to file an emergency motion in the Supreme Court immediately, association spokesperson Wes Shaw said. Obama appeals court appointee Cornelia Pillard, Trump appointee Neomi Rao and newly confirmed Biden appointee Ketanji Brown Jackson all voted to reject the Realtors’ request.” HOW AMERICAN NEWS OUTLETS GOT THEIR PEOPLE OUT OF KABUL: As Afghan employees of The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal along with their relatives scrambled to flee the country this week, the Times’ Michael Grynbaum, Tiffany Hsu and Katie Robertson report that “back in New York and Washington, the papers’ leaders reached out to diplomatic contacts in countries with embassies in Afghanistan, chasing leads that could result in safe harbor and transportation for their employees. — “‘There were many plans and many efforts that either failed or fell apart,’ said Michael Slackman , an assistant managing editor for international for The Times. ‘You’d have a plan at night and two hours later the circumstances on the ground would have shifted.’” — “On Tuesday, 13 people from The Washington Post — including two Afghan employees and their families and an American correspondent — were able to leave on an American military transport bound for Qatar with the help of ‘a number of people coordinating on different fronts,’ according to a spokesperson, Kristine Coratti Kelly. Fred Ryan, The Post’s publisher, had emailed the U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, for assistance.” — For 128 people from the Times, “the government of Qatar, a country with ties to both Afghanistan and the United States, agreed to help. Qatar is home to an American military base; it also has an embassy in Kabul and a relationship with Taliban leaders. A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, said the company was ‘deeply grateful’ to the government of Qatar, ‘which has been truly invaluable in getting our Afghan colleagues and their families to safety.’” WHO’S GIVING TO BURR’S DEFENSE FUND: “Election committees associated with 37 current and former lawmakers have contributed a total of $280,000 to the legal defense fund for Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.),” Forbes’ Zach Everson writes. “The reports show a deep commitment from lawmakers to their embattled colleague, who the Department of Justice investigated for stock sales before closing the matter without filing charges in January.” — The backing wasn’t just confined to Burr’s conference, either. “West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema and Virginia’s Mark Warner all chipped in a few thousand bucks. A PAC affiliated with Maine’s Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, contributed $5,000. King also cut a personal check to Burr’s fund for another $5,000. And Erskine Bowles, Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, handed over $5,000 to support his fellow North Carolinian. Leadership PACs for 17 current Republican Senators each contributed $10,000. Forbes previously reported a dozen of those donations, including ones from Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham (S.C.), that were recorded in campaign filings.” |
