|
Presented by Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: 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 SOCIAL WORKERS PRESS LAWMAKERS TO PERMANENTLY EXTEND CTC: Hundreds of social workers, social work researchers and practitioners called on Congress today to permanently extend and make refundable the enhanced Child Tax Credit enacted in President Joe Biden ’s coronavirus relief package this spring, comparing the policy to the Great Depression-inspired Social Security program, which they called the country's "most important anti-poverty program." — “In our daily work we see the impacts of economic instability and insufficient income on the lived experiences of children and their families,” the social work experts wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell . “Poverty is at the core of conditions that social workers address on the front line within communities every day: child neglect, health and mental health disparities, interpersonal violence, homelessness, and more,” the social workers wrote. “Not having enough money creates stress for parents, which may make them less likely to respond warmly and consistently to their children, and income insecurity — of course — makes parents less able to afford basic needs and child care, much less enriching experiences.” — Democrats initially proposed extending the expanded credit for four years, with the bigger credit going to all families making more than $110,000, with a maximum credit of up to $3,600 per child. POLITICO reported today that the White House is now pitching a one-year extension. Though Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), a chief holdout, wants to impose work requirements and further narrow who receives the expanded credit, Biden has publicly rejected that idea. — The Child Tax Credit is one of a number of social spending priorities on the chopping block as Democrats race to pare back the reconciliation bill’s price tag in order to win over moderates like Manchin. The social workers, in the letter organized by the National Association of Social Workers , argued that the enhanced Child Tax Credit they’re looking to see included in the package would “ultimately be most powerful in conjunction with other supports currently under debate including but not limited to expanded Pre-K, publicly-supported child care, and paid family leave. However, we see particular urgency around the CTC,” pointing to research from Columbia University showing the enhanced tax credit has already kept more than three million children out of poverty. RETAILERS EXPLOIT RECONCILIATION’S WONKINESS IN AD BLITZ: The National Retail Federation is up with a six-figure ad buy today targeting corporate tax hikes in Democrats’ reconciliation bill (though Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), another key holdout, has said she opposes raising the corporate tax rate). The ads look to capitalize on the reconciliation process, typically viewed by laypeople as an obscure budgetary procedure. “Maybe that's by design,” says one actor in the ad of the wonky process. “Because it's a big government idea paid for with higher taxes.” — The ad’s actors urge Democrats to “find a better way” to pay for the package than raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and argue that the new taxes would hit small businesses still recovering from the pandemic and ultimately “come from all our pockets.” — The campaign will run across major television networks and digital platforms targeting Washington this week, leading to lawmakers’ Oct. 31 deadline. The TV spots will air during sporting events, news and morning shows, and prime time programming, and the digital buy will appear on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. — “NRF created this campaign to ensure American job creators and workers understand that funding this spending bill will cost trillions of taxpayer dollars,” the group’s president and CEO, Matthew Shay, said in a statement, arguing that businesses “are still struggling from the economic impact of the pandemic and adding costs to consumers who are already facing record-setting inflationary headwinds is not the right path forward.” Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. | | | | A message from Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: American families deserve access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care to help them get healthy and stay healthy. Let’s build on and improve what’s working in health care – not start over with an unaffordable, new government-controlled health insurance system like the public option or by opening up Medicare to younger Americans. Learn more. | | | FROM THE FACEBOOK FILES: “Facebook says it does not take the political winds of Washington into account when deciding what posts to take down or products to launch. But a trove of internal documents shows that Facebook’s own employees are concerned that the company does just that — and that its Washington, D.C.-based policy office is deeply involved in these calls at a level not previously reported,” per our Emily Birnbaum. — “The lobbying and government relations shop, overseen by former Republican operative Joel Kaplan, regularly weighs in on speech-related issues, such as how to deal with prominent right-wing figures, misinformation, ads from former President Donald Trump and the aftermath of the George Floyd protests in June 2020, according to internal reports, posts from Facebook’s staff and interviews with former employees. The dynamic is so prevalent that employees argued internally that Facebook regularly ignored its own written policies to keep political figures happy, even overriding concerns about public safety.” — “‘Facebook routinely makes exceptions for powerful actors when enforcing content policy,’ a Facebook data scientist wrote in a December 2020 presentation titled ‘Political Influences on Content Policy.’ It added: ‘The standard protocol for enforcement and policy involves consulting Public Policy on any significant changes, and their input regularly protects powerful constituencies.’ The public policy team includes the company’s lobbyists.” WHAT FACEBOOK DIDN’T LOBBY ON LAST QUARTER: “ Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook Inc., has called climate change one of ‘our greatest challenges’ and said ‘we have to act together’ to stop it. But with the most significant climate legislation in a decade on life support in Congress, Zuckerberg and his social media company — one of the biggest lobbying spenders in Washington — have been largely silent,” E&E News’ Corbin Hiar reports. — “Between July and the end of September, when Democratic lawmakers were racing to pass the ‘Build Back Better Act’ via budget reconciliation, Facebook’s lobbying on the stalled climate and social spending package focused on provisions about technology and disinformation, according to disclosure documents released last week. Meanwhile, Facebook is a leading member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an influential trade association that’s vowed to kill the multitrillion-dollar reconciliation package.” | | | | INTRODUCING CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO’s new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. GET A FIRST LOOK AT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | HOW MUCH PRIVATE EQUITY SPENT ON THE 2020 ELECTIONS: “Private equity and hedge funds accounted for over $625 million in political spending during the cycle leading up to the 2020 election, with the lion’s share going to campaign contributions,” CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports. “It was the most this segment of the financial industry spent on lobbying and campaign contributions in a two-year election cycle, according to a study from Americans for Financial Reform that was first reviewed by CNBC. During the 2015-16 cycle, the amount was just over $500 million, the organization said.” CRACKDOWN ON MEGA IRAS MEETS RESISTANCE FROM RETIREMENT INDUSTRY: “The Democratic plan to crack down on individual retirement accounts worth hundreds of millions, even billions, of dollars and to tighten the rules governing IRA investments is facing intense opposition from several industry groups seeking to kill or soften the proposed reforms,” ProPublica’s Justin Elliott writes. — “Several retirement industry firms, including one backed by tech investor Peter Thiel, who amassed a multibillion-dollar IRA, have mounted a lobbying push against the plan, disclosure filings show. They have hired an array of former Capitol Hill staffers, a former congressman and at least one former U.S. senator to fight efforts to rein in and regulate the accounts.” | | | | A message from Partnership for America’s Health Care Future:   | | | | | | SPOTTED at Tony Podesta and James Alefantis’ joint birthday party Sunday night at Podesta’s Kalorama house, which featured a giant birthday cake that looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa (pic here ) and Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong, telling the crowd that this year’s birthday cake theme was “return to normal,” per a tipster: American Bridge 21st Century's David Brock, K&L Gates' Bart Gordon, Tractor Supply Co.’s Kent Knutson, National Gallery of Art's Harry Cooper, artist Sophia Narrett, John and Mary Podesta, Gabe Podesta, The Hill's Alex Gangitano, S-3 Group's Hastie Afkhami, Moss Advisors' Melissa Moss and Guggenheim Partners' Jonathan Silver, Protect Our Care's Leslie Dach and Swedish Ambassador Karin Olofsdotter. — Bill Meierling is now vice president of strategic communications and marketing at the International Franchise Association. He previously was chief marketing officer and executive vice president of external relationships and strategic partnerships at the American Legislative Exchange Council. — Owen Caine has joined The Toy Association as vice president of government affairs. He was most recently a senior policy adviser at HillStaffer LLC. — Nick Przybyciel has been promoted to be senior vice president for PR at GCI Health. He most recently was vice president at GCI. — Waxman Strategies is adding Gina Drioane as senior director of health communications and Catherine Gorman as senior associate in marketing. Drioane previously was associate director of federal policy and advocacy media at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Gorman previously was project manager at Ignite Agency, and is a DDC Public Affairs alum. — Joseph Lamendola has joined the firm as senior director with Faegre Drinker Consulting. He was most recently senior vice president and principal of the Regulatory Center of Excellence at Advarra. — Karen Zacharia, senior vice president and chief privacy officer at Verizon, will retire next year, per Morning Tech. As a part of the transition over the coming months, Donna Epps will be senior vice president for public policy and strategic alliances, and Sue Vinci will be vice president and chief privacy officer. — Lauren Haertlein has joined Zipline as its aviation regulatory counsel. She most recently was general counsel and director of safety and regulatory affairs at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. — Samantha Summers is now a senior manager of government affairs at Albertsons Companies. She previously was a senior analyst of government relations at Whirlpool Corp. — Hayley Alexander is now senior manager of U.S. government affairs and public policy at BeiGene. She previously was director of federal government relations at BIO, and is a Senate Appropriations alum. | | | | BECOME A GLOBAL INSIDER: The world is more connected than ever. It has never been more essential to identify, unpack and analyze important news, trends and decisions shaping our future — and we’ve got you covered! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Global Insider author Ryan Heath navigates the global news maze and connects you to power players and events changing our world. Don’t miss out on this influential global community. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | | Stronger PNW PAC Supporting Tiffany Smiley and Alek Skarlatos (Alex for Oregon, Smiley for Washington, Inc.) | | | 1775 PAC (PAC)
Progress Pinellas (PAC)
Women Of The West (Super PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Capitol Tax Partners, LLP: Post Holdings, Inc. Freemyer & Associates P.C.: Oregon Department Of State Lands (Dsl) Jst Strategies LLC (Formerly Jochum Shore & Trossevin Pc): United Network Equipment Dealers Association Steptoe & Johnson LLP: Center For Biocide Chemistries United By Interest, LLC.: Futures Restored Inc. | | New Lobbying Terminations | | 3 Click Solutions, LLC: Amplifon Hearing Health Care Artemis Strategies: Preservation Of Affordable Housing Continental Consulting Group Corporation: Cae USa Inc. Envision Strategy: Adelphi University Envision Strategy: Erickson Living Envision Strategy: Good State Envision Strategy: Isp, LLC Envision Strategy: Jcad Corp Envision Strategy: W2Ls Corp Jeffrey J. Kimbell And Associates: Genus Lifesciences Jim Gould Strategies LLC: Oaktree Capital Management Jst Strategies LLC (Formerly Jochum Shore & Trossevin Pc): Apex Clean Energy Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton LLP: Argonne Capital Group Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton LLP: Know Bio, LLC Kilpatrick Townsend Stockton LLP: Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority Meridian Hill Strategies Formerly Known As "Ernest C. Baynard Iv": California Polytechnic State University Pomona Dept. Of Engineering Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: Terra-Gen Samuels International Associates, Inc.: Mvo USa Inc. The Edw Group: Flemming And Flemming, LLC The Edw Group: James' Custodial Services The Edw Group: Leland Jourdan The Edw Group: Morris Capital Investments, LLC The Edw Group: S&M Distributing, LLC | | | | A message from Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: Government-controlled health insurance systems - like the public option and Medicare at 60 - could increase costs for patients and threaten access to the quality care Americans rely on.
Lawmakers should build on and improve what’s working in health care where private coverage, Medicare and Medicaid work together, not start over by creating unaffordable, new government health insurance systems. Get the facts. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
