Menendez chief heading to K Street — Cruises ask CDC to let them sail — SBA sets timeline for launch of restaurant grant fund

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Mar 25,2021 08:10 pm
Presented by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Earthjustice: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street.
Mar 25, 2021 View in browser
 
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By Caitlin Oprysko

Presented by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Earthjustice

With Daniel Lippman

BGR ADDING MENENDEZ’S TOP AIDE: Fred Turner, who serves as chief of staff to the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), will leave the Hill next month to join BGR Group as a senior vice president in its international affairs practice.

— In addition to foreign affairs, Turner will also focus on commerce and financial services issues, he told PI in an interview, and while he’s barred from lobbying his Senate colleagues and registering under FARA right away (BGR’s foreign clients include the governments of Poland, Bahrain, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, South Korea, Bangladesh, the Kurdistan Regional Government, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics ) he noted that he has close ties with the Biden administration and in the House, where he previously worked for Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) in addition to a stint with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

— Turner will join several of his predecessors on K Street: Former Menendez chief Ivan Zapien is now a partner at Hogan Lovells and another former chief, Michael Hutton, now runs his own lobbying shop, Hutton Strategies. Other Menendez alumni now lobbying include Ogilvy Government Relations’ Karissa Willhite, The Madison Group’s Tiffany Harris and Mercury Public AffairsMichael Soliman.

CRUISE INDUSTRY ASKS CDC TO LET IT SAIL: The cruise industry’s chief representative in Washington is urging the CDC to lift a ban on operations in the U.S. to allow cruise lines to resume sailing from U.S. ports by July, a timeline the Cruise Lines International Association argues aligns with President Joe Biden’s pledge to have the country closer to normalcy by July Fourth.

Kelly Craighead , the head of the global trade association, pointed in a statement to the resumption of cruises in other parts of the world while arguing that the CDC’s framework for a conditional sailing order, which replaced no-sail orders in place since the beginning of the pandemic, “does not reflect the industry’s proven advancements and success operating in other parts of the world, nor the advent of vaccines, and unfairly treats cruises differently.”

— The trade group argued that the cruise industry has adopted “industry-leading” safety protocols in order to prevent cruise ships from becoming the coronavirus hot spots they were at the start of the pandemic. The group also asserted that the industry has been singled out while other hospitality industries have resumed operation and highlighting what it says are 300,000 jobs that have been lost since the pandemic began.

 

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Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send K Street tips and gossip: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

A message from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Earthjustice:

It’s time to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline. It is operating without a permit and in violation of key environmental laws, needlessly endangering the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for the sake of oil industry profits. The Biden administration can be on the right side of history. Tell President Biden to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline. Click here or text NoDAPL to 43428.

 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: “The Biden administration is planning to launch the new $28.6 billion restaurant grant program next month,” POLITICO’s Zach Warmbrodt reports. Patrick Kelley, the Small Business Administration’s associate administrator, told lawmakers on the Senate Small Business Committee Wednesday that the agency is planning to begin a "phased launch" of the program, which was included in the $1.9 trillion relief bill signed this month. It’s the first time SBA has laid out a “public timeline for offering the restaurant industry grants, even as it faced growing pressure to do so from lawmakers who pushed for its inclusion” in the package, Zach reports. “We're focused like a laser on standing it up as quickly as possible," Kelley said.

BIG OIL BACKS CARBON PRICING: The American Petroleum Institute, the top oil and gas lobby in Washington, officially threw its support behind putting a federal price on carbon emissions today, a departure from its longstanding opposition to such a plan, though the trade association is not endorsing a specific approach, NBC News’ Josh Lederman reports.

FLYING IN (VIRTUALLY): The American Society of Association Executives is holding its annual fly-in today and tomorrow “aimed at building awareness and support for the role of associations in the policymaking process,” and urging support for an Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.) bill that would expand the use of 529 education savings plans to include costs for workforce training and obtaining or maintaining postsecondary credentials. The fly-in will include remarks from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Reps. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who were recognized by the organization last year for their work in securing PPP eligibility for trade organizations.

CONSERVATIVE, PROGRESSIVE GROUPS OUTLINE PLAYS FOR BIDEN TAX PLAN: “Advocacy groups from across the political spectrum are preparing for an all-out war over President Joe Biden’s coming tax reform proposal , which is expected to include tax increases on wealthier families and corporations as part of his massive infrastructure plan,” CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports. “It is shaping up to be the ‘Super Bowl of tax reform,’ according to one person who is planning to join the fight,” who said they expect a “protracted battle.”

— The Koch network’s Americans for Prosperity told CNBC the group is engaging lawmakers and plans to argue that tax increases could dampen the economic recovery, while Americans for Tax Reform plans to pressure vulnerable or moderate Senate Democrats to water down proposed tax hikes. Groups on the left such as Bernie Sanders’ Our Revolution, meanwhile, plan to rail against “pandemic profiteering” while job losses soared last year.

DEFENSE CONTRACTORS TURN OFF THE MONEY SPIGOTS: “Virtually all of the nation’s top defense contractors are avoiding making PAC donations so far this year, a significant shift as they freeze political giving following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots,” according to OpenSecretsKarl Evers-Hillstrom.

— “Through the first two months of 2021, the leading defense firms made less than $150,000 in PAC donations to federal political committees. Industry giants such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman,” all of whom said they would pause contributions in the wake of the insurrection and who “depend on close relationships with Washington lawmakers — have yet to make any political donations.”

 

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Jobs Report

— Former Florida Rep. Dennis Ross has joined the board of directors for College to Congress, a nonprofit aimed at preparing diverse and underrepresented students for careers in public service.

Julia Lawless is now senior manager for policy communications at Amazon. She most recently was managing director for strategic communications at Financial Services Forum and is also a Senate Finance Committee alum.

Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer has hired Bobby McMillin as a senior associate in the legislative and public policy group. He was most recently director of federal affairs at Illumina and is a Senate HELP alum. The group has also recently added Adrienne Jackson as a senior policy specialist. She was previously legislative affairs manager at the National Guard Association of the U.S. and is a Jim Inhofe alum.

— The Motion Picture Association has announced four promotions: Julie Anglin to vice president for Latin America policy, Arlen Valdivia to senior director for state government affairs, Andrea Dumicic to vice president for U.S. royalty distribution and Teodora Dimitrov to director for international royalty distribution.

 

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New Joint Fundraisers

UNITED TO WIN (NRSC, NRCC, RNC)

New PACs

HOOSIER HONOR (Super PAC)
Show Me Victory Fund (Hybrid PAC)

New Lobbying Registrations

Dla Piper LLP (US): Bluehalo Corporation
Greenberg Traurig, LLP: City Winery, LLC
Hettinger Strategy Group LLC: Okta, Inc.
K&L Gates LLP: Armored Things Inc.
K&L Gates LLP: Chembio Diagnostics, Inc.
K&L Gates LLP: Commonwealth Fusion Systems LLC
Maine Street Solutions, LLC: Era Coalition
Peck Madigan Jones: Energy Storage Itc Coalition
Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: County Of Reeves, Texas
Sonia Lin: Amnesty International USA
Strategies 360: Association Of Idaho Cities
Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: Lone Elk Partners
The Edw Group: James' Custodial Services

New Lobbying Terminations

American Consolidated Natural Resources, Inc.: American Consolidated Natural Resources, Inc.
North South Government Strategies F/K/A Jdm Public Strategies, LLC: Consumer Credit Industry Association
The Estell Group LLC: Charles Drew University Of Medicine And Science
The Estell Group LLC: Morehouse College
The Estell Group LLC: Spelman College
The Estell Group LLC: Tuskegee University
The Estell Group LLC: Wayne State University
The Montgomery Strategies Group, LLC: Harris Jewelry
Tiber Creek Health Strategies, Inc.: Peck Madigan Jones (On Behalf Of Beigene USa, Inc.)
Tiber Creek Health Strategies, Inc.: Peck Madigan Jones (On Behalf Of Innovacare, Inc.)
Winning Strategies Washington: Ace Reporting-US, LLC
Winning Strategies Washington: New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association
Winning Strategies Washington: Stratcomm Inc

A message from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Earthjustice:

The Dakota Access Pipeline is dangerous, doesn’t have the permits it needs, and is an affront to tribal sovereignty. A federal judge ordered the government to consider the risks to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the environment. Tell President Biden to respect the law and tribal rights by shutting down the Dakota Access Pipeline. Click here or text NoDAPL to 43428.

 
 

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