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Presented by the Household & Commercial Products Association: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by the Household & Commercial Products Association | With Daniel Lippman DEMOCRATS UNLOCK ANOTHER GO AT RECONCILIATION, PER SCHUMER AIDE: “Democrats can pass another major piece of legislation — such as President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion-plus infrastructure plan — by revisiting the budget process they used to approve his coronavirus relief package without Republican support,” POLITICO’s Caitlin Emma reports. — According to a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s parliamentarian has signed off on the unprecedented maneuver , which would let the party use reconciliation at least three more times to skirt the filibuster and pass legislation with only a simple majority — provided it fits within the confines of reconciliation rules and Democrats manage to stick together — and it could allow Republicans to similarly weaponize the budget process the next time they’re in power. — The fine print of the parliamentarian’s ruling is still unknown, but it still removes only “one of the significant limiting agents on [Democrats’] agenda, which is the number of packages that can move through reconciliation,” stressed Karishma Page, a partner at K&L Gates, though others, like the Byrd Rule, which struck at least one high-profile priority from the relief bill, remain intact. “So you know, on the one hand, this is a game changer. And on the other hand, it's not.” — K Street will still have to take its cues from the White House and Senate Democrats on how they plan to implement the ruling and parcel out policy priorities, but Monument Advocacy’s Stewart Verdery said he believes it bodes better for the prospects of a successful infrastructure bill by giving Democrats more flexibility, and takes the pressure off people like Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) who have resisted changes to the filibuster. — It could also open the door for some immigration, trade and health care proposals as well, now that lawmakers have won time to strategize over how to avoid running afoul of reconciliation rules, he said. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. | | | | A message from the Household & Commercial Products Association: There’s no national standard for disclosure of the ingredients in cleaning products. The pandemic has demonstrated that it’s time. In 2017, California enacted an excellent model endorsed by consumer groups, NGOs, and manufacturers. HCPA is leading the way with its diverse partners to devise a national standard for ingredient disclosure. Read more here. | | | SMALL BIZ GROUPS LAUNCH ANTITRUST COALITION TARGETING AMAZON: Two dozen local and national business organizations announced a new coalition today targeting what they say are monopolistic practices by Amazon that pose an “existential threat” to independent businesses. Small Business Rising includes organizations like the Main Street Alliance, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, National Grocers Association, American Independent Business Alliance, American Booksellers Association, the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding and more. — Some of the groups had previously written to the White House about its antitrust appointments and have circulated a petition to break up Amazon. But the group is geared toward making the case to lawmakers both through traditional advocacy and through local business owners appealing to their representatives to break up corporations like Amazon, strengthening antitrust laws and making them easier to enforce, barring “mega-mergers,” and generally creating a more level playing field. — The issue’s importance can be illustrated by the fact that hundreds of business owners logged on to a town hall in the middle of the day in February with Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who heads the House’s antitrust panel, said Stacy Mitchell , who runs the independent business program within the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. “I think they have a unique ability to take antitrust policy, which can seem abstract, and make the consequences of it quite real,” Mitchell told PI. “They also have the ability to underscore the urgency because, you know, for many independent businesses, this is an existential threat.” — An Amazon spokesperson summarized the effort as “misguided interventions in the free market that would kill off independent retailers and punish consumers by forcing small businesses out of popular online stores, raising prices, and reducing consumer choice and convenience.” The spokesperson asserted that the company had actually boosted small and medium-sized businesses last year, arguing that “sellers having the opportunity to sell right alongside a retailer’s products is the very competition that most benefits consumers and has made the marketplace model so successful for third-party sellers.” | | | | CHECK OUT FDA TODAY: Daily regulatory developments, sent directly to your inbox. AgencyIQ's daily newsletter, FDA Today, provides readers with actionable and insightful explanations of the latest FDA developments impacting the life sciences industry. Sign up for free today. | | | | | DEPARTMENT OF ODD BEDFELLOWS: “What do you get when weed-loving rapper Snoop Dogg, right-wing billionaire Charles Koch and criminal justice reform advocate Weldon Angelos walk into a Zoom room? The Cannabis Freedom Alliance, a new coalition launching Tuesday that could change the dynamics of the marijuana legalization debate,” POLITICO’s Mona Zhang reports. — “The organization includes Americans for Prosperity , the political advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers; the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank; marijuana trade organization the Global Alliance for Cannabis Commerce; and The Weldon Project, a nonprofit that advocates for the release of individuals incarcerated for marijuana offenses.” — Its formation comes as the marijuana legalization space is dominated by more left-leaning groups. “We can’t cut with one scissor blade. We need Republicans in order to pass [a legalization bill],” said Angelos, founder of the Weldon Project. WATCHDOGS FINE WITH WHITE HOUSE ETHICS WAIVERS FOR LOBBYIST SO FAR: “Watchdog groups that warned the White House against hiring former lobbyists who could pose conflicts of interest are giving a pass to two recent hires who lobbied for a union and a major nonprofit advocacy group,” The Hill’s Alex Gangitano reports. — Alethea Predeoux, a former lobbyist for the American Federation of Government Employees, and Charanya Krishnaswami, who previously lobbied for Amnesty International, both received waivers from the White House’s ethics pledge that would have restricted what they as former lobbyists could work on in their roles at OPM and DHS respectively, an executive order that drew “praise from advocacy groups like the Revolving Door Project and Progressive Change Campaign Committee . Those same organizations have taken no issue with the recent waivers.” LAX PANDEMIC REGULATIONS GAIN BIPARTISAN SUPPORT, SPUR PUSHBACK: “Across the country, state and local governments have temporarily eased hundreds of regulations during the pandemic, aiming to help consumers social distance and businesses avoid economic disaster,” ranging from to-go cocktails to Medicare reimbursement for telehealth, The Wall Street Journal’s Aaron Zitner and Julie Bykowicz report. “Now, some want to abandon them for good.” — “The deregulation push is spawning a counter-effort by businesses and professional associations that stand to lose from the changes. Liquor and convenience stores, which take a financial hit when restaurants offer alcohol to go, are lobbying to prevent the long-term loosening of takeout booze rules. State moves to allow nurse practitioners to perform more services without a doctor’s supervision have spurred a fight in some states with physician assistants, who say the change puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Opponents contend such rules were there for a reason, and that permanently revoking them would create health, safety and fraud risks.” | | | |   | | | | | | — Former Florida Rep. Debbie Mucarsell-Powell has joined Giffords, the gun control advocacy group formed by former Rep. Gabby Giffords, as a senior adviser. — Daniel Silverberg is now a managing director of the corporate practice and co-leader of the national security team at Capstone LLC. He was previously national security adviser to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. — Matt Lindler is now director of government affairs at the National Wild Turkey Federation, per Morning Agriculture. Lindler was previously vice president of communications and director of conservation communications for the trade group. — Andrew Pantino has joined the American Association of Airport Executives as director of government affairs, Morning Transportation reports. He was previously a policy adviser to former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). — Jason Gold has been named an executive vice president at Resolute Public Affairs , Playbook reports. He most recently was a managing director at the Progressive Policy Institute, and is an S&P Global alum. | | | | JOIN AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION, SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" NEWSLETTER: Power dynamics are shifting in Washington and across the country, and more people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that all politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. "The Recast" is our twice-weekly newsletter that breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics, policy and power in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear from important new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | | Battleground South ( Georgia Federal Elections Committee, North Carolina Democratic Party - Federal, Arizona Democratic Party, Democratic Party Of Virginia) | | | Make America Florida (PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Advanced Policy Consulting, LLC: Omaha Public Power District (Oppd)
Agm Consulting Services, Inc.: Aegis Technologies A Bluehalo Company
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld: We Act Coalition
Arent Fox LLP: The Cooper Union For The Advancement Of Science And Art
Bracewell LLP: Fuel Cell And Hydrogen Energy Association
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Marnell Gaming, LLC
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Powerlight Technologies
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Puffco
Cfm Strategic Communications (Conkling Fiskum & Mccormick): Portland Japanese Garden
Cfm Strategic Communications (Conkling Fiskum & Mccormick): Tualatin Valley Water District
Downs Government Affairs: City Of Camarillo, Ca
Downs Government Affairs: Clark College
Downs Government Affairs: Edmonds College
Franklin Square Group, LLC: Itc Modernization Alliance
Grayrobinson Pa: Dcode
Grayrobinson Pa: Focusdc, LLC On Behalf Of Commonbond, Inc.
Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.C.: Mercy Health System
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Alloy Property Company, LLC
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Fleet Portfolio, LLC
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Rosenbauer America LLC
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Somos Community Care
Holland & Knight LLP: Results For America
Invariant LLC: Oto Analytics, Inc
Invariant LLC: Sunnova Energy International
Invariant LLC: Tri-County Electric Cooperative
Keller Partners & Company: Hire Heroes USa
Lamont Consulting Services, LLC: Meyer, Capel, A Professional Corporation
Liebman & Associates, Inc.: Intellihot, Inc.
Liebman & Associates, Inc.: Nextera Energy, Inc.
Louis A Costantino Jr: Managed Funds Association
Michael Best Strategies LLC: Giorgi Global Holdings
Midfield Consulting LLC: National Association Of Chemical Distributors
Mr. Frederick Boucher: Protect The 1St, Inc.
Neale Creek, LLC: Americans For Carbon Dividends
Nexxus Consulting, LLC: City Of Globe, Arizona
Odawi Law Pllc: Seneca Nation Of Indians
Polsinelli Pc: Kalkomey Enterprises
Strategic Government Affairs: City Of Lumberton, North Carolina
The Federal Group, Inc.: United Safety Technology | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Arena Strategies, LLC: Delcora
Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Corona Pathology
The Spectrum Group: Applied Research Associates
Yellowstone Strategies: In Our Hands Action Fund | | | | A message from the Household & Commercial Products Association: Cleaning products disinfect our homes and workplaces and can kill COVID-19. Consumers are demanding transparent and consistent information about these daily products. If any products deserve a national disclosure standard for their ingredients, these are it. The federal government has no such standard and states are gradually filling that void, which is a potential problem for consumers and the companies that make these staples. A leading model was enacted in California in 2017. More than 100 organizations and corporations supported this compromise, ranging from breast cancer prevention and clean water advocates to janitor and domestic worker unions. So did manufacturers. Cleaning products sold in California are required to provide ingredient information on websites and on their labels. Congress should pass a national standard modeled on the California law aptly named the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act. Read more here. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
