LOBBYISTS NOT SWEATING DRAWN-OUT SPEAKERSHIP RACE: Kevin McCarthy’s push to become House Speaker dragged on for the fourth day this afternoon, though the California Republican saw some major breakthroughs today. Despite many remaining questions about the inner workings of the chamber for the 118th Congress, K Street isn’t too flustered by the length of the proceedings (even as Washington influencers copped to being glued to C-SPAN like the rest of us). — While no smart observer of politics expected any major legislative developments in the opening days of the new Congress, the speakership election has snarled other housekeeping priorities like determining committee membership and has left unsettled races to lead key panels. — “There's still some outstanding major, major committee leadership decisions to be made,” noted David Peluso, a former aide to a member of House GOP leadership now at Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid. That includes the tax-writing and health care-adjacent Ways & Means Committee as well as a number of subcommittees. — “I think we all knew January was going to be sort of like a slow start,” Aaron Cutler, a former House GOP aide who runs the lobbying practice at Hogan Lovells. Cutler, who spoke to PI from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, joked that he was texting his colleagues back in D.C. about wanting to “sit in front of C-SPAN all day long.” — “The committees are going to take more time to get organized now. And it's going to take more time before the first hearings start … the first bill gets dropped in the new Congress — it's just gonna take some time,” he added. — The delay in electing a Speaker also means Republicans must wait a little longer to launch their much-touted oversight agenda, though “I think that kind of flips on once they clear this and get the Speaker,” Peluso predicted. The uncertainty has left lobbyists with an “X factor” as they plan for the year ahead with clients, he added, though in many cases there’s still a general sense of how things might pan out. — Lobbyists are also watching what concessions McCarthy makes to conservative holdouts on issues like the appropriations process and how to handle earmarks, which could make it more difficult for lobbyists to win certain provisions. — But the disagreements playing out now also “portend kind of a more bottom-up, committee-driven approach to things” no matter who becomes speaker, Peluso said, one of several factors set to potentially provide lobbyists with more opportunities to shape legislation in the new Congress. — Another is the lifting of rules this week allowing lobbyists and other members of the public to freely roam the Capitol once again, following almost three years of pandemic restrictions. “There's certainly a lot of enthusiasm among folks downtown to get up and get back to, you know, being in the mix and in person on the Hill and in the hearing rooms,” Peluso said, arguing that “that's where a lot of … the real process happens.” — Once the House gets to work, K Street will “have to work with members all across the spectrum in the House to get legislation through,” Cutler added, “because you see what can happen if five members don't like a bill.” Happy Friday and welcome to PI. Send K Street intel and your take on whether AI is really going to come for lobbyists’ jobs: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE: Unsurprisingly, Republicans on K Street are more bullish on the House GOP’s ability to govern over the next few years than their counterparts across the aisle, but they’re not completely writing the House off. — “While we are not particularly optimistic that chaos will spur some sort of bipartisan ‘coalition of the willing,’ we do think that the oxygen currently feeding the McCarthy revolt will dissipate a bit after this week,” Hogan Lovells’ Ivan Zapien, Timothy Bergreen and Ches Garrison — all Democrats — write in a memo to clients on their view of the landscape. — “In time, we think the House will get back to some semblance of normal (at least by its own standards), and some things will get done,” they added, “though we remain worried about the debt ceiling and government funding this fall.” ASSESSING THE CORPORATE PAC FREEZE-OUT 2 YEARS LATER: “Political action committees affiliated with more than 70 major corporations said they would pause or reconsider donations to those who objected to certifying the results of the 2020 election after the attack on the U.S. Capitol two years ago. Then they gave more than $10 million to members of Congress who did just that,” POLITICO’s Jessica Piper and Zach Montellaro report. — “In the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021 riots — fueled by former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — dozens of companies including Walmart, Comcast and Lockheed Martin said they would either suspend political donations entirely or specifically cut off Republicans who echoed Trump’s stolen election claims or voted against certifying the election results. — “But over the next two years, amid a contentious midterm battle, less than half of those companies kept those promises for a full election cycle, the analysis of campaign donations found. The contributions made by corporate political action committees to the 147 members of Congress who sought to challenge the election results represent only a small fraction of the more than $350 million that those members raised over the past two years.” — At the same time, that financial support was hardly chump change. McCarthy, “who raised more than $27 million during the 2022 election cycle and objected to the election results along with the majority of his party in the House, brought in $285,000 from the PACs of companies that had once pushed back against election denialism.” — “POLITICO identified more than 100 companies and business groups that pledged to suspend or review donations or take the events of Jan. 6 into account when making future political contributions,” based on lists compiled by watchdogs like Accountable.US or sites like OpenSecrets. “Campaign finance records show that more than 70 of those companies’ affiliated political committees resumed donations to at least one member who voted against election certification.” ANNALS OF FUNDRAISING: “Big Republican donors haven’t been much help in pushing California Rep. Kevin McCarthy over the finish line in his bid to become speaker of the House of Representatives. The reason: His dissenters don’t need them,” the Wall Street Journal’s Julie Bykowicz writes. — “About half the Republicans opposing Mr. McCarthy’s bid for House speaker” through much of this week “fund their campaigns through small, online contributions instead of counting on major donors and corporate political-action committees, a Wall Street Journal review of Federal Election Commission reports found. Those streams of $5 and $10 donations can turn into a flood when a lawmaker stakes out a contrarian position and stokes political drama.” — “A candidate’s ability to raise huge amounts of money from email, text and social-media appeals has eroded the power of the political parties, business and lobby groups, and donors who dole out campaign contributions” political strategists told the Journal. “That means there is no natural base of influencers to push small-donor-dependent politicians by threatening to withhold election financing.” — “What the dissenters have in common more than anything else is a strong reliance on small donors. … Among the 20 who have been voting against Mr. McCarthy’s bid, nine raised nearly half of their campaign money in the 2022 elections from donors who gave $200 or less.” WATCHDOG ASKS FOR ETHICS PROBE OF SUPER PACS DEAL: Liberal anti-money in politics group End Citizens United is urging congressional watchdogs to investigate the agreement struck this week by House GOP leaders’ super PAC and the Club for Growth over spending in future House GOP primaries, accusing McCarthy and his allies of breaching rules against using “official resources” for campaign or political activities in order to help grease the skids for McCarthy’s protracted speakership bid. — Though both groups have denied that the deal was brokered or directed by McCarthy, his allies or his staff, End Citizens United pointed to news reports indicating the likelihood that McCarthy’s team would have signed off on it in some way. — “McCarthy’s conduct here is especially problematic because he is negotiating official resources and the political activities of federal super PACs as part of his effort to win enough votes to become the next Speaker of the House,” the group’s president Tiffany Muller wrote in a letter to Omar Ashmawy, the chief counsel of the Office of Congressional Ethics. — Muller also pointed to a statement from Club President David McIntosh on the deal explaining that McCarthy and “[m]embers are working on a rules agreement that will meet” the group’s principles, which include more amendment votes and conservative representation in leadership. — “That they would agree to memorialize an agreement in House rules that can only be accomplished through the use of official resources—and that reflects political and campaign considerations unrelated to the business of the House—is a clear sign that they have blurred the line between official and campaign business,” she said, adding that if McCarthy’s team were involved it would appear to violate the prohibition on super PACs coordinating with candidates. PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL BUILDS OUT STATE TEAMS: Philip Morris International — which sells cigarettes abroad and is not to be confused with Altria’s Philip Morris USA subsidiary — is building out its state government affairs team as it seeks to enter the U.S. commercial market for cigarette alternatives. — Amanda Wheeler, who’s the co-founder and president of the American Vapor Manufacturers Association, is coming on as regional director of external affairs for the Southwest region. Paul Blair, who was most recently vice president of government affairs for Turning Point Brands, will hold the same title as Wheeler for the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. — AT&T’s Abby Jewett will cover the Northeast region, Aventiv Technologies’ Jake Jacobs will cover the Southeast region and the Cigar Association of America’s Chris Newbry will cover the Western region, and all five will report to Kristin Reif, the D.C.-based head of the tobacco giant’s state government affairs office.
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