GREEN HANGS A SHINGLE: Rob Green has launched his own lobbying firm, Green Government Relations. Green has bounced back and forth between several of D.C.’s top trade associations and the Hill, where he most recently spent four years as the director of workforce policy for Republicans on the House Education and Workforce Committee. — He was previously executive director of the National Retail Federation’s National Council of Chain Restaurants, and previously lobbied for NRF and the National Restaurant Association. The new firm “gives me a unique opportunity to utilize both my experience as a senior Congressional staffer and my background in workforce policy and small business issues to serve clients in a resourceful, creative and proactive manner,” Green told PI in an email, adding that he’ll be engaging with trade groups, businesses and other organizations in the next few months. COMING ATTRACTIONS: The Biden administration is preparing to take its first shots at Amazon, weighing action on at least three of a half-dozen antitrust and privacy probes currently open at the FTC, POLITICO’s Josh Sisco reports, which could “lead to a blitz of litigation to rein in the iconic tech-industry giant.” — “Any suit against Amazon would be a high-profile move by the agency under chair Lina Khan, a Big Tech skeptic who rose to prominence with a 2017 academic paper specifically identifying Amazon as a modern monopolist needing to be reined in. Although Amazon has already been hit by local antitrust suits in Washington, D.C. and California, the coming federal cases would be the most significant challenges to the global company yet.” — Per Josh, the agency is weighing whether to challenge the e-commerce giant’s $1.7 billion acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot as well as whether to take action in privacy investigations into Amazon’s Ring camera and security systems and Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. — “Also potentially coming in the next few months is a wide-ranging antitrust case targeting Amazon’s retail operations, multiple people with knowledge of the probe said,” though the details of a potential case are unknown. — “The lack of action so far shows the difficulties facing the agency in taking on a company as multifaceted as Amazon — and suggests the FTC is picking its cases with caution, according to some of the people, who are familiar with the agency’s strategy.” U.S. AIRLINES PUSH TO LEVEL PLAYING FIELD WITH FOREIGN CARRIERS: “Unable to fly through Russian airspace because of the war in Ukraine, U.S. airlines are stepping up a lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill and at the White House to address what they say is a growing problem: They are losing business to foreign competitors who can take passengers between the United States and Asia faster and more cheaply,” per The New York Times’ Kate Kelly and Mark Walker. — “Effectively banned from the polar routes that save time and fuel between the United States and an array of destinations on the other side of the world, U.S. carriers say they are being forced into an aeronautical version of Twister to get passengers where they want to go without taking undue risks.” — “Yet many foreign airlines are not banned from flying over Russia, U.S. airlines and their lobbyists say — and are winning more passengers on routes to and from the United States as a result. Continued access to the shorter and more fuel-efficient routes that Russian airspace provides is giving carriers like Air India, Emirates and China Eastern Airlines an unfair advantage, the industry lobbying group Airlines for America said in a recent presentation on Capitol Hill.” — “Now airlines are pressing the White House and Congress to fix the problem by subjecting foreign carriers from nations not already banned from Russian airspace to the same restrictions applied to U.S. airlines, effectively forcing them to fly the same routes as their American competitors.” — “The proposal appears to have gained traction with the Transportation Department, which recently drafted an order that would ban Chinese carriers that fly passengers to the United States from flying through Russian airspace, according to three people who were briefed on the order.” MIDSIZE BANKS SEEK BROADER INSURANCE GUARANTEE: The coalition representing midsize banks “asked federal regulators to extend FDIC insurance to all deposits for the next two years, arguing the guarantee is needed to avoid a wider run on the banks” in the aftermath of the collapse of two of its members, Bloomberg’s Gillian Tan reports. — “Doing so will immediately halt the exodus of deposits from smaller banks, stabilize the banking sector and greatly reduce chances of more bank failures,” the Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America wrote last week to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve. — This month’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank — both one of the trade group’s 100-plus members — has prompted a surge of deposits out of smaller banks into the country’s largest. The coalition pointed to comments from Yellen that expanded insurance for all deposits at those two banks would be extended further only if “necessary to protect the financial system” — conditions likely to exclude MBCA’s members. ANNALS OF FUNDRAISING: "Ten days before Signature Bank collapsed, the House Republican overseeing an inquiry into the bank’s failure was inside its boardroom on New York’s Fifth Avenue," Bloomberg's Max Abelson, Laura Davison and Bill Allison report. "Patrick McHenry was there to raise thousands of dollars from bank executives." — "The mood inside the Signature boardroom at the March 2 fundraiser was calm, according to a person who was at the event and asked for anonymity to discuss the private affair. There was no overt anxiety or tension, the person said; instead there were questions about the debt ceiling." — A spokesperson for the North Carolina Republican's campaign told Bloomberg that it decided not to cash checks from the event, which according to an invitation was hosted by by Signature co-founder and chairman Scott Shay and cost $1,000 to get in the door or up to $5,800 to host.
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