KING, MURKOWSKI TEAM UP ON SCOTUS ETHICS BILL: “Sens. Angus King (I., Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to create its own code of conduct within a year, following media reports that raise questions about whether Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch properly disclosed their financial activities,” The Wall Street Journal’s Lindsay Wise and Jess Bravin report. — “The King-Murkowski bill is more modest than legislation introduced in February by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.), which in addition to requiring the court to adopt a code of conduct would tighten disclosure and recusal requirements for justices and for interest groups that file briefs with the court. It also would establish an investigative board made up of the chief judges of each circuit to review complaints against justices.” — “With Mr. Whitehouse’s bill having no Republican co-sponsors, Sens. King and Murkowski said their more targeted legislation might have greater chances of passage in a deeply divided Congress, where few issues can attract bipartisan support. ‘How are we going to make sure that, to the fullest extent possible, this is not viewed as a partisan hit?’ Ms. Murkowski said. ‘I think that a more narrow approach … is one that will garner more bipartisan support for this.’” WALL STREET NEEDLES WHITE HOUSE OVER M&A SLUMP: “Wall Street dealmakers have dialed up their complaints to the White House over the last year as the administration's top antitrust enforcers — FTC Chair Lina Khan and DOJ antitrust head Jonathan Kanter — knuckle down on merger activity they say would damage the economy,” Biden officials and financial industry executives tell our Josh Sisco and Sam Sutton. — “One senior administration official — who was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations with business leaders — told POLITICO that they view the objections as a sign that Biden’s competition policy and staffing choices are working.” — “The volume of M&A activity has fallen sharply over the last year and dealmakers say the effect of President Joe Biden’s antitrust crackdown has also been felt in ways that won’t show up in the data. It’s not just the deals they attempt to stop — it’s the deals that never get proposed to a corporate board, for fear of having to subject their transactions to combative regulators.” — “In the last two years, a string of high profile transactions have been abandoned after being challenged by the government. … And some companies are sometimes willing to sell at a lower price if they believe a higher offer will raise a deal’s profile and generate greater regulatory risk, according to one banker focused on the technology sector, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.” — Recent years’ low interest rates and federal stimulus made for cheap financing that fueled scores of deals. But that “critical lubricant to deal pipelines for large corporations and private equity shops … dried up as Khan and Kanter began cracking down.” WHAT HOUSE REPUBLICANS ARE READING: “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce pitches itself as representing the interests of millions of businesses of all shapes and sizes. But lately its funding has been largely fueled by donors who have given at least $1 million to the lobbying giant,” CNBC’s Brian Schwartz reports. — “The chamber’s 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization raised just over $93 million in 2021 from donors who gave $1 million or more,” according to a new study from the watchdog group Public Citizen. “Just 1.4% of the donations that year ‘provided more than a quarter of the Chamber’s itemized contributions,’ according to the study. The business lobby group raised $197 million in 2021.” — According to the group’s analysis of the Chamber’s 2021 tax returns, the Chamber “brought in 18 contributions from those who donated anywhere from $2 million to over $4 million. The report says that the group raised around $54 million from those big-money contributors alone. … The data proves the chamber focuses more of its advocacy on big business and not necessarily small businesses, said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president at Public Citizen.” — “Kasper Zeuthen, a spokesman for the group, told CNBC the vast majority of the organization’s members are small businesses. ‘The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s governing board consists of small business owners, the heads of state and local chambers of commerce, mid-size businesses, and representatives of some of the nation’s most successful companies,’ Zeuthen said in an email. — “‘As we have for over a century, the Chamber represents the depth and breadth of the American business community. And like America, the vast majority of our members — 90% — are small businesses and state and local chambers of commerce,’” Zeuthen continued, calling small businesses “strongly engaged” with the business lobby. BIDEN’S BUNDLERS' BIND: Puck’s Teddy Schleifer gamed out the state of Biden’s fundraising operation as the president formally jumps into his reelection bid, writing that in addition to fretting that the 2024 election won’t feel as urgent as the last time around, Biden’s team faces several other hurdles. — “A recession looms, key donors still feel like they haven’t been thanked for 2020, and some of Biden’s biggest fundraisers have been scattered to diplomatic postings around the world, taking them off the bundling chessboard.” — Meanwhile, he reports, at a recent DNC donor retreat, “bundlers were told to expect the need for Biden and his allies to raise at least $2 billion, all told and across all groups, to win in 2024. That figure struck several people as a lowball. Biden, of course, has never been a particularly energetic fundraiser himself, raising the stakes for whomever will be tasked with overseeing the necessary campaign infrastructure.”
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