Who's lobbying on the debit ceiling fight

From: POLITICO Influence - Thursday Apr 27,2023 10:23 pm
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By Caitlin Oprysko

With Daniel Lippman 

WHO’S LOBBYING ON THE DEBT CEILING: Dozens of organizations reported lobbying on Washington’s game of chicken on raising the debt limit ahead of Wednesday’s vote by House Republicans to send their opening offer to certain death in the Senate.

— A PI analysis of lobbying disclosures from last quarter reveals several different camps of interest on the extending the nation’s borrowing limit — from groups merely monitoring the matter, to advocating explicitly for a no-strings-attached debt ceiling hike to avert a likely economic catastrophe.

— Players in the health care spaces have been especially engaged on the issue, according to disclosures, as organizations like AARP, the Alliance For Retired Americans, the American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, the American Society of Anesthesiologists and even individual hospitals and systems like Texas Children’s Hospital paid their lobbyists to “keep Medicaid off the table during debt ceiling negotiations.”

— Financial institutions and trade groups like Truist, Vanguard and Huntington Bank and the American Bankers Association reported lobbying on the issue too, along with partisan advocacy groups like the Heritage Foundation, FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity, Demand Progress and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and unions like the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, National Air Traffic Controllers Association, National Treasury Employees Union and UAW.

— Energy firms like Constellation Energy, Missouri River Energy Services and American Municipal Power and environmental groups like Earthjustice and the League of Conservation Voters reported monitoring the debt ceiling hike as well, especially with House Republicans seeking to use the fiscal standoff to gut Democrats’ new tax and climate spending law.

— Local government entities like the Savannah Airport Commission in Georgia and the Northern California Power Agency, Foothill Transit agency and Los Angeles County in California, meanwhile, had lobbyists tracking the debt limit fight’s potential effect on state and local funding.

— Other familiar names include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, whose top lobbyist Neil Bradley on Wednesday implored the White House to “meet with Congressional leaders without delay to find a path forward” on the debt ceiling and “runaway deficits.” The Business Roundtable — which said following passage of the House debt plan it hoped the proposal would “jump-start bipartisan negotiations on raising the debt ceiling as soon as possible” — lobbied on the matter as well. The lobbying arm of the Bipartisan Policy Center, meanwhile, reported lobbying on reforms for the debt limit process.

Happy Thursday and welcome to PI. Send any hot lobbying gossip you pick up during parties this week: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

DELTA REVIVES FIGHT FOR MORE FLIGHTS OUT OF DCA: A coalition of business groups and Delta Air Lines is taxiing toward another showdown with DMV lawmakers and rival United Airlines to push for more long-haul flights out of Reagan National Airport, POLITICO’s Alex Daugherty writes.

— The Capital Access Alliance, which also includes the Latino Restaurant Association and California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, is calling for Congress to expand the number of flights that can land or take off from DCA beyond the restricted perimeter of 1,250 miles as part of this year’s FAA reauthorization bill, arguing the status quo “is making air travel longer and more expensive, while also harmful to businesses and the environment.”

— The coalition’s push is a perennial one that stems from a 60-year-old rule that aimed to both reduce noise pollution and traffic in Northern Virginia, D.C. and Maryland and boost then-new Dulles International Airport, a United hub. Over the years, Congress has gradually expanded the DCA perimeter, which now stretches to about halfway across Texas, or carved out exemptions for direct flights to cities like Los Angeles, Denver and Seattle.

FLYING IN: The National Motorsports Coalition brought nearly two dozen racing executives and drivers to the Hill on Wednesday for their first annual fly-in since before the pandemic, where they discussed how best to support the industry with more than 30 offices across the Capitol.

— Tomorrow, nearly 90 pediatricians will be on the Hill to push for gun reforms, citing gun violence’s place as the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. gun violence. The effort, dubbed #OnCall4Kids, is being organized in part by March Fourth, a group that grew out of the Highland Park, Ill., parade shooting. Advocates are set to meet with at least 40 offices across the House and Senate.

— Meanwhile the National Community Pharmacists Association is wrapping up its fly-in, which drew hundreds of community pharmacists from across the country and featured remarks from House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya.

— Independent pharmacists met with Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to advocate for a crackdown on pharmaceutical middlemen.

— Small business leaders from around the country will also be in town tomorrow with the tech-backed advocacy group Connected Commerce Council to meet with Senate offices ahead of National Small Business Week. They’re set to meet with staff for Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and will push back against bills to rein in the tech industry and lobby for a “balanced” federal data privacy law.

PENTAGON OFFICIALS GRILLED OVER REVOLVING DOOR RULES: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., grilled Defense Department lawyers on Wednesday over the ‘revolving door’ between former Pentagon officials, military officers, lawmakers and congressional staff going on to lobby for the defense industry,” Defense News Bryant Harris reports.

— “Warren, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee’s personnel panel, convened the hearing the same day her office released a report that found 672 instances in 2022 of former government and congressional officials working as ‘lobbyists, board members or senior executives’ for the top 20 defense contractors. The study found that 91% of those employees became registered lobbyists for the contractors.”

— “‘Because federal contracts are so profitable for defense companies, these companies want the inside track on how to win those contracts,’ Warren said at the hearing. ‘A preferred strategy is to hire former Pentagon employees to put together the bids and then to present them to their former colleagues in government.’”

Caroline Krass, the Pentagon’s general counsel, pushed back on Warren’s calls for expanded ethics restrictions for the Defense Department, arguing that new rules just for DoD could create “unnecessary complexity and confusion and may also put us at a disadvantage in our recruitment and retention perspective.”

— Meanwhile Danielle Brian, who leads the Project On Government Oversight, “pointed to the Navy’s failed efforts last year to retire nine littoral combat ships early because of design flaws that created numerous problems — retirements that Congress partially prevented” following a lobbying blitz by the industry.

— Warren and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) also grilled the Pentagon lawyers over the scores of former defense officials that have found lucrative work consulting for foreign governments since leaving the Pentagon, as highlighted by The Washington Post last year.

DOJ GETS A FARA CONVICTION: “A jury on Wednesday convicted Grammy Award-winning rapper Prakazrel "Pras" Michel of The Fugees hip hop group on criminal charges that he conspired with a Malaysian financier to orchestrate a series of foreign lobbying campaigns aimed at influencing the U.S. government under two presidents,” per Reuters Sarah Lynch, a win for the Justice Department’s FARA crackdown following a string of legal setbacks.

— “Michel's lawyer David Kenner told reporters outside the courthouse he was ‘extremely disappointed’ by the verdict, but remains hopeful the charges could be dismissed by the judge. … ‘I remain enormously confident that this case is not over, and that we will ultimately prevail,’ he added.”

Jobs Report

SPOTTED at a Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies event at the Charlie Palmer’s rooftop to celebrate the recent addition of former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) as managing director, per a tipster: Reps. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Mike Bost (R-Ill.), Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), Marc Veasey (D-Texas), Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), Mike Carey (R-Ohio), Jerry Carl (R-Ala.), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.); and Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman, Patrick Martin, Jim Davis, John Dunn, Darren Collier,  Rose Christ, Katie Schwab and Jerry Kilgore of Cozen O’Connor.

— And at a fundraiser on Wednesday for House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) hosted by Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid’s Lori Denham, Lisa Kountoupes, Pat Hayes, MJ Kenny and Denise Mousouris; Domer Consulting’s Gina Mahony and Unum PAC, per a tipster: Brooke Scannell of Clark’s office, Marty McGuinness of Unum, Laura McPherson of T-Mobile, Janelle McClure of Best Buy, Shelly Mui-Lipnik of AmerisourceBergen, David Gilbert of Constellation Energy Group, Justin Goldberger of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, Dave Shoultz of Philips and Susan Thompson of RefleXion Medical.

Genna Gent will be executive vice president of industry at the Consumer Brands Association. She most recently was vice president of global public policy and government relations at McDonald’s.

— The U.S. Global Leadership Coalition has announced the creation of the Conservative Foreign Policy Study Group, which consists of a group of conservative foreign policy and national security experts who served in the Trump administration. The organization has also added former Defense Secretary Mark Esper to their national advisory council.

DLA Piper has promoted Aurelie Ercoli, Melanie Garcia and Rachel Ludwig to partner.

National Public Affairs is adding Matt Dailer as vice president of political strategy and Don Chon as director of photography. Dailer most recently was campaign manager for Sen. Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) reelect, and is an RNC alum. Chon is a veteran cinematographer.

Simon Behrmann is joining Edelman Global Advisory as managing director of global integrated campaigns. He most recently was at Scarlet Oak Strategies and Red Cedar Global.

Pete Welsch is now managing director of payments at NationBuilder. He’s an Obama White House, DNC and Media Matters for America alum.

Elizabeth Hale Simpson is now director at Sirona Strategies. She previously was health advocacy manager at Woodberry Associates.

Kimarah Timothy is now director of coalitions and Ny’lyjah Cain as director of operations at Prism Group. Timothy was most recently the community and constituent liaison for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Cain was previously executive assistant at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The firm also promoted Alexis D'Amato to director of government affairs, Maggie Ambrose to director, Bryce Conti to Manager for creative services and Grace Moster has been promoted to senior associate of communications and media affairs.

 

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

 
 
New Joint Fundraisers

Americans for BBQ 2023 (Reps. Richard Hudson, Tracey Mann, Pete Sessions)

New PACs

Americans for Common Sense Change (Super PAC)
JUSTICE GUARD (Hybrid PAC)
New Age Liberals (Super PAC)
NORCO Conservative Defense PAC (Hybrid PAC)
Power Block for Prosperity PAC (Hybrid PAC)
Women Impacting the Nation (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Carmen Group Incorporated: Lerner Enterprises
Constitution Partners: David Lynch Foundation
Hart Health Strategies: Chemed Corporation
Liberty Government Affairs: Navigators Global LLC On Behalf Of The Geo Group, Inc.
Lsn Partners, LLC: Aclima, Inc.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP: Newcleo Ltd
Sebastian Manhart: Cabronfuture Gmbh
The Conafay Group, LLC: Coherus Biosciences
The Mckeon Group, Inc.: California Poptop
The Mckeon Group, Inc.: Global Hf, LLC
Thomas B. Locke & Associates LLC: Waylink Assets Limited
Washington Health Strategies Group: Directtrust

New Lobbying Terminations

Capitol Core Group, Inc.: Richland Communities
Hart Health Strategies: Vitas Healthcare Corporation
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP: Catholic Cemetery Conference
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP: Catholic Health Care Services
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP: Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP: Philadelphia Academies, Inc.
Washington Health Strategies Group: Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission (Ehnac)

 

HAPPENING NEXT WEEK! GO INSIDE THE 2023 MILKEN INSTITUTE GLOBAL CONFERENCE: POLITICO is proud to partner with the Milken Institute to produce a special edition "Global Insider" newsletter featuring exclusive coverage, insider nuggets and unparalleled insights from the 2023 Global Conference, which will convene leaders in health, finance, politics, philanthropy and entertainment from May 1-4. This year’s theme, Advancing a Thriving World, will challenge and inspire attendees to lean into building an optimistic coalition capable of tackling the issues and inequities we collectively face. Don’t miss a thing — subscribe today for a front row seat.

 
 
 

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