PhRMA picks its new top lobbyist

By Caitlin Oprysko

With Daniel Lippman

PhRMA TAPS NEW TOP LOBBYIST: “Steve Tilton, the lead lobbyist for Takeda, is being named the new top lobbyist for drugmakers’ most powerful industry group,” our Megan Wilson reports.

— “It’s a consequential hire for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which is fighting to regain its footing following the industry’s biggest legislative loss in decades with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.” The hire amounts to a “homecoming for Tilton, who has worked in PhRMA's lobby shop twice before.”

— “He replaces Anne Esposito, who stepped down as the head of PhRMA’s federal advocacy in August. He’s a longtime pharma advocate, working for lobbying and consulting firms including Crossroads Strategies and Ogilvy Government Relations. He also has Capitol Hill experience, working on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.”

BANKS TAKE ON ANOTHER CREDIT CARD BILL: Wall Street is mounting a last-minute counteroffensive in the Senate to derail a bill aimed at putting a dent in the industry’s revenue from credit card fees — but not that one.

— As Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) threatens to hold up a three-bill spending package in return for a vote on his bill with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to rein in the interchange fees merchants pay to credit card providers, more than half a dozen banking trade groups also issued a warning to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Wednesday over a different credit card bill they say he’s pushing for an amendment vote on.

— Hawley’s bill, introduced last week, would cap the annual percentage rate for credit cards at 18 percent, and bar card providers from imposing fees to get around that cap. It’s similar to a 2019 proposal from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) that would have capped interest rates at 15 percent, but financial institutions lambasted the idea in a letter to Hawley sent yesterday, contending it would “significantly limit consumers’ access to credit cards.”

— Capping interest rates would amount to “government price controls on private products,” the groups alleged. They also pointed to a proposed rulemaking by the CFPB to cap late fees for credit cards, which the industry said would increase APRs by 2 percent on its own.

— “Proponents of a cap on credit card fees and interest believe that it would help consumers, especially subprime borrowers with less than perfect credit histories. In reality, many consumers who currently rely on credit cards would be forced to turn elsewhere for short-term financing needs, including pawn shops, or worse — loan sharks, unregulated online lenders, and the black market,” the trade groups argued.

— The letter was signed by the Consumer Bankers Association, Bank Policy Institute, National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, Credit Union National Association, American Financial Services Association, American Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America and the Association of Military Banks of America.

Happy Thursday and welcome to PI. How are you preparing your clients for the possibility of a shutdown at the end of the month? Drop me a line: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

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Black men in the U.S. have among the highest documented rates of prostate cancer in the world, and their cancer deaths due to the disease are one of the greatest disparities in oncology. Support H.R. 1826 and S. 2821 to increase access to prostate cancer screening for all men at high-risk for the disease, fighting health care inequities and making time for men to enjoy moments that matter. Fight Cancer. Make Time.

CLEAR ADDS BACK TO ITS LOBBYING TEAM: Forbes Tate is once again lobbying for CLEAR, the travel security company under new scrutiny recently as a result of breaches at TSA checkpoints, according to a new disclosure filing. The firm first signed on to lobby for CLEAR back in 2019, and brought in $640,000 in lobbying fees from the company, which allows its members to skip to the front of security lines at airports for an annual fee. But it parted ways with the company at the end of last year, disclosures show.

— Forbes Tate wasn’t the only firm trimmed from CLEAR’s collection of outside lobbyists last year — CLEAR split up with HHQ Ventures and W Strategies last summer, and only reported lobbying activity via white-shoe law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison through the first six months of this year.

— But several weeks after making headlines for security breaches that occurred earlier this year — including one where someone was able to go through security using a boarding pass they’d fished out of the trash — Forbes Tate began working for CLEAR again toward the end of August, according to an amended registration.

— CLEAR is in the midst of a scuffle for a greater share of the security fast-tracking market with industry rival IDEMIA, which performs background checks for TSA’s PreCheck program, POLITICO’s Alex Daugherty and Oriana Pawlyk reported last month, a bid that could be complicated by the recent security breaches. CLEAR has attributed the lapses to rogue employees who have since been fired.

PRISM GROUP ADDS TAX LOBBYIST: Prism Group is bulking up its tax lobbying prowess as K Street gears up for a push to save a number of prized tax breaks from winding down over the next few years. Alex Ford, who previously ran his own boutique firm specializing in tax issues for trade associations, is joining Prism as a vice president, where he’ll work on preserving provisions from the 2017 GOP tax bill that have already begun to wind down and will continue to do so with increasing frequency over the next two years.

— Ford is the founder of Halcyon Strategy, and before that he was an in-house lobbyist at NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association and the American Institute of Architects.

FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: “Shortly after his former right-hand man and ‘dear friend’ was hired by a fossil gas company to lobby the Senate, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) inserted language into a bill pushing back against the Biden administration’s consideration of greenhouse gas emissions in its forthcoming guidance for hydrogen fuel tax credits,” Sludge’s David Moore and Donald Shaw report.

— “On July 13, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved a manager’s amendment to an appropriations bill that included language from Manchin.” The nonbinding guidance, which Manchin later took credit for, “states that the committee ‘is concerned that the Department of the Treasury is considering imposing additional limitations or restrictions that are not authorized by section 45V of the Internal Revenue Code in order to qualify for the clean hydrogen production tax credit.’”

— A little over a month earlier, natural gas company CNX Resources hired Manchin’s former chief of staff and longtime confidant Larry Puccio and a fellow West Virginia lobbyist, Angel Moore, to lobby on energy issues related to the Inflation Reduction Act, which introduced the 45V tax credit.

— “The battle over the 45V rules heated up over the past few months, with gas industry groups running newspaper ads calling for looser standards, while environmental groups counter with warnings that the fledgling hydrogen credits could prop up polluters for decades. Manchin said in late July that he’s strongly opposed to the environmentalists’ proposed protections in the 45V tax credits.”

ANNALS OF THE REVOLVING DOOR: The Associated Press’ Joshua Goodman and Jim Mustian report that “the Drug Enforcement Administration’s recently departed second-in-command returned for a new stint with the high-powered consulting firm where he previously advised Purdue Pharma and a drug distributor fighting sanctions over a deluge of suspicious painkiller shipments.”

— “Louis Milione retired from the DEA a second time this summer amid reporting by The Associated Press on potential conflicts caused by his prior consulting for the pharmaceutical industry. Less than three months later, Milione again landed a plum job at Guidepost Solutions, a New York-based firm hired by some of the same companies he had been tasked with regulating when he returned to the DEA in 2021 as Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy.”

— “Milione had spent four years at Guidepost prior to his return, leveraging his extensive experience and contacts from a 21-year DEA career. ‘Should we say Welcome Back?’ Guidepost quipped in a social media post this week announcing Milione’s rehire as president of global investigations and regulatory compliance. Milione is the most senior of a slew of DEA officials to have traded their badge and gun for a globe-trotting consulting job; that includes a dozen at Guidepost alone.”

A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network:

SPOTTED at the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts’ black tie gala at the Mayflower Hotel, per a tipster: Director Angel Manuel Soto, actors Ramon Rodriguez and Camila Morrone, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Panamanian Ambassador to the U.S. Ramón Martínez, Nicaraguan Ambassador to the U.S. Francisco Campbell, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Reps. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.), Patricia Harrison of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Merel Julia and Felix Sanchez of NHFA, Stacie de Armas and Veronica Hernandez of Nielsen, Carla Canales of the National Endowment for the Arts, Lyndon Boozer of Capitol Counsel, Todd Flournoy of The Flournoy Group, Gerry Harrington of Capitol City Group, Chloe Rodriguez of CTIA, Tanya Lombard of AT&T, Jackie Puente of Comcast and Laura Berrocal of Charter Communications.

— And at a reception on the Hill hosted by the Vinyl Sustainability Council, per a tipster: Ned Monroe and Kevin Koonce of the Vinyl Institute, Bryan Ekus of the Vinyl Record Manufacturers Association, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Claudia Urrabazo-Beckelman of Menendez’s office, Ken Gear of the Leading Builders of America, Jeff Moore of Capitol Solutions, Ivan Zapien and Ches Garrison of Hogan Lovells, Caitlyn Tierney of Rep. Bill Johnson’s (R-Ohio) office, Johnny Rubin of the House Ways and Means Committee and Tyler Gutchess of Rep. Marc Molinaro’s (R-N.Y.) office.

— Rachel Rosen is now chief communications officer for Democratic Majority for Israel. She was the group’s founding communications director.

— Ellen Satterwhite is joining Invariant’s strategic comms and public affairs team as senior director. She was previously head of global communications and U.S. policy at Patreon.

— Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is joining the Bloomberg-backed climate advocacy group America Is All In as co-chair alongside fellow former EPA Chief Gina McCarthy. Jackson is now Apple’s vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives.

— Seth Frazier is now managing director at Manatt Health. He previously was an adviser at Eleanor Health.

— Rosaline Cohen will be deputy director of government and external affairs for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She previously was the longtime chief counsel for Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) on the House Homeland Security Committee.

— Thomas Carufel is joining National Public Affairs as a digital account manager. He most recently was with OnMessage Inc.

A message from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network:

By leading the charge to end prostate cancer as we know it, Congress creates possibility, opening the door to precious moments like sneaking in dog walks before sundown, watching a niece D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E at the spelling bee, and observing - with pride- that son is now taller than father. When lawmakers fight prostate cancer, you make time for all those affected by the disease. Literally.

Access to prostate cancer screening for men with a family history of the disease makes time for all men, but it especially helps Black communities. Approximately one in six Black men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and their deaths due to the disease are one of the greatest disparities in oncology. The PSA Screening for HIM Act helps close this gap by ensuring screening costs for high-risk individuals are fully covered by health insurance, making time for memories.

Fight Cancer. Make Time.

MIKE ROGERS VICTORY COMMITTEE (Rogers for Senate, Michigan's Resurgence PAC (MR PAC), NRSC)
Wyden Cantwell Victory Fund (Sens. Maria Cantwell, Ron Wyden)

Amelio Renteria (Super PAC)
Corn, LP Political Action Committee (PAC)
Cure USA (Super PAC)
Ebon Eagle Project (Super PAC)
Forward Party - Restricted (Hybrid PAC)
We The People (Super PAC)

Alb Solutions: American Heart Association
Axadvocacy Government Relations (Formerly Known As, Apex Advocacy LLC): Natural State Renewables
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Northern California Power Agency
Forbes-Tate: Secure Identity, LLC Dba Clear (Fka Alclear LLC Dba Clear)
Stack Av Co.: Stack Av Co.
The Gaboton Group, LLC: Fresno Metro Black Chamber Of Commerce
Thompson Coburn LLP: Houston Advanced Research Center (Harc)
Venable LLP: Agility Public Warehousing Company Kscp
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale And Dorr LLP: Tricon Residential Inc.

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