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Presented by the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: Delivered daily, Influence gives you a comprehensive rundown and analysis of all lobby hires and news on K Street. | | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by |  | | | With Daniel Lippman NEW BUSINESS: Telecom giant AT&T last month hired DUFFY&SHANLEY’s Jonathan Duffy, who co-chaired now-Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s transition operations after she was elected governor of Rhode Island, according to newly released lobbying disclosures. Duffy will lobby on broadband issues as well as President Joe Biden’s jobs plan, which calls for billions of dollars to expand access to broadband, financed by higher corporate taxes. — The company, which announced this week it would be spinning off its media assets in a deal with Discovery, retains 20 other outside firms, including most recently a team from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck that includes former Sen. Mark Pryor and former aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. AT&T retained the team in March. — PhRMA also added a team from Roberti Global to its sizable stable of outside lobbyists, which includes more than two dozen firms like Tiber Creek Group, Monument Advocacy, Capitol Counsel, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, Williams & Jensen and Bose Public Affairs. FLYING IN (VIRTUALLY): The Alzheimer’s Association is hosting its annual fly-in this week with more than 400 congressional meetings on the books with more than 2,200 advocates. The advocates will lobby for increased funding for medical research and passage of the Comprehensive Care for Alzheimer’s Act. They're set to meet with Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Mike Braun (R-Ind.), as well as Reps. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) and Tracey Mann (R-Kan.), and honor Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) with an award. Good afternoon and welcome to PI . I’m off until after Memorial Day, but you’ll once again be in the very capable hands of Theo Meyer. Send PI tips to him at tmeyer@politico.com and send other musings to me: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow us both on Twitter: @theodoricmeyer and @caitlinoprysko. | | A message from the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: NEW STUDY: The number of uninsured Americans would fall significantly under an enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) model – providing the latest evidence that the most effective way to expand access to affordable, high-quality health coverage and care is to build on and improve what’s working. Get the facts. | | | BIDEN TO WAIVE SANCTIONS ON NORD STREAM 2 DEVELOPER: “The Biden administration will waive sanctions on the corporate entity and CEO overseeing the construction of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany,” Axios’ Jonathan Swan reports, in a lobbying coup for the pipeline’s developer, Nord Stream 2 AG, and a geopolitical win for Russian President Vladimir Putin. — “The State Department will imminently send its mandatory 90-day report to Congress listing entities involved in Nord Stream 2 that deserve sanctions. Sources familiar with the drafting of the report tell Axios the State Department plans to call for sanctions against a handful of Russian ships.” While it will say that Nord Stream 2 AG “and its CEO (Putin crony and former East German intelligence officer Matthias Warnig) are engaged in sanctionable activities,” State will “waive the applications of those sanctions, citing U.S. national interests.” — Nord Stream 2 AG has racked up huge lobbying bills since 2017 in an effort to block the sanctions, with spending on Washington lobbying during that time approaching $10 million through the first three months of this year, according to a PI analysis of lobbying disclosures. That money’s gone mostly to BGR Group, Roberti Global and subcontractors, and the company paid $840,000 total between the two firms just in the first quarter of this year. THE LATEST ON INFRASTRUCTURE TALKS: “There's still no infrastructure deal in sight after Senate Republicans crafted a revised proposal and met with the White House for a second meeting in less than a week. And they still can’t define infrastructure,” POLITICO’s Marianne LeVine , Sam Mintz and Laura Barrón-López report. — “Senators described the Tuesday discussion as ‘productive’ and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the top GOP negotiator, said that Republicans and the administration are ‘closing in on’ the parameters for what constitutes infrastructure. But there’s still no consensus on a top line number, how to pay for it or how many years the package will cover.” — “The clock is ticking on” the White House’s plans. “The timeline for must-pass legislation authorizing transportation programs in Congress, which is closely tied to the administration’s infrastructure plans, is already slipping in the House,” where Pelosi has pledged to pass the package by July 4. SPEARS TO ANOTHER 5 YEARS: Chris Spears, who’s led the American Trucking Association since 2016, has signed a contract extension for another five years at the helm of the trade group, it announced Tuesday. “I am honored to work on behalf of this incredible industry, and I look forward to continuing to strongly advocate for trucking, as well as grow ATA’s impact and influence,” Spears said in a statement. | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | FEDS PROBING POSSIBLE ILLEGAL DONATIONS TO PRO-COLLINS SUPER PAC: “The FBI is investigating what it describes as a massive scheme to illegally finance Sen. Susan Collins' 2020 re-election bid,” Axios’ Lachlan Markay reports. An application for a search warrant unsealed late last week “shows the FBI believes a Hawaii defense contractor illegally funneled $150,000 to a pro-Collins super PAC and reimbursed donations to Collins' campaign,” which has said it had no knowledge of what’s alleged in the warrant. — “Collins helped the contractor at issue, then called Navatek and since renamed the Martin Defense Group , secure an $8 million Navy contract before most of the donations took place.” The contractor’s former chief executive, Martin Kao, was indicted last year on charges of filing fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans. — According to investigators, “Kao used a shell company to funnel $150,000 in Navatek funds to a pro-Collins super PAC called 1820 PAC ,” which investigators posit was an attempt to skirt a ban on government contractors contributing to political committees. They also “say bank records also show that Kao illegally reimbursed family members who donated to Collins' campaign and that Navatek reimbursed some of Kao's colleagues for their contributions.” IF YOU MISSED IT TUESDAY: White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday shot down the notion that President Joe Biden’s trip to a Ford electric vehicle production facility in Dearborn, Mich., had anything to do with the auto giant’s lobbying, including of the White House, on the issue. — “How can you assure the American people that this isn’t a pay-to-play situation and the electric vehicle subsidies [in Biden’s infrastructure proposal] aren’t going to be a boondoggle?” POLITICO’s Alex Thompson asked during a gaggle on Air Force One, noting that Ford has already dropped more than $1 million on lobbying efforts in the first three months of this year. — “The future of the industry is electric, everyone will tell you that,” Psaki responded, noting that the president has always had an affinity for cars and adding that Biden isn’t satisfied with the U.S. lagging behind China in the electric vehicle market. “So I would say to any skeptics, anyone who’s questioning why we’re investing in the electric vehicle markets or why the president is proposing that, that’s where jobs are, that’s where the future of the — auto manufacturing is, that is where the future of job creation in communities like Michigan is.” | | | | A message from the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future:   | | | | | | — ASML has tapped Maryam Khan Cope as its new head of U.S. government affairs. She most recently served as director of government affairs for the Semiconductor Industry Association. — The Managed Funds Association has hired Erin Galipeau as vice president and senior counsel. She was most recently an examination manager in the Division of Examinations at the SEC. — Kathleen Jaeger will be executive vice president of health and wellness, strategy and external relations at start-up All Sober and president of the All Sober Foundation. She is currently senior vice president of health and wellness strategy, policy and patient advocacy at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. | | | | SUBSCRIBE TO "THE RECAST" TODAY: Power is shifting in Washington and in communities across the country. More people are demanding a seat at the table, insisting that politics is personal and not all policy is equitable. The Recast is a twice-weekly newsletter that explores the changing power dynamics in Washington and breaks down how race and identity are recasting politics and policy in America. Get fresh insights, scoops and dispatches on this crucial intersection from across the country and hear critical new voices that challenge business as usual. Don't miss out, SUBSCRIBE . Thank you to our sponsor, Intel. | | | | | | | | None. | | | Third Down Georgia PAC Inc. (Super PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Exact Sciences Corporation
Alta Crest LLC: Lift
Alta Crest LLC: Oregon Institute Of Technology
Alta Crest LLC: The Austin Center For Manufacturing & Innovation
Blank Rome Government Relations: Carpi & Clay (On Behalf Of Transbay Joint Powers Authority)
Blank Rome Government Relations: Southern California Regional Rail Authority
Bloom Strategic Counsel: Veeva Systems, Inc.
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP: Dialysis Clinic, Inc.
Clarifyd LLC: Homtex, Inc.
Dentons US LLP: Devry University, Inc
Duffy&Shanley: AT&T
Hoboken Strategy Group: Winning Strategies Washington (On Behalf Of Middlesex County, New Jersey)
Holland & Knight LLP: Nic Federal LLC
Larry Puccio, LLC: Represent US
Meeks, Butera & Israel Pllc: Technology Service Corporation
Rosetta Group LLC: Cormac Group On Behalf Of Nova Southeastern University
Tarplin, Downs & Young, LLC: Bristol Myers Squibb
The Lande Group: Power Solutions International (Psi) | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Fgh Holdings, LLC (Formerly Known As The Glover Park Group LLC): Novo Nordisk Inc.
Hbw Resources: Sunnova Energy Corporation
| | A message from the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future: A new study on the impacts of expanding the Affordable Care Act finds that roughly 8.1 million (30 percent) and 9.6 million (34 percent) fewer people will be uninsured after the ACA enhancements in 2023 and 2032, respectively, helping more Americans access the care they need. Let’s build on what’s working, not start over. Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |  |
