| | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by The Great Courses Plus | With Daniel Lippman
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PROGRAMMING NOTE: POLITICO Influence will not publish from Thursday, Dec. 24 - Friday, Jan. 1. We'll be back on our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 4. Please continue to follow POLITICO.
______________________________________________________ K STREET CALLS RELIEF PACKAGE A DOWN PAYMENT: Trade groups embraced with varying levels of enthusiasm the news that congressional negotiators finally struck a deal on a nearly $1 trillion coronavirus relief package which, barring any last-minute snags, is slated to finally pass today after nearly nine months of gridlock on the Hill. The $900 billion package — the legislative text of which was delayed for hours because of an IT glitch — includes $325 billion to help small businesses devastated by the pandemic, our Caitlin Emma and Marianne LeVine write in an excellent breakdown of the relief funds. — The package includes $284 billion for loans through the Paycheck Protection Program — and deductibility for expenses associated with the loans, an ask from the business community — $15 billion for live venues, museums and movie theaters, $7 billion for broadband access, an extended eviction ban and rental assistance, a two-year tax break for business meals — a priority for President Donald Trump known by critics as the "three martini lunch" — a bolstered Earned Income Tax Credit and much, much more. — The agreement was welcomed by a number of industries whose priorities were included in the package. But there was also another uniting sentiment across the board: That the current deal should be be seen as a band-aid rather than Congress' last say on matters of relief. — The Independent Restaurant Coalition, which has long argued that the decimated industry needs more targeted relief and called the current package "woefully" inadequate, tepidly applauded tweaks to PPP funding for restaurants that it said "will buy time for Congress to negotiate a more robust plan." The bigger restaurant lobby, the National Restaurant Association, called the bipartisan package a "big win" for the industry, though it too called the legislation merely a "down payment." — The tourism and travel industries are "VERY happy" with the package, the U.S. Travel Association's Chris Kennedy said in an email to PI. The legislation will include $45 million for transportation, including $15 billion in airline payroll support, as well as $2 billion for airports that had not been included in previous drafts of the bill, according to our Stephanie Beasley. U.S. Travel's CEO Roger Dow said in a statement that the package amounted to "a huge holiday gift to U.S. businesses and workers after an incredibly challenging year" but called the package a "bridge" to 2021. — The fitness industry, meanwhile, reacted with disbelief at lawmakers' failure to include any assistance for gyms in the deal. "It is absolutely incomprehensible that Congress would direct relief to other industries but leave gyms and fitness clubs out," said Brent Darden , the interim head of the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. The Community Gyms Coalition, which asked congressional leadership for aid last week, said today the relief bill "will not do enough to help gyms survive this winter." — President-elect Joe Biden also hailed the deal but again reiterated that he views this latest package as a down payment for a larger deal he hopes to negotiate at the start of his term, calling it "just the beginning" of the legislative response to the virus. But the odds of reaching another agreement which, again, has taken the better part of a year, are "even more daunting than the latest round," CGCN said in a memo Friday. Good afternoon, and welcome to PI . With another round of coronavirus relief finally on its way out the door, what's next? Let me know what you want in a potential Biden-backed plan or where you're turning your focus come January: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from The Great Courses Plus: Don't be stagnant, keep your mind active with The Great Courses Plus . Learn at your own pace with the ability to stream lectures like the Art of Investing anytime, anywhere. Tap into an expansive selection of over 13,000 video streaming lectures from some of the world's greatest minds. Learning should be enjoyable, so start learning today with The Great Courses Plus! | | | LAWMAKERS SQUEEZE IN SURPRISE BILLING FIX: Congress is set to include a hard-fought ban on "surprise" medical bills as part of a massive spending package that it will pass alongside its coronavirus relief legislation today, our Susannah Luthi reports. Key players in the fight reached an agreement more than a week ago on a plan for protecting insured patients from large medical bills when they unwittingly receive out-of-network care. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's support had been an unanswered question, and the push has been targeted by well-funded opposition. — Susannah reports that while the compromise reached earlier this month "was considered largely a win for hospitals and doctors," a new summary of the legislation makes tweaks that are "even friendlier to providers." That includes a provision barring arbiters from "taking into account Medicare and Medicaid rates, which are typically much lower than what commercial coverage pays." Lawmakers also appear to have watered down language that "would have required them to disclose detailed information to employers about their drug costs and rebates through their contracts with middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers," a win for health insurers. ONE DYNAMIC TO WATCH NEXT YEAR: CGCN's memo Friday credited the bipartisan group of moderates who came up with the current relief bill's framework earlier this month for "jumpstarting" the stalled discussions that led to the deal reached over the weekend. But it argues that without agreement on populist policies that motivate liberals and conservatives alike — such as Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) teaming up to ensure stimulus checks were included in the final bill — "that moderate coalition lacked the numbers to pass a final deal." The success of their push portends "strange alignments and diverse coalitions in the next (tightly divided) Congress (and likely beyond), which can unite to produce unexpected results," the memo says. NEW BUSINESS: Toyota has hired former Sen. Tom Daschle, Nathan Daschle and Veronica Pollock of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz/The Daschle Group. They will lobby on tax, trade, and "other legislative and regulatory issues impacting" the auto industry. The nonprofit that oversees operations for Teddy Roosevelt's presidential library has hired Squire Patton Boggs for "advice and counsel regarding potential land conveyance." — The Philanthropy Roundtable, a trade association for charities, has hired three new teams of lobbyists. Article One Group's Ted McCann, a former adviser to former House Speaker Paul Ryan , will lobby on "tax policy advice relating to donor-advised funds, private foundations, and the charitable sector," as will Kristina Rasmussen of Jean Marie Consulting and Jorge Castro of Miller & Chevalier, according to disclosure filings. The group retains Morgan, Lewis & Bockius , though disclosures show it has paid the firm less than $10,000 since 2013, and Urban Swirski & Associates, which has collected $90,000 per quarter for the past 10 quarters from the group. | | | | TUNE IN TO NEW EPISODE OF GLOBAL TRANSLATIONS: Our Global Translations podcast, presented by Citi, examines the long-term costs of the short-term thinking that drives many political and business decisions. The world has long been beset by big problems that defy political boundaries, and these issues have exploded over the past year amid a global pandemic. This podcast helps to identify and understand the impediments to smart policymaking. Subscribe for Season Two, available now. | | | | | SIXKILLER VET STARTS NEW FIRM: Madison Strader will launch a new federal affairs and consulting firm, Forza DC, at the beginning of the year. Strader is an alum of Sixkiller Consulting, which is folding up as its founder Mariah Sixkiller moves over to Microsoft's government affairs team. Debra Wada, a former assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, will join the new firm as a strategic adviser. According to a press release, Strader will take several of Sixkiller's clients, which currently include Microsoft, Motorola, BSA The Software Alliance and Noble Energy , to the new firm, though Strader was not immediately able to disclose which ones. WHAT BIDEN ROLES SILICON VALLEY IS EYEING: "Silicon Valley is working behind the scenes to secure senior roles for tech allies in lesser-known but still vital parts of president-elect Joe Biden's administration," Reuters' Nandita Rose reports, "even as the pushback against Big Tech from progressive groups and regulators grows." Executives and employees from Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft are "pushing to place candidates in senior roles" at agencies including Commerce, USTR, State, the Pentagon and the Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs, "a key agency under the White House Office of Management & Budget which drafts policies impacting the tech industry." — The industry of course still has "a huge commercial interest in pushing candidates with industry ties at the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission," but "the spotlight on those agencies from progressive interest groups and members of Congress is likely to make it much harder for Silicon Valley to succeed, the sources said." There is no formal process by which tech executives are floating names, but several people who work for tech giants have already landed on the Biden transition's agency review teams — much to the chagrin of progressives.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A scathing report from the Senate Commerce Committee on Friday found that the FAA "stymied congressional investigators, allowed Boeing to coach pilots so they performed better on simulator tests of the Boeing 737 MAX and continued a decades-long pattern of punishing whistleblowers," our Sam Mintz and Stephanie Beasley report. — The report, which stemmed from a congressional investigation of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes, and which Boeing and FAA say they are reviewing, describes "'numerous systemic deficiencies in FAA oversight,' that could put the flying public at risk," including allowing "line inspectors to be overruled in favor of the companies the agency oversees."
| | | | A message from The Great Courses Plus:   | | | | | | — Jonathan Weinberger is joining General Motors as a director for advanced technology policy. He was most recently executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Innovation Policy Center. — Adam Snider will take over as director of communications for the Governors Highway Safety Association early next year, per Morning Transportation. Snider was most recently a spokesperson for the Electrification Coalition. — Paula Gonzalez is joining the American Association of Port Authorities as its new membership services director and Jennifer Wilk will step in as AAPA's new public affairs director, Morning Transportation reports. | | | None.
| | | The Democratic Action PAC (Super PAC)
Liberty-Libertad PAC (Leadership PAC: Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.))
PURPL-AC PAC (The Purple America Coalition Political Action Committee Inc.) (PAC)
| | | | A NEW YEAR, A NEW HUDDLE: Huddle, our daily must-read in congressional offices, will have a new author in 2021! Olivia Beavers will take the reins on Jan. 4, and she has some big plans in store. Don't miss out, subscribe to our Huddle newsletter, the essential guide to all things Capitol Hill. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP: Owl Rock Capital Group LLC
Article One Group, LLC: The Philanthropy Roundtable
Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz /The Daschle Group: Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Beacon Strategies: Viz.ai
Bockorny Group, Inc.: Medgene Labs
Chesapeake Climate Action Network: Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Hodgkins And Associates: Viz.ai
Jean Marie Consulting, LLC: The Philanthropy Roundtable
Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, Inc.: HCA Healthcare
Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, Inc.: Henry Schein
Miller & Chevalier, Chtd.: The Philanthropy Roundtable
Park&K Public Affairs LLC: St. Louis Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council
Potomac Strategic Development Company, LLC: AvaSure LLC
Potomac Strategic Development Company, LLC: Save the Children Federation, Inc
Squire Patton Boggs: Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation
The Ferguson Group, LLC: Ward & Smith on behalf of Holden Beach
The Ferguson Group, LLC: Ward & Smith on behalf of Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission
Tremont Strategies Group LLC: 4D Medical
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | The Williams Group: Clark Geduldig Cranford & Nielsen on behalf of Total System Services, ("TSYS")
The Brookmont Group LLC: Meridian Institute
The Ferguson Group, LLC: Poyner Spruill, LLP on Behalf of Holden Beach
The Ferguson Group, LLC: Poyner Spruill, LLP on Behalf of Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission
Venn Strategies: Atlas ID Inc.
Beacon Strategies: Viz.ai
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