| | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by The Great Courses Plus | With Theodoric Meyer and Daniel Lippman 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. We'll be back on our normal schedule on Monday, Jan. 4. WHO WAS AT THE INAUGURAL LEADERSHIP'S K STREET BRIEFING: Three of the top officials from the Biden inaugural committee filled the downtown crowd in on some of their thinking about the scaled-down festivities set to take place in just under a month at a virtual briefing hosted by Capitol Counsel. But there were few specifics announced aside from the committee weighing an inauguration-related national day of service, according to attendees. — The briefing featured inaugural committee CEO Tony Allen, executive director Maju Varghese and finance director Katie Petrelius and attendees included Steve Chaudet of Lockheed Martin, Mark Schuermann of SIFMA, former Ambassador Alan Solomont, Rob Diamond, Lyndon Boozer and David Jones of Capitol Counsel, Jonathan Mantz of BGR Group, Buck Humphrey of Forbes Tate, Todd Webster of Cornerstone, Patrick O'Neill of Public Strategies and representatives from unions like the Teamsters, according to one attendee. — The committee didn't make any hard pitches for money, Jonathan Adelstein, CEO of the Wireless Infrastructure Association, told PI, applauding the transition for "taking all the right measures" to plan an inauguration during a pandemic. Biden's team alluded to a future in-person event for supporters once the health risk has passed and put an emphasis on engaging people around the country, pointing to the mostly virtual Democratic National Convention this summer as a model. — Dan Turton, the head of government affairs at Tyson Foods, said he signed off from the half-hour briefing feeling less skeptical about the prospect of a virtual inauguration and credited Biden's team for motivating attendees and trying to put together an event "less about the president-elect and more about the country coming together." — Another attendee drew laughs when they asked whether the inaugural committee would still provide supporters with invitations they could frame as souvenirs. Good afternoon, and welcome to the last PI of 2020. Thank you all for reading (and for the warm welcomes to this beat)! PI will return Jan. 4. But until then, send me your best tips and K Street gossip over the holidays so I can run them down for the first edition of the new year: 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! | | | BLUMENAUER FAULTS NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION: Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) has worked for months with the Independent Restaurant Coalition to urge his colleagues to pass a bill setting up a $120 billion relief fund for restaurants — a provision that didn't make it into the legislation that passed Monday night despite widespread support. — In an interview on Tuesday, Blumenauer blamed the National Restaurant Association — an established trade group that has sometimes clashed with the upstart Independent Restaurant Coalition over the details of pandemic relief — in part for the failure. "The National Restaurant Association sat on the sidelines," he said, arguing that if the trade group had pushed harder, the relief fund might have made it into the bill. But "they didn't put their shoulder to the wheel on this," he said. — The National Restaurant Association endorsed a Senate bill setting up a restaurant relief fund but not its House counterpart, which the trade group has argued would unfairly disadvantage chain restaurants. "We are proud of our advocacy efforts for the entire restaurant industry," Sean Kennedy, the trade group's top lobbyist, said in a statement. "We called for a recovery fund from Congress on March 18, just days after the industry was shut down, and it has continued to be our top ask." MEYERS & ASSOCIATES AND HANCE SCARBOROUGH ANNOUNCE MERGER: Meyers & Associates, led by Larry Meyers, will join with the D.C. office of the Austin-based law and lobbying firm Hance Scarborough, founded by former Rep. Kent Hance (R-Texas). Meyers and Hance go back decades, dating to when Meyers took Hance's business law course at Texas Tech University and worked on Hance's early campaigns. Meyers will be bringing all of its clients, which include the Port of Corpus Christi and the American Beekeeping Association, to Hance Scarborough. "At a time when the pandemic is causing disruption and challenge for all of us, this merger creates a great opportunity for growth and opportunity for both our firms and our clients," Meyers said in a statement. IT AIN'T OVER TIL IT'S OVER: President Donald Trump threw a new wrench into the massive government spending and coronavirus relief combo package Congress finally passed this week, tearing into the legislation in a video posted on social media last night and all but dangling a veto. "Congress found plenty of money for foreign countries, lobbyists and special interests, while sending the bare minimum to the American people who need it," he argued, while appearing to conflate a $1.4 trillion funding package with the pandemic aid bill passed at the same time. — After declining to get seriously involved in relief negotiations for months, he demanded lawmakers amend the bill to hike up the amount of individual stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer eagerly embraced but is almost certain to be shot down by Republicans on Capitol Hill. | | | | 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. | | | | | CVS, AMAZON, THERMO FISHER LAUNCH EMPLOYER TESTING PUSH: A trio of major corporations on Tuesday launched Workplace Employers Alliance for COVID-19 Testing, a coalition aiming to tout the importance of employer-based testing programs as a tool to combat the pandemic, Morning Pulse reports . WE ACT consists of CVS Health, Amazon and Thermo Fisher, with "a couple dozen" other businesses in talks to join the group. It will push for a comprehensive national testing strategy that includes expanded testing of asymptomatic populations, according to Amazon Vice President of public policy Brian Huseman. — "'Even as vaccines are becoming available, testing remains critical,' Thermo Fisher's Tim Fenton told POLITICO. 'So we've come together to help guide the policy landscape — to allow workplaces to implement programs that were never imagined when existing rules were written.' Ed Pagano, a lawyer at Akin Gump advising the new group" said the group will likely register to lobby. LOBBYING PAYS OFF: Researchers from Brigham Young University, the University of Cincinnati and Columbia University set out to put a dollar amount on the impact of lobbying and other means of political influence and found a stunning return on investment that's roughly 10 times the payoff for research and development and advertising. — The researchers looked at lobbying spending, PAC contributions, board seats on lobbying trade associations and invitations to testify in Congress over 10 years and found that a dollar spent on political influence by 1,882 unique firms on Compustat, a database of financial and market information, is associated with $36.03 of higher earnings over the next three years, according to a paper summarizing their findings. The study also looked at recipients of $74 billion in federal aid through this spring's coronavirus relief bills, finding that "beneficiary organizations of all stripes received $330 of COVID-19 stimulus for each dollar they spent on political influence." BEFORE THE VETO THREAT: Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Senate Small Business Committee, said earlier Tuesday the Trump administration could be ready to issue a new wave of Paycheck Protection Program loans by the new year, "suggesting Capitol Hill will press for an aggressive rollout after passing a massive relief bill this week," POLITICO's Zach Warmbrodt reports. — "We do expect that by early next year, I'm talking about certainly by New Year's, we should be able to have the window open for PPP loans," Cardin told reporters, an indication the Small Business Administration and Treasury are under pressure "to move quickly during the upcoming holiday week to revive" the payroll support program, which Congress replenished to the tune of $284 billion in this week's bill. A Trump veto, of course, could throw that timeline into flux. MORE TRUMP AIDES MOVING ON: The president may still be insisting that there's a chance he won't be leaving office next month, but another group of his aides are preparing for life after Trump by launching a nonprofit group to promote his policies, our Alex Isenstadt reports. — "White House domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins and National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow have been putting the organization together and are expected to be heavily involved once it gets off the ground. National Security adviser Robert O'Brien and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry are also among those likely to play roles." The group is expected to become a "destination for many of the administration's top policy advisers and Cabinet officials." — Trump is "very enthusiastic" about the budding operation, Kudlow said. Organizers say it could conduct a range of activities "including running TV ads and holding live events," but likely will not stray into elections. "They point to an array of areas the group would be focused on, including the president's policies on China, trade, immigration, and tech." | | | | A message from The Great Courses Plus:   | | | | | | — NJI Media recently welcomed a slew of new hires to its global team: Lisa Filgas will be a U.K. account director, Kacey Schneider will be a U.S. account director, Renee Rojural will be a U.S. project manager, Laura Mawson will be a U.K. project manager, Sydney Novak will be a U.S. project manager, Dora Milan will be a U.S. project coordinator, Hillary De Mayo will be a U.S. finance and operations manager and Kristin Whitaker will be a U.S. executive services coordinator. | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | None. | | | Defend Our Values PAC (DOV PAC) (Super PAC)
Dont Shoot The Messengers (Hybrid PAC)
SwingRed (Super PAC)
The Alliance for Effective Progressives (Hybrid PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Capitol Integration: Alamo City Engineering Services
Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
Invariant LLC: Resolution Imagery LLC, dba "Moth+Flame"
Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips: MediSys Health Network
Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, LLP obo Victims of Terrorism - Sudan and East Africa
Peck Madigan Jones: BeiGene USA, Inc.
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Banco Azteca, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Colorado Department of Transportation
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Pennsylvania Environmental Council
Squire Patton Boggs: MetaBank
Steptoe & Johnson LLP: Zulily LLC
Tiber Creek Health Strategies, Inc.: Peck Madigan Jones (on behalf of BeiGene USA, Inc.) | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Monument Advocacy: Whittle School & Studios Holdings Ltd (Formerly Known As G30 Project Ltd )
American Organization for Nursing Leadership (formerly American Organization of Nurse Executives: American Organization For Nursing Leadership Formerly American Organization For
Ballard Partners: MGA Homecare
Rasky Partners, Inc.: Raytheon Company
Monument Advocacy: Whittle School & Studios Holdings Ltd (Formerly Known As G30 Project Ltd ) | | | | A message from The Great Courses Plus: Are you an inquisitively curious individual that loves learning? Join a community of life-long learners, and learn more about any topic with The Great Courses Plus. Stream thousands of videos by some of this world's brightest minds. From the Art of Investing to the Theory of Everything, quench your thirst for knowledge with courses designed for the endlessly curious cat. With The Great Courses Plus, you'll enjoy being able to learn anytime, anywhere at your own pace. Now there's nothing keeping you from starting your educational journey. Learn now with The Great Courses Plus! | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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