| | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by the American Beverage Association | With Daniel Lippman and Theodoric Meyer 'ARMED AND READY': Robinhood, the no-commission stock app credited with allowing so-called armchair investors access to the world of trading, is hiring a federal affairs manager as of this morning — and it's gonna need one. The app found itself in the middle of a firestorm this week, drawing condemnation from the populist wings of both the Democratic and Republican parties. Relevant committee chairs promised hearings on the issue, which the SEC said this morning it is also looking into. The furor has also already prompted class action lawsuits. — But Robinhood, whose popularity skyrocketed during the pandemic and who came under the microscope last summer following the highly publicized suicide of a user, bulked up its presence in Washington in a huge way in recent months. As PI readers might recall, in August the company hired four lobbying firms — Blue Ridge Law & Policy, the Daly Consulting Group, Thorn Run Partners and the Williams Group — whom it collectively paid $275,000 in Q3 and Q4, according to lobbying disclosures. — It filled out its in-house team by bringing on Lucas Moskowitz, a former chief of staff to former SEC Chair Jay Clayton, as deputy general counsel for regulatory, litigation and government affairs; Daniel Gallagher, a former SEC commissioner, as chief legal officer; and Jacqueline Ortiz Ramsay, who previously ran the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions' communications department, as head of public policy communications. Its public policy council, Kirtan Mehta, left the company this month to become chief of staff to new Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), but it added two former FINRA execs, Josh Drobnyk and Anthony Cavallaro. | | A message from the American Beverage Association: America's leading beverage companies are working together to help make our communities healthy, sustainable, and economically strong. Our companies are providing family-supporting jobs, more beverage choices with less sugar, and 100% recyclable bottles that are made to be remade. We stand ready to roll up our sleeves and work with President Biden, Vice President Harris and Congress to address the problems facing our country and strengthen the quality of life for all Americans. AmericanBeverage.org | | | — It's a team that's "armed and ready" for the scrutiny Robinhood is about to receive, said Mike Ference, a partner at S-3 Group. But exactly what form the fallout takes is still unclear. "The riskiest position for a company to be in is when Congress and the regulators decide that they want to do something to you without knowing what they want to do or how they can do it," said Travis Norton, a lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. — In a memo sent to clients today, Cogent Strategies managing director Dave Oxner made a similar argument, noting that ire this week had been directed at a range of players, from online trading platforms to hedge funds to the SEC. "We are now in the middle of another saga where nobody can cleanly predict what happens next and what the response of policymakers will be," he wrote, advising clients to "welcome the attention from Congress," partly because "it's unavoidable." — While Ference said in an interview he doesn't believe the GameStop imbroglio is ripe for "obvious" legislative fixes, at least not in the short term, he noted the issue will likely dominate the confirmation hearing for President Joe Biden's pick to lead the SEC, Gary Gensler. Lawmakers are likely to home in on three key issues raised by this week's volatility: online brokerages' payment-for-order-flow business model, the sufficiency and flexibility of net capital and margin requirements for clearinghouses, to which Robinhood attributed to its trade shutdown, and the federal government's comfort level with "permitting relatively inexperienced retail investors to participate in the more complex options and derivatives markets," Norton said. — Todd White, a managing partner at Rulon & White, predicted "lawyers are gonna have a lot of fun" with this week's events, adding that he believes a flurry of lawsuits will create downward pressure and an opportunity for regulators to make new rulings regarding everything from hedge funds to financial transaction taxes. "There's a lot of exposure here," he contended. — And Robinhood isn't the only online brokerage to come under scrutiny as a result of this week's volatility. TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab have also taken fire for limiting trade, and each has a sizable presence on K Street, with the former dropping $500,000 on lobbying last year through Williams & Jensen and in-house lobbyists, according to filings. Charles Schwab, meanwhile, paid $3 million to seven lobbying firms including Venable, RR&G, AcumenDC and Miller Strategies, as well as its own lobbyists, last year. | | | | THE UNOFFICIAL GUIDE TO OFFICIAL WASHINGTON: The new Playbook team got off to fast start last week with a series of big scoops. The reporting foursome of Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Tara Palmeri will roam every corner of Washington, bringing you the big stories you need to know–and the insider nuggets that you want to know–about the new power centers and power players in Washington. "This town" has changed. And no one covers this town like Playbook. Subscribe today. | | | | | Happy Friday and welcome to PI. Send your most entertaining GameStop explainer analogies and your best K Street tips and gossip: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
INDUSTRY APPEALS TO BIDEN TO RETAIN SPACE COUNCIL: More than a dozen space industry groups wrote to Ron Klain, Biden's chief of staff, and Hartina Flournoy, chief of staff to Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday to make the case that Biden should keep around the National Space Council revived by former President Donald Trump, per our Jacqueline Feldscher. — In the letter, which was signed by trade groups like Aerospace Industries Association, Commercial Spaceflight Federation and the GPS Innovation Alliance, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Space Florida, which oversees launch facilities on Florida's coast, the groups argue that "maintaining a White House-level focus on space will provide stability and continuity to the United States' space endeavors." They also tied a robust space sector to economic recovery from the pandemic, fighting climate change and a resilient domestic workforce. MORE STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: "The U.S. oil industry is seeking to forge an alliance with the nation's corn growers and biofuel producers to lobby against the Biden administration's push for electric vehicles, but is so far meeting a cool reception," Reuters' Jarrett Renshaw and Stephanie Kelly report. A key oil refining trade group, The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, "has been contacting state and national representatives of the corn and biofuel industries in recent weeks to seek support for a policy that would reduce the carbon intensity of transport fuels and block efforts to provide federal subsidies for electric vehicles." But two of the corn and biofuel industries' top trade groups, The Renewable Fuels Association and the National Corn Growers Association have been hesitant or publicly denied such outreach, according to the outlet. TRUMP'S TOP IMMIGRATION HANDS JOIN HERITAGE: Three of the Trump administration's top immigration officials are joining the Heritage Foundation as national security and foreign policy fellows, the group announced today. Chad Wolf, former acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, will work on national security, China, and cyber issues, according to a press release. Ken Cuccinelli, the former acting deputy DHS secretary and director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, will focus on immigration and border security, and Chinese immigration in particular. Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, will focus on border, immigration, asylum and public safety issues at the conservative think tank. CORRECTION: Tuesday's PI misstated Peck Madigan Jones' 2020 revenues. They were $17.3 million, which moves them up to No. 14 in the firm rankings. | | | |   | | | | | | — Duke Energy has added two new lobbyists to its Washington office: Jennifer Loraine and Baker Elmore. Loraine was previously deputy chief of staff to former Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who lost reelection last year. Elmore was previously a lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute. — Kevin Martin will lead Facebook's global team for economic policy, Playbook PM reports. He is a former FCC commissioner and currently leads U.S. public policy, a high-profile position that Facebook will begin an external search to fill. — Amanda Loveday is now a senior counselor in Avisa Partners' D.C. office. She is also — and will remain — chief of staff at the pro-Biden super PAC Unite the Country and is a Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) alum. — Licy Do Canto is now Washington managing partner at APCO. He was most recently executive vice president and managing director in Burson Cohn & Wolfe's public affairs and crisis practice. — Todd Rosenblum has joined Third Way to temporarily lead its National Security Program, Morning Cybersecurity reports. Rosenblum was previously acting assistant Defense secretary for homeland defense and global security and replaces Mieke Eoyang, who joined the Pentagon as deputy assistant secretary for cyber policy. | | | | GET THE SCOOP ON CONGRESS IN 2021 : Get the inside scoop on the Schumer/McConnell dynamic, the new Senate Bipartisan Group, and what is really happening inside the House Democratic Caucus and Republican Conference. From Schumer to Pelosi, McConnell to McCarthy and everyone in between, our new Huddle author Olivia Beavers brings the latest from Capitol Hill with assists from POLITICO's deeply sourced Congress team. Subscribe to Huddle, the indispensable guide to Congress. | | | | | — Madeleine Findley has joined Jenner & Block as a partner in the firm's D.C. office, Morning Tech reports. She was previously deputy bureau chief and associate general counsel at the FCC and in-house privacy counsel.
| | | | | | The Governing Leaders Fund (Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Republican Governing Group/Tuesday Group PAC) Feenstra Victory Fund (NRCC, Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), Republican Party of Iowa, Delivers PAC) | | | American Association of Settlement Consultants PAC (AASC PAC) (PAC)
Not One Step Back PAC (PAC)
Zinc Collective PAC (Super PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Adams And Reese, LLP: Spectrum Five, LLC
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Tom Vukota
Lincoln Park Group L.L.C.: City Of Palmdale, Ca
Peter Tompa Law: Global Heritage Alliance
Peter Tompa Law: International Association Of Professional Numismatists
Peter Tompa Law: Professional Numismatists Guild
Rich Feuer Anderson: Life Insurance Settlement Association
The Liaison Group, LLC: Cannabis Business Association Of Illinois
Tiger Hill Partners LLC: Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America (Phrma)
Trimpa Group, LLC: American Vapor Manufacturers
Van Scoyoc Associates: Philanthropy Southwest
Veterans And Military Families For Progress: Veterans And Military Families For Progress | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Ats Communications, Inc.: Rai Services Company
Peebles Kidder: Battle Mountain Band Council
Bgr Government Affairs: Beaver Paper & Graphic Media, Inc.
Husch Blackwell Strategies: Intuit Inc
Association For Community Affiliated Plans: Association For Community Affiliated Plans
Fia Advisors, Inc (Formerly Fidelity Investment Advisors): Alignment Government Strategies | | A message from the American Beverage Association: America's beverage companies have a long history of working to strengthen the communities where we work and live. As American companies making American products in America's hometowns, we'll always be there for our neighbors in times of need. This past year, that's included delivering water and PPE, manufacturing hand-sanitizer, and working with the food and retail industries to keep America's shelves stocked. The core strength of our industry has always been our spirit of innovation and our new look reflects our inherent drive toward that innovation. We continue to put competition aside and work together on real solutions with lasting impact. Whether that's reducing plastic waste in the environment or delivering more beverage choices to help families reduce sugar in their diet, we're committed to addressing issues of importance to the communities, families and customers we serve. Learn more at AmericanBeverage.org | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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