| | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by the American Beverage Association | With Daniel Lippman A GUIDE TO MARK WARNER'S ALUMNI ON K STREET: Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is set to unveil a bill aimed targeting social media platforms' ability to evade accountability for real-world harm that befalls their users, The Washington Post's Tony Romm reports, in the latest shot at reining in the tech industry's liability protections under Section 230. The incoming chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee is also lobbying to spearhead the chamber's inquiry into last year's SolarWinds hack to inform the legislative response, he told our Martin Matishak this week, and is set to take over the Senate Banking's national security subcommittee. — The Virginia Democrat has around a dozen former aides who now call K Street home, some of whom lobby for major corporate clients. One of his past top aides, former chief of staff Luke Albee, now lobbies for Facebook, a direct target of Warner's new bill, at Blue Mountain Strategies. Warner's former chief counsel and legislative director Thomas Walls is now Verizon's director of public policy while Milan Dalal, whose past clients have included the NCAA, Juul, Credit Karma and Western Union, signed the drug lobby PhRMA last month at his new firm Tiger Hill Partners. Former Warner aide Addie Cooke lobbies for office software provider Workday; Manica Noziglia lobbies for the defense and aerospace company General Atomics and Ethan Jorgensen-Earp, who was an intern in Warner's office, is now a lobbyist at Holland & Knight. — Other former aides are not lobbyists but still work on K Street. Andrew Smith, another former chief of staff, is now at Foley Hoag; Michelle Maiwurm McCoy, a former senior policy adviser, now helps lead Wells Fargo's public policy division; Brian Beaty is at the consultancy MorganFranklin; Walker Irving works at Brass Ring Communications and Mark Brunner is a vice president at the Cohen Group. BUSINESS GROUPS PUSH PACK ON MINIMUM WAGE HIKE: A coalition of business groups are pushing back against congressional Democrats' push to raise the minimum wage to $15, a key part of their agenda that has already run into resistance within the caucus. More than 30 groups, including the National Franchisee Association, National Federation of Independent Business, American Farm Bureau Federation and National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors wrote to the top lawmakers on the House and Senate labor committees on Thursday, warning that raising the minimum wage now would only compound the economic pain businesses are facing because of the pandemic, resulting in either a reduced workforce or increased prices for consumers. | | 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 the Biden Administration and Congress to address the problems facing our country and strengthen the quality of life for all Americans. AmericanBeverage.org | | | Happy Friday and welcome to PI. Who you guys got in the Super Bowl? Send me your predictions for the winner, score and MVP and the person who gets closest to guessing all three correctly will get a shout out in Monday's PI. Oh, and of course send me your best lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. FARA FRIDAY: Some foreign nations looking to make inroads with the Biden administration went the extra mile and enlisted lobbyists to do so, our Theodoric Meyer reports in Transition Playbook. "Lobbyists for foreign governments started reaching out to Biden's transition team shortly after the election was called for the Democrat on Nov. 7, according to Justice Department disclosure filings and a transition official familiar with the matter." — BGR Group's Maya Seiden, an Obama alum, "contacted Amanda Sloat on the Biden transition the next day to deliver congratulatory letters from Kazakhstan and Bangladesh's governments. She later followed with an invitation to visit Bangladesh after Biden took office." Outreach to Sloan by foreign lobbyists ticked up after Transition Playbook reported that Sloat, now the senior director for Europe on Biden's National Security Council, was helping coordinate the president-elect's calls with world leaders. — Another example: Tom Shannon , a former under secretary of State in the Obama administration and U.S. ambassador to Brazil "emailed Sloat four times in November trying to set up a phone call with the Argentine President Alberto Fernández" — Biden spoke to Fernández the day after Shannon's last message. LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE PROPOSAL FOR GYM RELIEF FUND: A bipartisan pair of House members have introduced legislation that would provide $30 billion in relief to battered members of the fitness industry, The Hill's Alex Gangitano reports. The bill, introduced by Reps. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), "would award grants to gyms and fitness studios that can be used to cover payroll costs, rent, utilities, mortgages and worker protection expenses like personal protective equipment, among other costs." The aid would be distributed by the Small Business Administration and would be capped at 45 percent of the gym's 2019 revenue, or $20 million. — The fitness industry, many members of which were forced closed because of pandemic-related lockdowns, has lobbied for months for targeted relief similar to that asked for by restaurants and live entertainment venues, the latter of which successfully lobbied for its own industry-specific grant program in December's relief bill. — The Community Gyms Coalition, a group formed in November and made up of more than 15,000 gyms and fitness studios that includes big fitness names like CrossFit, OrangeTheory and Zumba, wrote to Biden earlier this week pleading for help and arguing that other relief programs like Paycheck Protection and Economic Injury Disaster loans are insufficient to keep struggling gyms afloat. The group, as well as the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association have endorsed Quigley and Fitzpatrick's legislation. | | | | Designed specifically for regulatory affairs professionals - AgencyIQ FDA Forecast 2021: In its inaugural year, AgencyIQ's FDA Forecast predicts the FDA regulatory changes that will take place in 2021 and what they will mean for the life sciences industry. Read more about the report and download the summary here. | | | | | SPEAKING OF RELIEF: After a marathon night in the Senate, the House and Senate today passed a budget resolution to jump-start the reconciliation process allowing Senate Democrats to push through the White House's $1.9 trillion relief package without requiring GOP votes. Per our indefatigable budget experts Caitlin Emma and Jen Scholtes, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tiebreaking vote just after 5 a.m. after "nearly 15 hours of amendments during the endurance run known as 'vote-a-rama.'" — The House approved the Senate's changes this afternoon, paving the way for more than two dozen House and Senate committees to "get to work writing the legislative flesh to enact Biden's plan to send out a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks to Americans, boost the weekly federal unemployment benefit to $400 through September and more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, on top of hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to states, communities and schools." — At the White House following a meeting with the president today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters she is aiming for her chamber to pass the relief bill and send it to the Senate in the next two weeks. LOVE ON THE LEFT: POLITICO's Laura Barrón-López and Eugene Daniels take a look at how Biden charmed the left in the opening weeks of his presidency — though it's still early: "Progressives in Congress and across different policy organizations say Biden and his team aggressively reached out to them from the moment it became clear he'd be the Democratic nominee through his time in office. It could fall apart as Biden's attention drifts toward more complicated issues that may require Republican buy-in. But, so far, what was once seen as a vulnerable flank for his presidency has been surprisingly secure." IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: "Corporate America is entering the Biden era with bold public pledges to fight climate change. But as Democrats seek to hold businesses to those promises, they're facing a big battle," our Zach Warmbrodt reports. Industry has begun to push back on Democratic pledges to, through the SEC, "impose sweeping financial disclosure rules on climate risk that would force thousands of businesses including banks, manufacturers and energy producers to divulge information to investors." — "The campaign by Democrats is expected to trigger a lobbying blitz as companies try to shape regulations that could require them to publicly quantify their carbon footprints, potential financial losses from climate-related risks and their plans for making their operations more environmentally sustainable," with powerful groups like the American Petroleum Institute and the Chamber of Commerce warning against "rigid" transparency standards. The groups would appear to have Republican allies in the government ready to fight the push, like House Financial Services ranking member Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) in Congress and Republican SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, Zach reports. | | | |   | | | | | | — Heather Douglass has joined strategic PR firm Pinkston as a senior account executive. She was previously communications director for Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas). — Devin Barrett is now a public affairs adviser at Holland & Knight. She was previously a legislative assistant for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). — Christina Harper has joined Howard University as director of strategy and communications for the chief strategy office. She was most recently a regional communications manager at Pepco and is an Obama and Mayor Muriel Bowser alum. — Jamie Gregorian is joining DLA Piper as of counsel. Gregorian was most recently senior director of federal government relations at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. — The American Cleaning Institute's board of directors elected Wayne Ashton, IFF's vice president of home and personal care, as board chair and Eric Reynolds, executive vice president and COO at Clorox, as vice chair. — Forbes-Tate Partners has added Tori Miller as director of insights and Alekhya Tallapaka as a senior analyst for public affairs. Miller was previously a project director at Public Opinion Strategies and Tallapaka was previously on the Indo-Pacific Regional Team at the Commerce Department. | | | | 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. | | | | | | | | None. | | | Blue Virginia (PAC)
Carolina Victory Fund (PAC)
Compost Super PAC (Hybrid PAC)
The Game Stops Here (PAC)
Grand Army Reborn (Super PAC)
MAKE CONGRESS WORK (PAC)
Mid-Atlantic Conservatives Political Action Committee (PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | A10 Associates, LLC: Blink Charging Co.
A10 Associates, LLC: Shawmut Corporation
Bramer Group, LLC: Nobles Worldwide
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Experiential Designers And Producers Association
Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Northern Arizona University Foundation
Cj Lake, LLC: The Picard Group Obo Lake Charles Harbor & Terminal District
Collective Communications LLC: Fire Boss LLC
Delta Offshore Energy America's LLC: Delta Offshore Energy America's LLC
Eastport Strategies LLC: Hilton Grand Vacations
Emmer Consulting, Inc. (Formerly Known As Emmer Consulting, P.C.): Hughes Network Systems
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP: Glaxosmithkline Consumer Healthcare
Ferox Strategies: Datarobot, Inc
Foulston Siefkin LLP: Jay C Ewy
Hodgkins Consulting, LLC: Microsoft Corporation
Lanzatech Inc.: Lanzatech Inc.
Mason Street Consulting, LLC: Exer Labs, Inc.
Mason Street Consulting, LLC: Patho3Gen Solutions
Mason Street Consulting, LLC: The Mentor Network
Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas, Inc.: Welltower, Inc.
Mr. Richard Goodstein: Roche Diagnostics Corporation
Pioneer Public Affairs: Economic Security Project Action
Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: Black Diamond Strategies LLC
Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: Jm International, LLC
Ptsa Formerly Known As "Mark S. Morgan": Energy Marketers Of America
The Vogel Group: Global Growth | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Alliance Management Group: Natl Retail Federation
Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Hydraulic Institute
Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Water Systems Council
Crossroads Strategies, LLC: Home Infusion Access Coalition
Fdj Solutions LLC: Latino Victory Project
Fdj Solutions LLC: The Mirram Group LLC (On Behalf Of Open Society Foundation)
Mr. Landon Fulmer: Rwi Benefits
The Wagner Law Group: Global Trust Company, Inc.
Thomas Bruderle: Eye Bank Association Of America | | A message from the American Beverage Association: America's beverage companies—Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr Pepper and Pepsi—are working hard to support families as they reduce sugar in their diets. That means offering more great tasting options with less sugar or no sugar at all, putting clear calorie labels on every product we sell and working with public health organizations and other national and local partners to deliver innovative solutions. Our commitment to reduce beverage calories consumed means working across the country and in communities where health disparities are prevalent and obesity rates are high to help encourage balanced choices. Our efforts are having an impact: today, 55% of the beverages we sell have zero sugar and two-thirds are low- or no-calorie. Providing more choices, smaller portions and less sugar are just a few of the ways we're working together to build healthy, sustainable communities. Learn more about our efforts at AmericanBeverage.org. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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