| | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by Paid Leave for All | With Daniel Lippman KAINE, WARNER ASK LEADERSHIP FOR MORE RESTAURANT AID: A pair of Democratic senators today implored the chamber leadership to replenish the relief program created this spring to help the pandemic-battered restaurant industry. "Even as restrictions are being lifted and the economy slowly rebounds, restaurants are only just beginning to recover from the devastating economic impact of the pandemic," Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner wrote in a letter to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Democrats asked Schumer and McConnell to reup the aid program, called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, "to meet the current need among eligible recipients in light of "the extraordinary demand for the program." — "In Virginia and across the country, restaurants continue to experience decreased sales, crippling staffing shortages, and significant debt burdens," Kaine and Warner wrote, adding that they'd heard from hundreds of restaurant owners in Virginia who feared having to permanently shut down without additional aid. The missive to leadership comes amid soaring infection rates due to the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus, which has prompted the CDC to reissue mask recommendations in many areas, but while lawmakers have largely turned their attention from providing additional pandemic relief to trillion-dollar infrastructure proposals. — SBA finally wound down the $28.6 billion program last month after applicants quickly drained the fund of its initial tranche of money, requesting $72.2 billion worth of help in total, the agency said. More than two-thirds of applicants didn't receive a grant. Kaine and Warner didn't endorse any specific legislation in their letter to Schumer and McConnell. But a bill from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) would refill the fund with an additional $60 billion, roughly the amount of the outstanding applications. Between Sinema's bill and a House companion introduced by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), 222 lawmakers in both parties have signed on in support of refilling the grant program's coffers, not including Kaine and Warner. — Late last month, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer of Missouri, the top Republican on the House Small Business Committee, introduced similar legislation tailored toward garnering more GOP support for refilling the fund. Unlike other bills to replenish the program, Luetkemeyer's bill would pay for the new funding by rescinding money from unspent Economic Injury Disaster Loans and state and local funds, and would bar SBA from giving preference to priority groups like businesses owned by women, minorities or veterans. That bill has 52 sponsors, all them Republicans. — The lobbying groups that pushed the fund for the better part of a year, the Independent Restaurant Coalition and the National Restaurant Association, have appealed for more money for the program since May, leaning in part on grassroots efforts to show that demand for the aid is still high. Now with cases surging, "restaurants are still really struggling to not only operate, but now to keep up with rapidly evolving state and local mandates that affect their ability to serve customers and to keep their doors open," Sean Kennedy, the restaurant association's top lobbyist, said in an interview, pointing to new vaccine requirements announced for New York City restaurants this week. — While Kennedy said lawmakers are "appropriately putting all their time and energy into" passing the bipartisan "hard" infrastructure bill, appeals like the one from Kaine and Warner "demonstrate to leaders that the need has not gone away at all." He added that the organization is counting on a boost in support among lawmakers after their August recess, where back in their districts they'll be able to "see firsthand … that restaurants still don't have the staff they need, they still aren't bringing in the revenue they need, and that Congress needs to come back to Washington with restaurants on their minds." A spokesperson from IRC echoed the urgency in an email to PI. "We know leadership is taking this issue seriously, and we expect there will be more urgency to quickly act as distancing and masking mandates return across the country," they said. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Before you head out of town for your own August recesses, be sure to send your best lobbying tips my way: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. | | | | A message from Paid Leave for All: Paid Leave for All is the national campaign of organizations fighting to win paid family and medical leave for all working people. Everyone should be able to take the time they need to care for themselves or a loved one without risking their job or paycheck. Now, Congress has the chance to pass paid leave, and support families and businesses. Join us. There's no time to lose. Visit PaidLeaveForAll.org. | | | LABOR, BUSINESS LAUNCH INFRASTRUCTURE TWITTER CAMPAIGN: Labor and business leaders took their advocacy outside the halls of Congress today with a Twitter campaign to keep up the pressure on lawmakers as they debate amendments to the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Neil Bradley, National Association of Manufacturers' Jay Timmons, and groups from the National Retail Federation, Airports Council International-North America, Business Roundtable and Association of American Railroads to the Laborers' International Union of North America all chimed in online to tout the bill, using the hashtag #BIFDeal. "We're closer than ever, but we're not done yet," Timmons wrote in one of several tweets. "When Congress passes the #BIFDeal, America can build to win." HOW MANY GROUPS ARE LOBBYING ON INFRASTRUCTURE: The number of companies and organization who've reported lobbying Congress or the Biden administration "in an attempt to influence the contours of major new infrastructure spending" has stretched to nearly 2,000, The Washington Post's Tony Romm and Yeganeh Torbati write, "an effort that is sure to intensify now that the Senate is hoping to vote within days on their version of the $1 trillion public-works package." — "The organizations working to shape the package — ranging from powerful trade associations representing agricultural and energy giants to small-time firms working for cities in Alabama and Kansas — mentioned either 'infrastructure' or President Biden's initial proposal, known as the American Jobs Plan, on their lobbying disclosure forms during the most recent quarter this year, according to an analysis from the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit group that tracks money and influence in Washington." WHAT IT'S LIKE INSIDE DOJ'S FARA UNIT: Insider's Ryan Barber took a look inside the Justice Department's FARA unit, featuring a pink cat pinata that sat in the office as "a nod to what the unit saw as the unfair notion that it took a lax approach to enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, until the special counsel Robert Mueller's team returned the pre-World War II law to prominence with high-profile prosecutions of Paul Manafort, the former chairman of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and other MAGA acolytes." (Former FARA chief Brandon Van Grack took the pinata with him this year as a going-away gift.) — "Behind the scenes, the FARA unit — holed away in a nondescript office building abutting railroad tracks — is no longer a sleepy corner of the Justice Department. It's staffing up — and taking other steps short of criminal prosecution to force lobbyists and political consultants for overseas powers to register as foreign agents and disclose their activities to the US government. 'The office is staffed up higher than it's ever been and is more aggressive — not just in terms of numbers and budget but in perspective and focus,' said Tom Spulak, a partner at King & Spalding and former general counsel for the House of Representatives, who regularly counsels clients on FARA." | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today. | | | | | COALITION LOBBIES FOR CONSERVATION INVESTMENTS IN RECONCILIATION BILL: More than 200 national and state agriculture, environmental, wildlife and sportsmen groups wrote to House and Senate leadership this morning to push for Democrats to hike funding for conservation programs and technical assistance in the party's reconciliation bill. — "We believe farmers, ranchers, and foresters are ready to move agriculture toward net zero emissions if they are provided the tools and resources to make that goal a reality," the groups wrote to Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Action this year on the climate and infrastructure bill represents the best opportunity in decades to meet farmer demand for conservation programs." The signatories include groups like the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Farmers Union and the National Association of Conservation Districts , who argue that despite the farm bill establishing programs to assist farmers and ranchers build soil health, sequester carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, "demand for conservation on 13.8 million acres goes unmet because of inadequate funding every year," and ask for lawmakers to double their investment in these programs, with technical assistance funding to be ramped up accordingly. IF YOU MISSED IT TUESDAY: "A coalition of gig economy companies is opening up a new front in the global struggle over the legality of their business model," Bloomberg's Josh Eidelson reports. Companies including Uber, DoorDash, Lyft and Instacart are "seeking to place a measure on next year's Massachusetts ballot defining their workers as independent contractors — not regular employees. Under the proposal, which the company-backed Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work plans to file Wednesday, ride-hail and delivery app drivers would be promised perks such as health-care stipends, but their employment status as contractors would be enshrined in state law. Drivers would be guaranteed minimum pay for their time while assigned a task but not for their waiting time in between. The proposal is similar to California's Proposition 22, which voters approved last November following a $200 million campaign bankrolled by gig economy companies." | | | |   | | | | | | — Russ Kelley has joined FTI Consulting as managing director in the government affairs practice. He most recently was director of federal affairs for the American Chemistry Council and is an alum of the House Democratic Caucus and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. — Nora Richardson will be director of membership development at the Managed Funds Association. Richardson was most recently director in the prime brokerage business consulting team at Bank of America Securities. — Apple has scooped up one of Biden's former speechwriters, Dylan Loewe, to be the company's new director of public relations and CEO Tim Cook's new chief speechwriter, per Morning Tech. Loewe was Biden's speechwriter in 2012 and 2013 in the vice president's office and collaborated with Vice President Kamala Harris on her pre-presidential run memoir. — Madeline Gale is joining the International Franchise Association as government relations coordinator. She previously was director of operations for Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.). — Josh Glasstetter is now director of communications and public affairs at the U.S. Cannabis Council. He previously was a vice president at West End Strategy Team, and is an SEIU and Southern Poverty Law Center alum. | | | | Be a Policy Pro. POLITICO Pro has a free policy resource center filled with our best practices on building relationships with state and federal representatives, demonstrating ROI, and influencing policy through digital storytelling. Read our free guides today . | | | | | | | | DEFEND JERSEY (Rep. Jeff Van Drew, New Jersey Republican State Committee) | | | A Better Orlando PAC (Super PAC)
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CROSSPARTISAN PAC II (PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | 535 Group, LLC: Solid Waste Disposal Authority Of The City Of Huntsville
Cardinal Infrastructure, LLC: Tesiac
Empire Consulting Group: Bank Of America Corporation
Jenner & Block LLP: Mapetsi Policy Group LLC On Behalf Of San Carlos Apache Tribe
K&L Gates LLP: City Of Atwater, California
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Marshall Brachman: South Carolina Heart Center Lp
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Mcguirewoods Consulting (A Subsidiary Of Mcguirewoods LLP): Charles River Laboratories
Merkava Strategies Corporation: Hemoglobin Oxygen Therapeutics
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S-3 Group: National Association Of Letter Carriers
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Tiger Hill Partners LLC: Build Our Way Out Advocacy Inc.
Tiger Hill Partners LLC: Figure Technologies, Inc. | | New Lobbying Terminations | | Adrian Matadeen: Egeac Energy
| | | | A message from Paid Leave for All: Passing paid leave and other care policies would yield millions of jobs, billions in wages, and trillions in GDP.
This summer, Paid Leave for All is proud to lead a cross-country bus tour to rally our communities around a paid leave policy that benefits all working Americans—and the opportunity to finally pass this law.
Join us at a stop along our bus tour as we hear from Members of Congress, advocates, families, and local leaders as we make this the year for paid leave for all. Check out our tour schedule at PaidLeaveForAll.org and take action with us. Let's make history together. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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