SINEMA AND MANCHIN'S NEW BENEFACTORS: Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), both key public critics of Democrats' reconciliation package largely responsible for pushing to pare down its price tag, have attracted a new class of donors in recent months, The New York Times' Ken Vogel and Kate Kelly report: GOP billionaires and Wall Street execs. It's a "striking display of how party affiliation can prove secondary to special interests and ideological motivations when the stakes are high enough," the Times writes.
— "It is not unusual for well-heeled political activists and business interests to spread a smattering of cash across party lines. … But the stream of cash to the campaigns of Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin from outside normal Democratic channels stands out because many of the donors have little history with them. The financial support is also notable for how closely tied it has been to their power over a single piece of legislation, the fate of which continues to rest largely with the two senators because their party cannot afford to lose either of their votes in the evenly divided Senate. Their influence has been profound." — "This year, Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema have received donations from major Republican donors who had never before given to them, including James A. Haslam III, who owns the Cleveland Browns football team, and the Dallas real estate developer Harlan Crow, who is close to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court," while "several other prominent Republican donors who supported Mr. Trump also wrote their first-ever checks to Mr. Manchin in the last few months." LAWMAKERS FEELING 'BUYER'S REMORSE' FOR AIRLINE BAILOUT: "The wave of airline cancellations that snarled thousands of flights over the past three months did more than strand passengers at airports from Florida to Indiana and points in between," POLITICO's Oriana Pawlyk reports. "It also angered lawmakers who had given the airline industry more than $50 billion in pandemic relief money over the last year and a half — based on the carriers' promise that the cash would help them be ready for travelers' return to the skies." — "Now Congress is demanding answers about why airlines have been so unprepared for the inevitable upswing in passenger demand, a question with big implications for the holiday travel season" that kicked off this weekend. 'There should have been every reason, particularly given the bailout money for the airlines, to prepare for the surge we're seeing now,' Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s representative in Congress, told POLITICO. 'This money was for a very specific purpose.'" — "Norton, who said she has some 'buyer's remorse' for supporting the bailout, is calling for hearings on the topic before the House Transportation Committee — and she's not the only one. The Senate's transportation panel is already preparing to grill airlines on the matter in early December." REPORT ON AMAZON'S PRIVACY LOBBYING FUELS CALLS FOR CRACKDOWN: "Five members of Congress called for federal consumer-privacy legislation after a Reuters report published Friday revealed how Amazon.com Inc has led an under-the-radar campaign to gut privacy protections in 25 states while amassing a valuable trove of personal data on American consumers," Reuters' Chris Kirkham and Jeffrey Dastin report. — "No major federal privacy legislation has passed Congress in years because members have been deadlocked on the issue. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has introduced several privacy bills in recent years, said in a statement that the Reuters story showed how companies including Amazon are 'spending millions to weaken state laws,' and hoping Congress will also water down federal legislation 'until it's worthless.' 'Congress needs to prove Amazon wrong, and pass legislation that finally stops massive corporations from abusing and exploiting our personal data,' Wyden said." IF YOU MISSED IT OVER THE WEEKEND: "A power plant that buys coal from a company controlled by Sen. Joe Manchin's family is fighting to stay alive by generating electricity for superfast data computing, after being on the brink of financial collapse for years," E&E News' Scott Waldman reports. — "If the proposal by the Grant Town power plant near Morgantown, W.Va., is successful, it would preserve the lucrative Manchin family business of selling coal waste to the power plant for generating electricity. The facility is the main customer of Manchin's family company called Enersystems, which has paid the senator $5 million over the last decade, according to financial disclosures." — "The timing of the proposal collides with the apex of climate legislation on Capitol Hill. Manchin has scaled back the sprawling $1.7 trillion social spending package, H.R. 5376 (117), that Democrats are racing to pass as the pillar of President Joe Biden's aggressive climate agenda. Manchin's efforts to jettison a clean energy program that threatened the fossil fuel industry come as his family's business continues to sell coal to the Grant Town power plant." — "The collision between Manchin's personal business and one of the most important pieces of Democratic legislation this year raises questions about conflict of interest for the West Virginia senator, ethics experts say. Manchin's office, which declined to comment for this story, has said in the past he has no direct involvement in Enersystems, and that his investment is held in a blind trust run by his son Joe Manchin IV." | 
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