| | | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | | With Daniel Lippman FIRST IN PI — WHITEHOUSE AND WARREN RE-UP CALL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO CHAMBER LOBBYING: Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have renewed their request that the congressional offices tasked with enforcing the Lobbying Disclosure Act investigate whether the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has violated lobbying disclosure laws. — The pair reiterated a similar request of the secretary of the Senate and clerk of the House from 2019, accusing the Chamber of violating a requirement that trade groups disclose any companies or groups that contribute at least $5,000 per quarter toward their lobbying work and "actively participate in the planning, supervision or control of such lobbying activities." The Chamber denied the assertion through a spokesperson, who told PI that the group "takes seriously its obligations under the Lobbying Disclosure Act and complies fully with its requirements." — In their letter to Clerk Cheryl Johnson and Secretary Sonceria Berry last week, Whitehouse and Warren wrote that the Chamber's alleged lack of disclosure has taken on greater urgency with the group working furiously to defeat Democrats' reconciliation bill . "Since we sent our original letter, the Chamber's lobbying disclosure reports have, in our view, continued to be noncompliant with respect to disclosure of affiliated organizations," they wrote. "The Chamber's failure to disclose its affiliated organizations allows its membership — the nation's largest companies — to hide their efforts to defeat passage of the Build Back Better plan from Congress, their shareholders, and the public." — Whitehouse and Warren said that following their previous letter, their staffs met with those of the clerk's and secretary's offices, but were told that neither office had the resources "to review and verify whether lobbying disclosure reports filed pursuant to the LDA are accurate or complete." Lawyers who specialize in helping clients comply with lobbying laws said they weren't surprised by that revelation, and noted that while they aren't able to determine whether the Chamber is in violation, enforcement of LDA violations is historically lax. — "The secretary and clerk are exceedingly unlikely to do anything about it," Matthew Sanderson of Caplin & Drysdale told PI. "My guess is this is just a shot across the bow — a minor shot across the bow politically, and although they might be right, from a technical perspective, this is certainly not the type of LDA footfall that has resulted in any kind of enforcement action in the past." — Josh Rosenstein of Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock said it was curious that the Chamber had, beginning last year, started linking to a webpage hosted by the organization's Institute for Legal Reform, which is legal in lieu of naming affiliated organizations if the page lists a trade group's members. The site listed on the Chamber's lobbying disclosures does not list its members. "That would appear, on its face, to need some sort of correction" at the very least, he said. Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. | | A message from America's Job Creators for a Strong Recovery: Tax the rich? Hardly. Under the Biden-Bernie $1.75 trillion tax-and-spend bill, family-owned businesses would be hit hardest. It would impose taxes on incomes way under $400,000, burden Main Street employers with the highest tax rates in the world and destroy middle-class jobs. It's time for Congress to say NO. Watch here to learn more: https://americasjobcreators.org | | | MICROSOFT, UBER LEAVE INTERNET ASSOCIATION: Microsoft and Uber are leaving the Internet Association , one of the tech industry's top trade groups, Axios' Ashley Gold reports. "The association has seen steadily waning influence in D.C. in recent years, partly because it does not work on the competition and antitrust issues that beset the industry right now." — "It is always unfortunate to lose a member, but business decisions related to time and resources are to be respected," Christina Martin , IA's senior vice president of global communications and public affairs, told Axios. "Microsoft and Uber have been great supporters of IA for nearly a decade. We have every hope they may return in the future," she said, adding that the group still has nearly 40 members, including new ones like Discord, Notarize and NewsBreak. — "'We advocate for public policies that support our business goals,' a Microsoft spokesperson said. 'As our business needs evolve, we periodically review trade association memberships to ensure alignment with our policy agenda.'" — "IA, which was founded in 2012 and includes members such as Google, Facebook and Amazon , thrived when it could fight for all of its member companies with a unified voice on policy goals, an easier mission in the earlier days of the internet, when tech still had a halo in Washington. Now, tech companies often have different legislative priorities based on size or other factors. That has made IA's job more difficult and sometimes has set members at odds with one another." LIBERAL DARK MONEY GROUP DISPENSED RECORD AMOUNTS OF CASH LAST YEAR: "A left-leaning, secret-money group doled out a whopping $410 million in 2020, aiding Democratic efforts to unseat then-President Donald Trump and win back control of the Senate," per POLITICO's Scott Bland. — "The group, the Sixteen Thirty Fund , financed attack ads against Trump and vulnerable Republican senators and funded massive get-out-the-vote and issue advocacy campaigns amid the coronavirus pandemic, as detailed in a new tax filing obtained by POLITICO ." The group's "massive 2020 fundraising and spending illustrates the extent to which the left embraced the use of "dark money" to fight for its causes in recent years. After decrying big-money Republican donors over the last decade, as well as the Supreme Court rulings that flooded politics with more cash, Democrats now benefit from hundreds of millions of dollars of undisclosed donations as well." — "'Altogether this is absolutely one of the largest fundraising machines I have ever come across,' said Robert Maguire , the chief investigator for the open-government group CREW and an expert in political nonprofits. 'I am really struggling to think of any other group, especially recently, that could rival it,' he added, comparing the amount of money flowing through Sixteen Thirty Fund to the Koch brothers' network at the height of its influence earlier this decade." BIDEN ASKS FTC TO INVESTIGATE OIL COMPANIES: "President Joe Biden on Wednesday asked Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to examine oil and gas companies and their role in rising gasoline prices," our Lorraine Woellert reports. "Citing 'potentially illegal conduct,' Biden said pump prices are rising even as industry costs are declining." — "'Usually, prices at the pump correspond to movements in the price of unfinished gasoline,' Biden wrote in a letter to Khan. 'But in the last month the price of unfinished gasoline is down more than 5 percent while gas prices at the pump are up 3 percent.'" — "'I do not accept hard-working Americans paying more for gas because of anti-competitive or otherwise potentially illegal conduct,' the president wrote. He asked Khan to 'bring all of the commission's tools to bear if you uncover any wrongdoing.' He cited the 'two largest oil and gas companies' in the U.S. without naming them — Exxon Mobil and Chevron." — The American Petroleum Institute fired back at the president, calling his request a "distraction from the fundamental market shift that is taking place and the ill-advised government decisions that are exacerbating this challenging situation." Rather than launching investigations "on markets that are regulated and closely monitored on a daily basis or pleading with OPEC to increase supply, we should be encouraging the safe and responsible development of American-made oil and natural gas," Frank Macchiarola , the trade group's senior vice president of policy, economics and regulatory affairs, said in a statement. FLYING IN (VIRTUALLY): Physician and patient advocates from the Alliance for Transparent and Affordable Prescriptions, which favors more-stringent regulations on the pharmacy benefit manager industry, hit the Hill virtually on Tuesday to make their case to offices from more than a half dozen states. Advocates met with staff of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), among others, and pushed for three bills that would require studies on the PBM industry and require insurers and PBMs to pass drug rebates directly to consumers enrolled in certain kinds of insurance plans. | | | | A message from America's Job Creators for a Strong Recovery:   | | | | | | — Devin O'Malley is joining Narrative Strategies as a managing director. He most recently served as the top communications aide to Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin and previously served as press secretary to former Vice President Mike Pence and principal deputy to the assistant secretary for public affairs at Treasury. — Katie Pettibone has joined Arnold & Porter's legislative and public policy practice group as a policy adviser in Sacramento. — Forza DC has added Katy Nazaretova as director of national security and technology policy. She was most recently a military and national security adviser to Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.). — David Ozgo will be the next president of the Cigar Association of America . He previously spent the last two decades at the Distilled Spirits Council where he was most recently senior vice president for economic and strategic analysis. — Ascendant Strategic Partners has added John Gentile, Randy Pate, Andrew Vogt and Devin Krecl as strategic advisers. Gentile is a 20-plus year HHS veteran, while Pate previously served as deputy administrator and director at CMS' Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. Vogt was previously an an aide on the Senate HELP Committee and Krecl was previously at the Capitol Strategy Group. — Matt Lockwood has joined Clyde Group as managing director. He was previously chief executive at LGND. — Elizabeth Gray will be the permanent chief executive of the Audubon Society. She is currently serving as acting CEO. — Nicole Diresta has joined cybersecurity firm Forcepoint as its vice president of strategy and government relations. She was previously a senior vice president at Cassidy & Associates and an aide on the Senate Appropriations' defense subcommittee. — Wendy Anderson has joined the Board of Advisers of the Truman Center for National Policy. Anderson, an Obama DOD and Commerce alum, is senior counselor at Palantir Technologies and a founding member of Chief. — Todd Williamson is now head of corporate communications at Equitable Holdings . He was previously a senior vice president of public affairs firm SKDK. — Lauren Ott is now a public affairs associate at Hamilton Place Strategies. She is a former intern for the firm and is a recent graduate of the University of Virginia. — Riley Kennedy is now a fellow at Civic. She is also a communications coordinator at Partners In Health and most recently was a correspondent at Jordan News in Amman. | | | | DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE. | | | | | | | | Ferguson-Joyce for a Majority 2022 (Rep. Drew Ferguson, Rep. John Joyce, Point Action PAC, Re-Joyce PAC) | | | The Conservative Conservation Action Fund (Super PAC)
FREEDOM AND LIBERTY PAC (Super PAC)
George Washington Initiative Action Fund (Super PAC)
Honey Badger PAC (Leadership PAC: April Becker)
New Florida Priorities (PAC)
The Rossmoor PAC (Hybrid PAC) | | New Lobbying Registrations | | Ats Communications, Inc.: Cambium Biomaterials
Capitol Counsel LLC: Blue Origin, LLC
Capitol Hill Partners: Careerwise Colorado
Capitol Hill Partners: Salt Lake Community College
Capitol Hill Partners: University Of Laverne
Capitol Hill Partners: Year Up
Commonwealth Consulting Partners: Visimo
Digitalfrontiers Advocacy: Iggy Ventures LLC
Digitalfrontiers Advocacy: Pexeso, Inc.
Goldstein Policy Solutions LLC: Defi Education Fund
Government Relations Group, LLC: Infarm
Igm Biosciences, Inc.: Igm Biosciences, Inc.
Kadesh & Associates, LLC: Shasta County Residents For Positive Community Development
Kadesh & Associates, LLC: Sierra Pacific Industries
Marvell Technologies, Inc.: Marvell Technologies, Inc.
Pendulum Strategies, LLC: Main Street Loan Fund
Port Side Strategies, LLC: Social Security Works
Squire Patton Boggs: Chc Consulting, LLC
Stephen Ward Consulting, LLC: The Vogel Group, LLC (On Behalf Of 21St Century Schools Fund)
Stephen Ward Consulting, LLC: The Vogel Group, LLC (On Behalf Of Healthcare Supply Chain Association)
Stephen Ward Consulting, LLC: The Vogel Group, LLC (On Behalf Of Irobot)
Stephen Ward Consulting, LLC: The Vogel Group, LLC (On Behalf Of National Council On School Facilities)
Stephen Ward Consulting, LLC: The Vogel Group, LLC (On Behalf Of Portland General Electric)
Stephen Ward Consulting, LLC: The Vogel Group, LLC (On Behalf Of Renewable Biofuels)
Stephen Ward Consulting, LLC: The Vogel Group, LLC (On Behalf Of School-Based Health Alliance)
Strategies 360: Service Year Alliance
Subject Matter (Fka Elmendorf Ryan): Barclays US Gfp Inc.
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Oscar Policy Group, LLC: Beacon Point Recovery Center | | A message from America's Job Creators for a Strong Recovery: Family-owned and Main Street businesses are already struggling through a pandemic and rising prices – they can't afford another massive tax hike under the Biden-Bernie tax-and-spend bill. It's time for Congress to say NO. Watch here to learn more: https://americasjobcreators.org | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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