WHY AMAZON IS LOBBYING ON BABY FORMULA: "Amazon is deploying its lobbying power on America's baby formula crisis , seeing an opportunity to extend its reach into a $2 billion-a-year market," POLITICO's Meredith Lee and Marcia Brown report. — "Between April and June, the company's senior officials and in-house lobbyists held discussions about infant formula with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and officials from the federal government — the first time it's reported doing so, according to its most recent federal lobbying report." — "Amazon lobbyists also discussed online purchasing restrictions for federal nutrition benefits — which are used to buy at least half of the country's formula and billions of dollars worth of other groceries — with officials across the White House, FDA and other parts of the federal government, people familiar with those conversations say. Monument Advocacy, an outside firm representing Amazon, reported lobbying policymakers in the House, Senate and USDA on federal nutrition programs, as well." — "Amazon's foray into formula lobbying shows how the e-commerce giant stands to benefit from the industry shake-up that the ongoing formula shortages have triggered, particularly the potential to draw a larger share of the billions in federal dollars that go to programs designed to help close to 50 million lower-income Americans." — "That could allow Amazon to compete more directly with Walmart.com , its biggest e-commerce rival. The two companies have spent years jockeying for more access to the federal nutrition programs, especially since Amazon acquired grocery store chain Whole Foods in 2017." Still, the company "must confront deepening distrust in Washington, where there is widespread concern about its alleged anti-competitive behaviors, and among food safety experts, who cite the challenges of policing third-party vendors on its platform." RECONCILIATION BILL INCLUDES WINS FOR MANCHIN DONORS: Sen. Joe Manchin 's (D-W.Va.) "recent surprise agreement to back the Biden administration's historic climate legislation came about in part because the senator was promised something in return: not only support for the [Mountain Valley Pipeline] in his home state, but also expedited approval for pipelines and other infrastructure nationwide, as part of a wider set of concessions to fossil fuels," The New York Times' Hiroko Tabuchi reports. "It was a big win for a pipeline industry that, in recent years, has quietly become one of Mr. Manchin's biggest financial supporters ." — "Natural gas pipeline companies have dramatically increased their contributions to Mr. Manchin, from just $20,000 in 2020 to more than $331,000 so far this election cycle, according to campaign finance disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission and tallied by the Center for Responsive Politics." — Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, "has been by far Congress's largest recipient of money from natural gas pipeline companies this cycle, raising three times as much from the industry than any other lawmaker." — "NextEra Energy, a utility giant and stakeholder in the Mountain Valley Pipeline, is a top donor to both" Manchin and Schumer, "who negotiated the pipeline side deal with Mr. Manchin. Mr. Schumer has received more than $281,000 from NextEra this election cycle, the data shows. Equitrans Midstream, which owns the largest stake in the pipeline, has given more than $10,000 to Mr. Manchin. The pipeline and its owners have also spent heavily to lobby Congress." ANNALS OF DARK MONEY: "The social media feeds of progressive voters have been bombarded by a series of ads this past week telling them to urge their Democratic representatives to vote against the Inflation Reduction Act," Protocol's Lisa Martine Jenkins reports. — "The ads aren't from the Sunrise Movement or other progressive climate stalwarts, though. Instead, they're being pushed by United for Clean Power, a murky dark money operation that appears to have connections with Republican operatives. … The blitz started on the day Sen. Joe Manchin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that they had arrived at a deal for $369 billion in climate investments as part of a reconciliation bill." — "But the votes in the House aren't quite tied up yet, and the campaign — which newsletter FWIW first identified — has been using a swath of strategies that include social media advertising, direct text messages to voters and even a sponsorship of the POLITICO New York newsletter to try to chip away support from the left." WIRELESS INDUSTRY SCORED A LAST MINUTE CHANGE: "Wireless trade group CTIA lauded Democratic lawmakers Saturday for newly tweaked language in their final reconciliation text that specifically addresses how wireless spectrum is taxed," POLITICO's John Hendel reports. — "CTIA, which includes carriers like AT&T and Verizon, had lobbied Congress for months about their concern with Democrats' proposed 15 percent corporate minimum tax on so-called 'book income,' which would affect giant corporations making over $1 billion in profit." — "Wireless carriers argued this could unwittingly add a substantial tax burden to the purchase of wireless spectrum due to the peculiarities of how those assets are taxed. Senate Republicans had also begun attacking Democrats for the provision last week, warning of 'a tax on wireless innovation.'" — "In the final text of the deal released Saturday, Democrats included a special section called 'Qualified Spectrum Purchases' that addressed the tax treatment of spectrum in ways resolving wireless industry anxieties." CORRECTION: Friday's edition of Influence misstated the entity that hired Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. It is a nonprofit organization overseeing Tree of Life's redevelopment. PI regrets the error.
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