Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. You don’t want all that good downtown gossip burning a hole in your pocket over the upcoming holiday weekend. Unburden yourself ahead of time: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. EYLES LEAVING AHIP: Matt Eyles will step down as chief executive of the nation’s largest insurance lobby later this year, he told Megan, though he won’t be retiring from public policy altogether. Eyles joined America’s Health Insurance Plans in 2015, and was tapped to helm the group in 2018 following years of pummeling by Republican critics of Obamacare. — “Prior to his tenure as chief executive, AHIP went through a number of changes — namely, Aetna, before its purchase by CVS in late 2018, departed the group in 2015. Then, in 2017, Humana followed suit. In late 2019, both returned and became active members in 2020.” — According to the trade group, AHIP increased its overall revenue under Eyles, who “touted the record high number of insured people in the country, surprise billing legislation, pushing back efforts to curtail coverage offered by the Affordable Care Act — while acknowledging that the fight isn’t over.” The trade group spent more than $13.2 million on federal lobbying last year — its most ever, according to a PI analysis of disclosures. A CONSPICUOUS ABSENCE FROM DEBT TALKS: “The main business lobby in politics has not made contact with the House speaker’s office to discuss the debt ceiling standoff even as the country inches closer to default,” POLITICO’s Hailey Fuchs reports. “A spokesperson for Kevin McCarthy’s office said, as far as it was aware, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, once a staunch Republican ally, has not reached out to lobby on the debt ceiling.” — “In an interview, the Chamber’s chief policy officer, Neil Bradley, said the organization or its state and local affiliates have likely spoken with more than 150 lawmakers over the last several months about the need to raise the debt ceiling.” — “But the U.S. Chamber has not met with McCarthy because such a meeting would just be a ‘cheerleading session,’ Bradley said. However, he said, the Chamber has advocated for a bipartisan agreement directly to the White House. … The lack of outreach to McCarthy underscores the tricky situation the Chamber finds itself in as the likelihood of a default and the accompanying damage to the economy has increased.” — “With the speaker and President Joe Biden engaged in negotiations marked by fits and starts, the White House had been hoping that business groups would apply more pressure to House Republicans to help resolve the standoff with minimal drama. Instead, the main lobby for those groups has not raised concerns about brinkmanship to the speaker,” calling repeatedly for a bipartisan resolution even though the Chamber sees itself as more aligned with House Republicans on key priorities in play. WHO’S BUNDLING FOR DESANTIS: CNBC’s Brian Schwartz scooped a list of which megadonors will bundle money for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of the formal launch of DeSantis’ White House bid tonight. The partial list “includes business leaders from industries ranging from real estate to finance” and some who were top fundraisers for former President Donald Trump’s past campaigns. — Bundlers “will gather at the Four Seasons hotel in Miami from Wednesday through Friday. They’ll receive briefings from campaign staff and call around to raise money for the campaign, NBC News reported.” — “The DeSantis campaign’s bundler list includes David Horowitz, the chairman of the Horowitz Group, a family office and real estate investment firm based in California. … Horowitz has previously donated $25,000 to the pro-DeSantis PAC Friends of Ron DeSantis, which was rebranded with new leadership as the Florida governor moved to launch his bid for the White House.” — Others on the list include hedge fund executive Hal Lambert, who told CNBC he could bundle more than half a million dollars for DeSantis’ bid and was a top fundraiser for Trump’s first White House run; Jay Zeidman of the health care investment firm Altitude Ventures and Frank Mermoud, the president of Orpheus International. FLYING IN: The American Heart Association is bringing patients, caregivers and providers from its grassroots network, You’re the Cure, to Washington this week, Megan reports. They have 100 meetings scheduled with offices on Capitol Hill to talk about food security programs Thursday, focusing on advocating for provisions in the farm bill aimed at decreasing food insecurity — primarily SNAP benefits. — The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, meanwhile, brought 500 financial professionals to the Hill on Tuesday. The trade group met with lawmakers or staff from more than 300 offices throughout the course of the day, discussing issues related to financial security and urging members to join the Financial Literacy and Wealth Creation Caucus. Edward Jones is on the Hill this week as well, where advocates are pressing for the nationwide expansion of financial literacy courses in high schools. BUSINESS LEADERS DESANTIS WILL EMBRACE: “With Donald Trump holding a lock on the populist right, and the remnants of the GOP establishment split between several low-polling alternatives, Ron DeSantis is casting in his lot with a third group: very online, anti-’woke’ Silicon Valley moguls,” our Ben Schreckinger writes. — “DeSantis’ decision to announce his presidential run on Twitter Spaces, scheduled for Wednesday evening with Elon Musk and the outspoken venture capitalist David Sacks, represents an embrace of a strain of right-leaning, anti-establishment politics that has gained currency in recent years among the tech set in the Bay Area, Austin and Miami.” — That particular strain is “defined by libertarian frustration with everything from federal agencies to progressive prosecutors to American foreign policy. … By announcing his run with the two moguls on Twitter Spaces, DeSantis is betting that his ultra-wealthy supporters will be useful not just for writing checks, but for framing his campaign for public consumption.”
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