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With Megan R. Wilson, Daniel Lippman
BUSINESS GROUPS MOBILIZE TO BLOCK LABOR NOMINEE: Trade associations representing a range of sectors across the business community are mobilizing to put the final nail in the coffin of Julie Su’s nomination to be U.S. labor chief.
— “As this nomination remains in jeopardy, we continue to urge all senators to recognize that local businesses and the Main Street economy cannot afford Julie Su to lead the Labor Department,” Matt Haller, the head of the International Franchise Association, told reporters Tuesday on a call with leaders of Arizona business lobbies — a clear overture to the state’s two senators and a return to the playbook that sank a different Labor nominee last year.
— Business groups and conservatives have bristled at President Joe Biden’s decision to nominate Su, the former deputy Labor secretary and current acting secretary, to permanently fill the role vacated by Marty Walsh earlier this year. The White House and unions have launched a full-court press to get Su confirmed. But some in the business community are tailoring their messaging to just a handful of vulnerable senators now, amid hints that Su’s confirmation prospects are in jeopardy.
— Haller sought to draw parallels between IFA’s other successful opposition fight and the current one, pointing to the “no” votes of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and describing Su’s “previous alignment with other failed nominees … who have supported these policies before.”
— On the IFA call, Chad Heinrich, the Arizona state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, decried as “radical” policies Su oversaw or supported while leading California’s labor department. “We Arizonans have had a front row seat to her disastrous tenure in California and we are urging our lawmakers to vote no on her nomination to lead the Department of Labor,” he argued.
— Danny Seiden, who leads the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, argued that his organization “very rarely engages or weighs in on an executive agency nomination.” Su’s “track record warrants this kind of involvement from us, and it should concern anyone who cares about business,” he contended. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has stayed out of Su’s confirmation fight, while the group’s Los Angeles affiliate has endorsed her.
— Also on Tuesday, the National Restaurant Association teamed up with the Flex Association, the lobbying group representing gig companies like Uber and Lyft with whom Su has sparred, to pen an op-ed slamming Su’s track record as absent “an understanding of our 21st century economy.”
— “We’ve never actively engaged … in a nomination like this before,” Sean Kennedy, the restaurant association’s chief lobbyist, told PI, adding that the group has “had a lot of huddles with the key swing Democrats in the Senate” about Su, some of whom “sought out our opinion.”
— “Each senator is looking for different things as they consider a nominee,” Kennedy said of the restaurant association’s strategy. “Our trick and our goal is to understand that and to give an assessment of this particular nominee as to … how this nominee relates to the screen, if you will, that the senator uses.”
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: [email protected]. 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.”
SPOTTED at a reception hosted by First Five Years Fund, Sesame Street, and PBS Kids in conjunction with the bipartisan Pre-K and Child Care Caucus to celebrate early learning and child care, per a tipster: Elmo, Grover and Daniel Tiger; Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.), Jason Smith (R-Mo.), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Alma Adams (D-N.C.), John James (R-Mich.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), Mike Carey (R-Ohio), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.), Norma Torres (D-Calif.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas); Del. Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa) and Sarah Rittling of First Five Years Fund, Jeanette Betancourt of Sesame Workshop and Paula Kerger of PBS.
— Rod Hall has joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough as a senior policy adviser. He was previously a government affairs adviser at K&L Gates and is an FAA alum.
— Former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) has joined the board of directors at BAE Systems.
— Julia Convertini is joining the National Electrical Contractors Association as director of government affairs. She previously was senior associate at ACG Advocacy.
— Julie Landry is now vice president of government affairs at the American Forest & Paper Association. She was previously manager of government affairs for the association. The trade group also promoted Laura Pickard to senior director for government affairs and international trade and Abby Sztein to senior director of government affairs.
— Howie Wachtel has joined Microsoft as a senior director and head of UN and international organizations policy. He most recently was a senior director and head of global sanctions policy at PayPal, and spent the previous decade in various roles at the NSC, State Department and the U.S. mission to the UN.
Cantwell Klobuchar Rosen 2024 State Victory Fund (Sens. Maria Cantwell, Amy Klobuchar, Jacky Rosen, Washington State Democratic Central Committee, Minnesota Dfl Senate Caucus, Nevada State Democratic Party)
Blue Wave California (Hybrid PAC)
Natural Born Citizen Clause SCOTUS Definition National PAC (PAC)
Progressive Courts PAC (Hybrid PAC)
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, Formerly Known As Arnold & Porter: Dateline Resources Limited
Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz /The Daschle Group: Reason For Hope
Capitol Tax Partners, LLP: The Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers) Administration Corp.
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Sheet Metal And Air Conditioning Contractors’ Natl Association Colorado Chapter
Diroma Eck & Co. LLP: Konecranes Finland Corp.
Florida State University: Florida State University
Holland & Knight LLP: American Small Manufacturers Coalition
Holland & Knight LLP: Cigar Rights Of America
Holland & Knight LLP: Conservation International
Holland & Knight LLP: Cyanco International, LLC
Land Stewardship Project: Land Stewardship Project
Ocal Lobbying Group: Br.Mannesman Technology
Pontis Partners, LLC: Valcour LLC On Behalf Of African Mission Healthcare
The Vogel Group: Veteran Mental Health Leadership Coalition
Tom Bradley Health Policy LLC: Davita Inc.
Kiko Strategies Inc.: Markup LLC
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