From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The insurance industry lobby is panning the Senate legislation. The lobbying group, America's Health Insurance Plans, said in a statement on Thursday that the bill would increase costs for individuals, families and employers; reduce benefits for older Americans; and threaten employer coverage," the New York Times reports. "In the statement, Karen Ignagni, the group's president and chief executive, said the association would work with the Senate to improve the bill."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The nation's mayors are pressing lawmakers to send more money directly to cities if Congress passes a second stimulus, arguing joblessness is often concentrated in metro areas. The lobbying push could reprise an earlier battle with state governors over control of federal dollars," The Hill reports. However, "several interest groups are reactivating and dusting off old policy proposals as Democratic leaders in Congress consider another jobs measure to ease unemployment levels."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "House Republicans want the AARP to rescind its endorsement of comprehensive health reform legislation after a government report showed it could cause some providers to stop accepting Medicare patients," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio "and other Republican leaders wrote to Barry Rand, AARP's chief executive officer, to 'strongly urge you to reconsider your endorsement' of the health reform bill the House passed Nov. 7."
• "National Catholic leaders this week ratified the church's official position in the ongoing health care debate, reiterating their tough stance against abortion rights and on other hot-button issues as the legislation makes its way through the Senate," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "At the annual fall meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, a group that has come under fire for lobbying heavily for anti-abortion measures in health care reform, church officials defended their positions and the pressure they have put on Capitol Hill leaders."
• "Native American advocates are vowing to keep up the fight after the Supreme Court this week opted against reviewing a nearly two-decade-long challenge to the Washington Redskins name. The court didn't comment on why it declined to reconsider a lower court's ruling that the plaintiffs took too long to file the case," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Abortion-rights groups and other progressive lobbies are organizing a post-Thanksgiving assault on Capitol Hill to press lawmakers to keep restrictive language on abortion out of the final health care package," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The coalition has scheduled a 'National Day of Action' on Dec. 2 that will include a rally at the Capitol as well as visits by activists from around the country to lawmakers' offices."
• "Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, defended the bishops' decision to play an active role in shaping national health care legislation, saying Monday that the church must be the 'leaven' in the country's political debate," the Washington Times reports.
• "Business foes of health care overhaul legislation are outspending supporters at a rate of 2-to-1 for TV ads as they grow increasingly nervous over a final bill," AP reports. "Led by the giant U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opponents of the Democratic health care drive have spent $24 million on TV commercials over the past month to $12 million spent by labor unions and other backers."
• "The Club for Growth's recent claim to fame -- or infamy, for some -- has been mixing it up in House Republican primaries by backing conservative candidates running against moderates," Politico reports. "But the anti-tax, anti-big-government group now is positioning itself to be a major 2010 player in Senate races, too, a development likely to cause headaches for both parties."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Apparent computer glitches and confusion over new reporting rules for political action committees have ensnared some of the nation's biggest lobbying organizations, which missed a campaign finance deadline by more than seven months," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Under new rules enacted by the Federal Election Commission this year, PACs are required to report before the end of March whether they are controlled by an entity that is registered to lobby."
• "The House Financial Services Committee next week is set to debate the highly contentious issue of whether the government should have the power to break up large financial firms even if they're not about to fail," The Hill reports. "Lobbyists for big banks are anxious about language still being drafted by Reps. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) and Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) that would give new powers to the government to break up big firms and separate their different types of commercial and investment banking business."
• "Supporters of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba have made more than $10 million in campaign contributions since the 2004 election cycle," The Hill reports. "Pro-embargo donors are also continuing to funnel more and more funds to Democrats, according to a report released" today "by Public Campaign, a watchdog group that supports public financing of election campaigns."
• "Facing the possibility of a $27 billion pollution judgment against it in an Ecuadorean court, Chevron launched an aggressive lobbying and public relations campaign to try to prevent the judgment as well as reverse a deeply damaging story line," Politico reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Federal prosecutors on Thursday moved to seize several U.S. assets allegedly controlled by entities linked to the government of Iran, including a mosque and Islamic school in Potomac, land in Prince William County and a Manhattan skyscraper," the Washington Post reports. "At the center of that web, they said, is a New-York based organization known as the Alavi Foundation, which U.S. authorities have for decades suspected of being a possible Iranian front."
• "A lawsuit has brought to light numerous documents that raise questions about whether the" National Iranian American Council "is using that influence to lobby for policies favorable to Iran in violation of federal law," the Washington Times reports. "If so, a number of prominent Washington figures could come to regret their ties to the group."
• "The nation's largest health insurance carrier is urging its employees to lobby the Senate against reform proposals that would hurt the firm's bottom line, according to copies of e-mails released Thursday by a liberal advocacy group," the Washington Post reports. "UnitedHealth Group, which is based in Minnesota, e-mailed its 75,000 employees Tuesday, asking them to write their senators and local newspapers in opposition to a public insurance option, alleging that 'government-run health care' will force 'millions of Americans' to drop their current coverage."
• "Organizing for America is dispatching volunteers to the local offices of 32 House Republicans whose districts supported President Barack Obama in the 2008 election to demand that they support Obama's health care reform initiative," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "OFA volunteers will begin to drop by the offices Friday and continue doing so through the middle of next week."
• "The Employment Policies Institute, founded by lobbyist and public relations man Richard Berman, has launched a $10 million television campaign warning about the high cost of proposed health care reform," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Berman, long a lightning rod for consumer groups, has represented a long list of clients including restaurants, soda-makers and other business interests. ... In an interview, he said the health care advertising campaign is funded by a number of his clients, whom he declined to name."
• "The Senate Ethics Committee earlier this month dismissed a complaint alleging Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) traded campaign donations for earmarks, according to a letter released Thursday," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The ethics panel announced its decision in a letter to the Congressional watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which filed the complaint against Landrieu in January 2008."
• "Abortion-rights advocates are calling in the cavalry to help fight off an anti-abortion provision House Democratic leaders swallowed in order to win passage of their health care reform bill," Politico reports. "On Tuesday, Planned Parenthood summoned 80 progressive groups to plot strategy for keeping the anti-abortion amendment -- named for sponsors Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.) -- out of a final health care bill."
• "The 60 Plus Association, a conservative seniors' group, has pledged to spend $1.5 million targeting 15 House Democrats who voted for health care reform," Politico reports. "The group is launching robocalls against the 15 lawmakers and will run TV ads in eight of those districts."
• "Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), facing the prospect of a tough re-election bid next year, is under pressure from a liberal activist group to support a motion to proceed on health care reform legislation that is poised to hit the Senate floor next week," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The Blue America political action committee is hitting statewide Arkansas cable television with a 30-second spot demanding that Lincoln 'allow an up-or-down vote on the public option.'"
• "After trying to carefully balance their interests in health-care reform and immigration, the nation's Hispanic lawmakers and largest advocacy groups are scrambling to develop a strategy to counter what they see as efforts to shortchange immigrants in health bills on Capitol Hill," the Washington Post reports.
• "Lobbyists and corporate executives are targeting the newest members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the high-stakes fight over regulating the Internet," The Hill reports. "Meredith Attwell Baker, the newest Republican commissioner, or her aides have held at least seven meetings with officials representing both sides of the debate since the FCC voted three weeks ago to move forward with a rulemaking effort on network neutrality, according to a review of close to 100 records at the FCC."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Unions are pushing state lawmakers to pass legislation that would make organizing workers easier, as efforts to rewrite federal organizing laws remain stalled in Congress," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "Oregon passed the Worker Freedom Act, which prohibits companies from holding mandatory employee meetings to talk about organizing. Employers say mandatory meetings, known as 'captive audience meetings,' are necessary to counter misleading information disseminated by union organizers. Unions say employers use the meetings to gauge worker sympathies and pressure workers not to join the union."
• "President Obama's nominee for a top weapons-buying job at the Pentagon recently served as a paid adviser for a big defense contractor and is declining to disclose whom else he has worked for on a government ethics form designed to help the public guard against potential conflicts of interest," the Washington Times reports. "Frank Kendall III, Mr. Obama's pick for principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, received $75,000 in consulting fees last year from defense contractor SAIC Inc., according to his recently filed disclosure form. He also reported fees totaling $8,500 from Centra Technology, another defense contractor."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Credit unions and associations representing military members are urging lawmakers to oppose a provision in a broad financial services bill that they argue amounts to a tax on troops and their families," The Hill reports. "The bill, currently being marked up in the House Financial Services Committee, would impose a fee on financial institutions with more than $10 billion in assets to pay for the costs if the government is forced to take over a failing financial firm."
• "Major union groups are spending $1 million this week to thank endangered Democratic Members whose yea health care votes over the weekend may complicate their 2010 re-election chances," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The labor-backed Health Care for America Now and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees on Monday announced a $650,000 television ad buy to thank 20 Members who voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act."
• "The traditional pecking order of Washington's top trade and business groups has been thrown into disarray by the Obama administration's far-reaching domestic agenda and its tough tactics against opponents," Politico reports. "It's the Independent Community Bankers of America and the Consumer Federation of America that are seeing their ideas prevail in the current debate over rewriting the regulatory framework for the financial industry, not the once-invincible, big New York investment banks."
• "The House ethics committee has not approached Reps. Jim Moran (D-Va.) or Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) about the PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm under FBI investigation," The Hill reports. "The two lawmakers, both of whom sit on the Appropriations Defense subcommittee that provided earmarks to the group's clients, said they are cooperating with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), a new quasi-independent board that initiates investigations and makes recommendations to the full panel."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Despite apparent tensions in the House's two-tiered ethics process -- notably, recent spats between the ethics committee and an outside review office -- House officials and ethics observers say a formal evaluation of the system is unlikely anytime soon," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "In recent weeks, both the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the ethics panel is officially known, and the Office of Congressional Ethics have feuded publicly over process issues -- from how to calculate deadlines to the interpretation of House rules -- suggesting friction in the reformed ethics process lawmakers approved less than two years ago."
• "After contentious Senate committee action on climate change legislation last week, industry and environmental interests are focusing on a select group of Senators who are trying to forge consensus on the heated issue," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Much of the attention will be aimed at Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.), who are seeking common ground between those who want to curb greenhouse gas emissions and others who fret about the economic consequences."
• "Northrop Grumman, the third-largest U.S. defense contractor, agreed to sell a government-consulting unit to a group of investors led by General Atlantic and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts affiliates for $1.65 billion," the Washington Post reports. "The sale of TASC, to comply with new rules designed to prevent conflicts of interest, will generate about $1.1 billion in cash after taxes, Northrop said Sunday in a statement. The deal requires regulatory approval, and Northrop said it may be completed by the end of the year."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Seven major American and foreign banks have hired a prominent financial lawyer to lobby on legislation that would restrict how banks do business in the multitrillion-dollar derivatives market," The Hill Reports. "Edward Rosen, a partner at Cleary Gottlieb, registered as a lobbyist for the banks at the end of October and received at least $200,000 in the third quarter, according to congressional lobbying records.... Rosen has been a central player on derivatives legislation throughout the financial regulatory overhaul debate this year. "
• "The American Petroleum Institute plans to announce Thursday that Martin J. Durbin has been named its new Executive Vice President of Government Affairs," Politico reports."Durbin will join API in December from the American Chemistry Council (ACC), He replaces Jim Ford, who has worked at API for the past 10 years."
• "The House ethics committee declared in a letter issued late Wednesday that Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) did not violate the chamber's rules through his involvement in a Tennessee land-swap deal in 2007," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The ethics committee's review focused on the Cove at Blackberry Ridge LLC, a real estate development company in Loudon, Tenn., in which Shuler is an investor."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "In a coup for House Democrats, AARP will endorse sweeping health care overhaul legislation headed for a history-making floor vote, officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday," the AP reports. "An endorsement from the seniors' lobby was critical when then-President George W. Bush pushed the Medicare prescription drug benefit through a closely divided Congress in 2003...An announcement from the 40-million member group is expected Thursday, said officials with knowledge of the group's decision."
• "The House ethics committee is likely to exonerate five members of the Congressional Black Caucus who were accused of taking an improper trip to the Caribbean, according to sources familiar with the case," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The committee may also renew its complaint that the Office of Congressional Ethics is mishandling investigations."
• "With a White House decision on the direction of the war in Afghanistan still up in the air, and President Barack Obama considering whether to send as many as 40,000 additional U.S. troops, veterans groups on opposite sides of the debate are storming Capitol Hill this week to sway congressional opinion," Politico reports.
• "Business groups and unions are battling over a decision by a federal board that eases the rules for employees at airlines and railways to form unions," The Hill reports. "Though many airline and railroad employees covered by the Railway Labor Act are already unionized, the change could have a big impact on companies like Delta, JetBlue and Federal Express that have non-union workers."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Two years after Congress toughened ethics laws that prevent lobbyists and corporations from paying for members' trips, lawmakers are still seeing the world courtesy of other outside groups," Politico reports. "Although the trips are permissible because the money doesn't come directly from lobbyists or corporations, the walls can be very thin. Some of the nonprofit groups that sponsor member travel are themselves funded by corporate sponsors, and the conferences that members attend on the groups' dime often put them in direct contact with representatives of the corporate sponsors."
• "When a confidential document leaked into the public sphere last week, it revealed the Justice Department is seeking to trump a House ethics investigation of Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.)," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "While the request offered no new insight into the Mollohan inquiry, it did shine light on the often murky relationship between House ethics officials and federal prosecutors."
• "The banking lobby is splitting with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over a key battle to revamp the nation's financial regulatory structure, with the two sides differing over whether a council to monitor systemic risk throughout the financial markets should also oversee accounting rules," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
• "As the House prepares to vote on massive health care legislation as early as Friday, outside groups on the left and right with deep pockets are going into overdrive to make sure their opinions are heard," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Some lawmakers, however, questioned the effectiveness of last-minute lobbying efforts, complaining they tie up office phones and are coming at a point when Members are already well-versed in the legislation and their constituents' views."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The disclosure that seven House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee members are being scrutinized for their ties to PMA Group, a now-defunct lobbying firm that raised money for lawmakers and won earmarks for clients, is not expected to have a chilling effect on negotiations to reach agreement on a final FY10 Defense spending bill," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "According to analysts for watchdog groups that monitor the appropriations process, House-Senate discussions are probably too far along for negotiators to start weeding out earmarks."
• "As the House Financial Services Committee begins its final push today in drafting legislation that will overhaul the banking system, lobbyists are scrambling to get Members of Congress to address specific provisions that would harm their clients' bottom lines," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Republicans have been pushing the committee's chairman, Barney Frank (D-Mass.), to delay the hearing, citing the need to take more time to review the draft bill that was released late last week."
• "A liberal advocacy group is launching a new Web site" today "that aims to document the financial and political ties of conservative groups, many of which have emerged as major political forces this year in fomenting opposition to President Obama's policies," the Washington Post reports. "The Conservative Transparency Web site... which will be run by the Media Matters Action Network, uses Internal Revenue Service filings to track the major financial backers and beneficiaries of conservative activist groups."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A recent leak that an ethics panel is investigating seven defense appropriators is expected to shut down Members' fundraising prospects from the industry, which is typically a reliable source of campaign cash for their re-election campaigns," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Two former high-level managers at IBM and Microsoft are playing key roles in the Obama administration's patent reform efforts, leading critics to question whether their involvement constitutes a breach of the administration's ethics policy," Politico reports.
• "House lawmakers this week will attempt to alter legislation creating a new federal insurance office after lobbying interests clashed over its proposed powers," The Hill reports. "The insurance industry is divided over whether the new office under the Treasury Department should negotiate international insurance agreements on prudential matters."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July," the Washington Post reports. "The report appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network, and it was provided to The Washington Post by a source not connected to the congressional investigations. The committee said Thursday night that the document was released by a low-level staffer."
• "Nearly half the members of a powerful House subcommittee in control of Pentagon spending are under scrutiny by ethics investigators in Congress, who have trained their lens on the relationships between seven panel members and an influential lobbying firm founded by a former Capitol Hill aide," the Post also reports.
• The House Ethics Committee Thursday "again slammed the year-old Office of Congressional Ethics -- declaring the OCE's earlier review of the" case of Rep. Sam Graves, D-Mo., "case and recommendation that it merited further consideration by the Ethics Committee was procedurally 'deficient,'" CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Immediately firing back were the OCE's co-chairmen, former Reps. David Skaggs, D-Colo., and Porter Goss, R-Fla., declaring there were no procedural problems."
• "Business groups blasted the House healthcare bill released Thursday, and a key trade association for doctors declined to endorse it," The Hill reports. "Health insurance and pharmaceutical industries that take hard hits from the bill also took shots, saying it would drive up costs for seniors and companies alike."
• "Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson, embarrassed by a foreclosure dispute back home in California, may soon find herself the subject of a House ethics committee investigation," Politico reports. "Sources tell POLITICO that the Office of Congressional Ethics has referred Richardson's case to the House ethics committee, which will be required to announce within days whether it's going to pursue a full investigation. Richardson's case is one of three OCE referrals the committee will consider Thursday. The others -- both previously reported -- involve Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.)."
• "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is facing mounting pressure to intervene in an intense dispute between an outside ethics office she pushed through the House and the full ethics committee," The Hill reports. "Board members and senior staff of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) are threatening to resign if the ethics committee doesn't meet a deadline the OCE believes is critical to its role, according to several sources within the ethics community."
• "Dozens of lobbyists were invited to a Democratic National Committee (DNC) fundraiser Tuesday night with a Cabinet member even though President Barack Obama has sworn off taking money from lobbyists," The Hill reports. "A DNC official said it was a mistake that lobbyists were invited to a small gathering with Lisa Jackson, Obama's administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The official said a review of attendees indicates that no lobbyists attended the event."
• The affair of Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., "has had a devastating effect on his political fortunes, but it's also taking a huge toll on the coterie of Senate aides, K Street lobbyists and political operatives who hitched their star to a man once thought to be a future leader of the Republican Party," Politico reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Not yet a year since the lobbying shop PMA Group abruptly shut its doors, castaways from Paul Magliocchetti's once-vast appropriations empire are continuing to divvy up his former clients among themselves. And they appear to be generating a handsome profit," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Four new lobbying firms emerged from the demise of PMA, which closed last spring in the wake of an apparent federal investigation reportedly exploring its possible ties to Reps. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and other House appropriators."
• "Unions converged on Chicago on Tuesday to protest lobbying by major banks against proposed reforms of the financial system," The Hill reports. "The AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other labor groups were leading a rally expected to draw 5,000 participants outside the annual conference for the American Bankers Association (ABA)."
• "While much of Washington, D.C., has been focused solely on health care reform, the technology industry has been quietly undergoing a massive shuffling of the decks on the personnel front," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Since the beginning of the year, more than half a dozen tech companies have installed new government relations office heads."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Lobbyists for farm and small-business groups are pushing for a broader exemption to the estate tax bill that would benefit most of their members," The Hill reports. "The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), two powerful trade associations, were both quick to endorse legislation introduced by Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) on Thursday that would increase the exemption under the estate tax as well as lower the tax rate."
• "Advertising and marketing industry lobbyists are urging the House Energy and Commerce Committee to slow fast-moving legislation that would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency out of concern that the measure would create confusion among regulators and harm business interests," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
• "The nation's preeminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health-care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans," the Washington Post reports. "But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been the group's substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "In preparation for his sentencing in an Alaska bribery scheme, former oil executive Bill Allen released a tantalizing tidbit about the long-running legal allegations swirling around Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska): Allen told the Justice Department in 2007 that he had provided Young with more than $100,000 worth of gifts that the Congressman never reported," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "It was the first official mention of Young in connection with the Alaska corruption probe that has led to indictments against several public officials, including former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)."
• "Not content with shaping education directly through schools, the biggest player in the school reform movement has an eye on moving education policy," AP reports. "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has spent around $200 million a year on grants to elementary and secondary education."
• "U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue says a campaign by the White House and its allies to undermine his $200-million-a-year association has largely failed -- and actually has helped raise even more money for its pro-business efforts," Politico reports. "In a 75-minute interview with POLITICO, Donohue dismissed recent defections by Apple and at least four other companies, which quit over the Chamber's opposition to Democratic climate change legislation -- as essentially meaningless."
• "It takes a while for most start-up companies to gain the confidence of a U.S. congressman and the promise of federal funds. But last year, a small Illinois company accomplished its goal in 16 days with the help of Rep. Peter J. Visclosky, a little-known Indiana Democrat who sits on the House committee that funds the Pentagon," the Washington Post reports. "The congressman sponsored or supported at least $44 million in earmarks in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for more than 15 technology firms that had hired K&L Gates as lobbyists."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "In a move with potentially major implications for the 2010 and 2012 elections and the future of campaign finance rules, the Federal Election Commission on Thursday voted not to challenge an appeals court panel's ruling that could free outside groups to spend huge sums of cash unburdened by contribution limits," Politico reports. "The vote, a 3 - 3 partisan split that had the effect of rejecting a recommendation by commission staff to appeal the ruling to the full court of appeals, spotlighted the commission's increasing partisan divide, and also put pressure on President Barack Obama to override the commission's decision."
• "The White House's top ethics cop on Thursday defended the Obama administration's lobbying restrictions that have much of K Street up in arms," The Hill reports. "Norm Eisen, counsel to the president on ethics and government reform, told attendees of the American Bar Association's (ABA) fall conference that" Obama "was trying to fundamentally change how Washington works, which gives an outsized influence to lobbyists."
• "The White House and environmental groups are turning up the heat on the Chamber of Commerce, and some of its member companies are feeling the burn," Politico reports. "The Chamber is pushing back, sending top officials out to make its case on TV and in print interviews and blaming Democrats and liberal interest groups for trying to coerce it into changing its position."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A former U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said a White House effort to remove lobbyists from influential advisory committees could hurt the United States in its trade negotiations," The Hill reports. "But a White House official defended the guidance on Wednesday, saying that lobbyists shouldn't be offered a government platform to try to influence public policy."
• "Facing a major regulatory issue that could be worth a fortune in future business, AT&T has unleashed the kind of lobbying blitz that makes it one of the grand corporate players of the great Washington game," the Washington Post reports. "And yet, for all the money AT&T and other old-line telecom and cable companies have spent pushing their cause, they are poised to lose a key vote to a bunch of younger technology companies that never had anything to do with Washington until recently."
• "Restaurants, retailers and other businesses with high rates of employee turnover are pushing lawmakers to revisit how 'full-time' workers are defined in a healthcare overhaul measure to avoid being slapped with hefty fees for failing to insure their temporary or short-term workforces," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
• "K Street looks like a winner if healthcare reform reaches President Barack Obama's desk," The Hill reports. "If healthcare reform passes, lobbyists for healthcare industries will be plenty busy trying to influence the implementation of the bill, both in Congress and in the Obama administration. Sectors targeted for cuts in the bill will immediately begin trying to claw back the money they stand to lose. And lobbyists representing smaller interests will try to band together to get their perennial issues handled."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Fresh off their congressional retirements, former Reps. Bud Cramer and Jim McCrery are prohibited from lobbying for a year -- a ban reinforced by a sweeping crackdown under the Democratic Congress," Politico reports. "But you wouldn't know it from their day jobs and their political donations, which give them a heavy hand in the Washington influence game, advising clients with interests before Congress while donating tens of thousands of dollars from their old campaign war chests to candidates."
• "Facing an Oct. 30 deadline for relinquishing their lobbyist stripes under a new White House decree, the heads of all industry trade advisory boards have written to President Obama and top administration and congressional officials imploring them to reconsider," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "The letter from the 16 ITAC chiefs, dated Monday, requests a meeting with the president and his top aides to discuss the matter."
• "The August recess did little to slow the Washington lobbying frenzy over health-care reform, as insurers, drugmakers and hospitals continued to spend millions to attempt to sway the emerging legislation, according to new disclosure reports filed with Congress," the Washington Post reports. The top spender so far is "the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the drugmakers' main trade group," which "shattered records again by spending nearly $7 million on lobbying from July through September, the quarterly disclosure records show."
• "Locked in a bitter legislative battle, package delivery giants FedEx and United Parcel Service" boosted their lobbying in the third quarter, Roll Call (subscription) reports. "From July through September, UPS shelled out $4.4 million to influence federal lawmakers, a whopping $3 million increase from the previous three-month period. FedEx, meanwhile, doled out $5.6 million on lobbying during the same period, up almost $2 million from the prior quarter."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce... reported spending a record amount on federal lobbying in the third quarter of this year," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The group's lobbying disclosure report... showed the chamber shelled out a record $34.7 million on lobbying. The business group sought to influence a wide gamut of issues from climate change, financial regulation and health care reform to more obscure legislation involving pythons."
• "Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) pressed the federal government at the height of the financial crisis for bailout money for a bank with which he has a long political and personal relationship," The Hill reports. "Left unmentioned was the Illinois Democrat's long affiliation with the bank and its U.S. operations in particular. Bank executives had contributed tens of thousands of dollars until 2004 to Gutierrez's political campaigns. The congressman's wife, Soraida, was a senior vice president at the firm from 2005 to 2007, before being fired."
• "Embattled House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) was the top recipient of bundled campaign contributions from lobbyists during the third fundraising quarter of this year, new reports show," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "According to Federal Election Commission reports filed after Thursday's deadline, Rangel received roughly $125,000 in combined campaign contributions from the McPherson Group's John Kelly, New York-based Constantinople & Vallone Consulting and trade group Employee-Owned S Corporations of America."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The 2008 collapse of the financial sector also spawned a contraction in the number of banking lobbyists on K Street, leaving the industry with a smaller bench as Congress begins rewriting the rules for Wall Street," Politico reports. "In 2007, the last boom year, 3,002 lobbyists were registered to represent the finance, insurance and real estate sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Today, 2,370 financial services lobbyists are registered -- a loss of more than 600 jobs or contracts."
• "Lobbyists and political action committees delivered more than $330,000 worth of bundled campaign contributions to House Members during the third fundraising quarter this year, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures filed last week," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) was the quarter's big winner, raking in nearly $120,000 combined from J.C. Watts Cos. lobbyist Tripp Baird, Phillip Holt of the National Installment Lenders, and Geoffrey Gradler of Roberts, Raheb & Gradler. House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) also made out handsomely this summer, bringing in nearly $70,000 from the Managed Funds Association and John Pappas of the Poker Players Alliance."
• "The healthcare negotiator for one of nation's most powerful unions made clear that it opposes a tax on high-cost-insurance plans, despite abstaining from an multi-union campaign objecting to the plan," The Hill reports. "The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was not among the 27 unions to sign on to an ad criticizing a proposed tax on 'Cadillac' insurance plans that was included in the Senate Finance Committee healthcare bill."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), caught up in the scandal surrounding a now defunct lobbying firm, shelled out $100,000 this summer for 'legal representation,' according to his latest campaign-disclosure report," Politico reports. "Visclosky's campaign report for the July 1-Sept. 30 period, released on Thursday, showed two $50,000 payments to the firm Steptoe & Johnson, made in July and August, with no checks cut to the firm in September."
• "At a meeting last April with corporate lobbyists, aides to President Barack Obama and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) helped set in motion a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, primarily financed by industry groups, that has played a key role in bolstering public support for health care reform," Politico also reports. "The role Baucus's chief of staff, Jon Selib, and deputy White House chief of staff Jim Messina played in launching the groups was part of a successful effort by Democrats to enlist traditional enemies of health care reform to their side."
• "Lobbyists have met with officials at the Office of Management and Budget to discuss and in some cases moderate regulations regarding a greenhouse gas registry, the so-called Buy American purchasing requirement and an ethanol production mandate. OMB has final say on how proposed federal rules are ultimately written," The Hill reports. "Representatives for the oil-and-gas industry flocked to a half-dozen meetings held by OMB starting in August this year to discuss a controversial rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions."
• "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Wall Street firms have the big bucks and the hired-gun lobbyists, but they've got nothing on local banks and credit unions in the raging battle over financial reform," Politico reports. "Thanks to an effective, parochial lobbying campaign, credit unions and community banks have won a major exemption in their effort to escape scrutiny by Democrats' proposed consumer financial protection agency."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A prominent coal industry association spent nearly $10 million over the past 18 months on lobbying efforts supervised by a public affairs firm currently under congressional investigation for its involvement in sending forged letters opposing the climate bill," Politico reports.
• "Kicking off the latest chapter of this year's Full Employment Act for K Street Lobbyists, representatives from a surfeit of industries descended on an influential Congressional committee on Wednesday as it began writing a law overhauling the nation's regulatory system," the New York Times reports.
• "As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce rolled out its multimillion-dollar Campaign for Free Enterprise on Wednesday with all the pomp and circumstance of a political campaign rally, the business group was still dogged by questions surrounding its position on climate change legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Chamber President Tom Donohue defended his group's position and said companies are being pressured by environmental activists to withdraw from the chamber."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The generic drug industry, outmanned and outspent on the lobbying front compared to its name-brand counterparts, has been struggling to be heard on Capitol Hill throughout the health care debate," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The generic industry will be zeroing in on provisions adapted by key committees in both chambers that would shut it out of the biologic drug market for at least 12 years."
• "Former Bush administration official and lobbyist Tommy Thompson is the latest Republican to lash out at the Democratic National Committee for apparently misusing his stance on health care reform. The DNC over the weekend reportedly pulled a television advertisement featuring Thompson, former Sen. Bob Dole (Kan.) and other Republicans who apparently supported a White House-led charge to fix the nation's insurance woes," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Even after Tuesday's Senate Finance Committee vote brought sighs of relief and dismay up and down K Street, lobbyists for many narrowly focused interest groups are still holding their breaths, waiting to see if their proposals will become part of any final healthcare bill," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A series of court decisions expected this fall could put the nation on track to return to turn-of-the-century campaign finance laws," Politico reports. Among the several cases that have been taken up, "This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in a case that opponents say could pave the way for political parties to raise unlimited amounts of money from corporations, individuals, unions and anything else with a bank account."
• "Powerful health industry groups that have held back in their criticisms of specific reform proposals will soon have to choose whether to endorse, or formally oppose, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority," The Hill reports. "The result could be a flurry of associations embracing Democratic efforts to reform the nation's healthcare system, which would likely push the legislation to Obama's desk. Or it could mirror the battle of the 1990s, when an array of healthcare groups crushed President Bill Clinton's plan, subsequently leading to the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994."
• "After months of research and groundwork, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will launch its Campaign for Free Enterprise on Wednesday, with the goal of spurring the creation of 20 million jobs in the next decade," Politico reports. "Organizers say the multimillion-dollar program will include grass-roots advertising, national advertising, public education, outreach to opinion leaders and extensive involvement by young people."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Several of the biggest departments in the federal government plan to adhere to the White House prohibition on lobbyists serving on their advisory boards and committees," The Hill reports. "The Hill contacted all 20 Cabinet-level agencies to see if they intend to follow the guidance issued two weeks ago by the White House. Twelve agencies returned messages before press time and all said they would adhere to the guidelines."
• "A coalition of business groups is worried that Senate Democratic leaders will not hold a confirmation hearing on President Barack Obama's nominee for a key post at the Labor Department," The Hill reports. "Concerned that the nomination of David Michaels to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will go straight to the floor, industry groups are lobbying for a committee hearing. The business associations want senators to grill Michaels on how he would address 'ergonomic' workplace injuries, including carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive-motion ailments."
• "In almost any other congressional debate," Thursday "would have been when powerful special interests open fire on a bill that violates the handshake deals they'd reached with lawmakers," Politico reports. "But as Democrats in both chambers advanced proposals... that conflict with agreements struck with the pharmaceutical and hospital industries, the business groups are calmly riding the wave of reform."
• "Nearly a year after former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and accused of running state government as a criminal enterprise, legislators have reached a stalemate with a powerful reform-advocacy group regarding limits on political-campaign contributions," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports.
• "The Federal Election Commission" today "is expected to vote on whether the agency will begin rewriting long-awaited rules involving provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "A spokesman on Wednesday said the agency's six commissioners are tentatively scheduled to decide at today's 2 p.m. meeting whether to restart the rule-making process to comply with a court order in a case brought by former Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)."
• "In the months since soldiers ousted the Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, the de facto government and its supporters have resisted demands from the United States that he be restored to power. Arguing that the left-leaning Mr. Zelaya posed a threat to their country's fragile democracy by trying to extend his time in office illegally, they have made their case in Washington in the customary way: by starting a high-profile lobbying campaign," the New York Times reports.
• "As the lobbying battle over net neutrality is reaching a fever pitch, opponents are crying foul after a top staffer to Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) announced her departure for Google," Roll Call (subscription) also reports. "The Internet search giant has been aggressively supporting enactment of net neutrality rules, which would prevent phone and cable companies from discriminating against some types of online content."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Even as health care continues to dominate Capitol Hill, lobbyists are ramping up their efforts behind the scenes to add legislative sweeteners to a tax bill Congress is expected to take up before the end of the year," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Lobbyists say they believe Congress will be forced to act because the estate tax and a popular tax credit for companies doing research and development are set to expire at the end of the year."
• "Lobbyists are redoubling efforts to advance tax and spending provisions as President Barack Obama considers additional options to bolster the economy," The Hill reports. "The renewed focus on fiscal stimulus measures comes as unemployment numbers have worsened."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on "Monday defended a new White House policy that would trim federally registered lobbyists from the ranks of agency advisory boards and commissions, a move that has drawn a rebuke from the trade community," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "The Obama administration policy, first announced Sept. 23 by Norm Eisen, special counsel for ethics and government reform, on the White House blog, is part of the administration's efforts to clamp down on lobbyists' influence in Washington."
• SEIU "is coming under fire from conservatives because of its long-standing financial and leadership ties to ACORN, a liberal organizing group recently embarrassed by videos filmed covertly," the Washington Post reports. "Some Republicans say federal agencies that recently cut ties with ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- should also consider severing their relationship with the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU and ACORN have long worked closely together, with the union paying the association more than $3.6 million in the past three years and sharing some office locations and leaders with the group."
• "A mining company owned by Goldman Sachs and two private equity funds is in line to get a $3 million earmark for work at a rare earth elements mine in Mountain Pass, Calif. -- raising questions as to why Congress would take on some of the risk for a bailed-out investment giant that's already making a profit," Politico reports. "Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) inserted the earmark for the mine into the House Defense appropriations bill, and backers say it's a legitimate national security concern. The military needs rare earth elements, and China -- which is rich in them -- has threatened to cut off exports. But some government watchdogs question whether taxpayers should be asked to prop up a project that is already funded by wealthy investors who expect to make a profit."
• "The political committees of Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) have been accused of scheming to conceal a contribution from Pickering to Vitter in violation of federal campaign finance laws," Politico reports. "The Louisiana Democratic Party plans to file a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission today, charging that Barbour's PAC essentially filtered a $5,000 campaign donation from Pickering's PAC to Louisiana Vitter's 2010 reelection committee to make it look like the contribution didn't come directly from Pickering."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A tide of anger and dismay is rippling down K Street as the Obama administration implements a new policy limiting the roles of lobbyists on federal advisory committees," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The policy change, described by the White House as the next step in President Barack Obama's drive to limit influence-peddling in Washington, could affect hundreds of lobbyists who serve on the panels, which were created by Congress in the 1970s to provide private-sector advice to the government."
• "Charlie Black, one of the best-known names in Washington consulting and lobbying over the past 29 years, told POLITICO that his lobbying shop will announce a merger Monday with Timmons and Co., one of the city's first stand-alone lobbying firms," Politico reports. "Black's firm, BKSH & Associates Worldwide, has about 30 people, and Timmons and Co. has about 10. The combined firm, to be called Prime Policy Group, will have 24 senior lobbyists: 13 Democrats and 11 Republicans."
• "The Democratic takeover on Capitol Hill happened more than two years ago, but K Street lobby shops are still feeling the pressure to turn left," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "While the number of all-Republican lobby shops has dwindled, firms that have made the switch to become bipartisan are still working to bring up the numbers of Democrats on their books. Navigators Global is the most recent example of a shop switching course. Navigators shed four senior Republican employees in recent weeks as the firm has focused its efforts to become more bipartisan."
• "Lobbyists are bracing themselves for the impending political fallout surrounding Sen. John Ensign, following allegations that the once-powerful Nevada Republican may have violated ethics rules in helping a former aide-turned-lobbyist secure business," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Republicans on K Street quickly tried to tamp down any speculation that the recent accusations will lead Ensign to resign... Still, Ensign's near-pariah status on Capitol Hill has limited his usefulness to lobbyists, despite his positions on the powerful Finance Committee and Commerce, Science and Transportation panel. As Senate Republicans have largely benched Ensign, K Streeters have taken that as a cue to distance themselves from him, according to one veteran Republican lobbyist."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., arranged for Douglas Hampton, husband of his mistress, "to join a political consulting firm and lined up several donors as his lobbying clients, according to interviews, e-mail messages and other records. Mr. Ensign and his staff then repeatedly intervened on the companies' behalf with federal agencies, often after urging from Mr. Hampton," the New York Times reports. "Several experts say those activities may have violated an ethics law that bars senior aides from lobbying the Senate for a year after leaving their posts."
• "Organized labor is turning to House Democrats to oppose a tax on high-cost insurance plans that is under consideration to help pay for healthcare reform," The Hill reports. "Unions are blasting the idea in the Senate Finance Committee bill, as many union members would be affected because they either have expensive insurance to cover dangerous professions or negotiated for better benefits instead of higher wages."
• "Still jittery that lawmakers might revive a proposal to tax sugary beverages to help offset costs of a healthcare overhaul, a coalition of beverage and food makers vows to continue a multimillion-dollar anti-tax advertising campaign until the bitter end," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "None of the current House or Senate drafts of healthcare legislation contain language that would impose a surcharge on sodas or alcohol to pay for major healthcare initiatives, but an industry alliance, Americans Against Food Taxes, continues to devote resources to maintain public awareness of its opposition."
• "Leaders at smaller trade groups worry they could be particularly hurt by a new White House ban on lobbyists serving on advisory committees," The Hill reports. "They argue that their organizations do not have the staff or the money to hire more employees to get around the new rule. Executives at these associations often do double duty, managing the trade group and lobbying on their industry's behalf."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Activist shareholders are pressuring companies such as Nike to pull out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, arguing that the trade group's stance against climate change legislation is incompatible with the companies' own positions," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Green Century Funds, Newground Social Investment and others sent letters to Nike CEO Mark Parker, urging the company to go beyond its decision Wednesday to step down from the chamber's board of directors."
• "A key Senate negotiator trying to advance a contentious union-organizing bill said a modified version could pass the upper chamber this year, despite his reservations with the changes," The Hill reports. "Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is one of a half-dozen senators trying to craft a compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which if passed would make union organizing much easier. The labor movement considers the measure one of its top legislative priorities this Congress, but business associations have mounted an all-out lobbying offensive against the bill."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A coalition of 46 industry groups ranging from the American Farm Bureau Federation to the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America is weighing in with lawmakers to support a permanent extension of the estate tax at a reduced rate," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "The tax expires at the end of this year and otherwise would be repealed next year -- but come back in 2011 at a higher rate -- unless Congress acts."
• "J Street, the year-old pro-Israel lobby that advocates for Palestinian statehood, will announce today that more than 160 Members of Congress, including 29 Senators, are serving on the honorary host committee for the group's first conference and gala dinner next month," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, will be the keynote speaker at the dinner."
• "With plenty of political good will in the bank, Ford got to work," today "spending it, pushing for legislation that would punish states for not penalizing drivers for text messaging while they're at the wheel," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Ford and its affiliates are the lone distributors of Sync, a Microsoft technology that converts a driver's voice into a text message."
• "A former U.S. Democratic Party fundraiser whose 2007 arrest prompted Hillary Clinton to return $850,000 in campaign contributions was sentenced to more than 24 years in prison on Tuesday," Reuters reports. "Hong Kong-born Norman Hsu, 58, was convicted in May by a jury in federal court in New York of violating election laws by making donations to political campaigns in other people's names. Hsu had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud and wire fraud in running a Ponzi scheme of up to $60 million."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The Federal Election Commission on Monday decided that limited liability companies are not political committees when they team up with political consultants to run television advertisements and other independent expenditures," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The decision may provide cover for wealthy Democrats and Republicans to team up with like-minded donors to target candidates in the 2010 election."
• "A major lobbying battle has heated up over legislation that would establish new security standards for facilities across the country that store or process chemicals, pitting some of the nation's largest business groups against environmental and labor organizations," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "Nearly 30 industry groups sent House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and ranking member Joe Barton a strongly worded letter Monday opposing certain provisions in a chemical security bill making its way through Congress."
• "Nearly 50 companies, trade associations and nongovernmental organizations urged lawmakers Monday to act soon to extend trade preferences for about 130 developing countries that expire Dec. 31.," CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "Lawmakers in both chambers want to update the 35-year old Generalized System of Preferences program, which allows duty-free access for nearly 4,900 products. Given the dwindling legislative calendar, advocates wrote to leaders of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance panels that a simple extension was preferable to letting the program lapse due to differences on a broader reform approach."
• Filmmaker Michael Moore "is in town to promote his film 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' and while his movie is already being mocked by Republicans, Moore's real targets are Democrats," Politico reports. "...The group will call for a single-payer, government-run health care system -- something that isn't even on the table in the current health care debate. Moore is expected to directly target moderate Blue Dog Democrats in his press conference, which he'll co-host with Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, and Fred Redmond, vice president of United Steelworkers."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Wall Street has showered nearly $11 million on the Senate since the beginning of the year, and more than 15 percent of it has gone to a single senator: Democrat Chuck Schumer of New York," Politico reports. "Schumer's $1.65 million take from the financial services industry is nearly twice that of any other senator's -- and more than five times what the industry gave to any single Republican senator."
• "The trial lawyers lobby has been awash in debt and bleeding members - just as it embarks on a national campaign to block any clampdown on medical malpractice lawsuits as part of President Obama's health care overhaul," the Washington Times reports.
• "Lobbying over a proposed federal agency to regulate consumer financial products will get more intense now that lawmakers have scaled back the Obama administration's proposal," The Hill reports. "Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) released a new draft of the proposal for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) that limits the scope and breadth of the industries that are covered. Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, restricted several provisions to dampen criticism from the non-financial lobbyists opposed to the bill and to win over centrist Democrats... Frank and the Obama administration believe the new agency should set a floor for regulation and allow state officials to pursue additional or stricter regulations."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "More lobbyists are expected to terminate their registrations because of the White House's announcement this week that federal agencies should not appoint them to advisory boards," The Hill reports. "It is unclear how many people will be affected by the decision, but at least 1,000 federal advisory committees report to the General Services Administration under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and many of them now include registered lobbyists."
• "When Florida Republican Mel Martinez this week accepted a position with the mega-lobbying and law firm DLA Piper -- less than two weeks after resigning from the Senate -- it brought to five the number of former lawmakers since 2007 who have abandoned their constituents midterm and almost immediately resurfaced with lobbying firms, according to data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics," Politico reports.
• "The army of industry lobbyists in the health-care battle is fighting on familiar terrain: More than half of them used to work for the government they're trying to influence," Bloomberg reports. "Of 2,737 lobbyists hired to promote the interests of drug companies, insurers, hospitals, health professionals, industry groups and business organizations, 1,418 -- or 52 percent -- have worked for Congress, the White House or federal agencies. That includes 55 former members of Congress."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Despite hints to the contrary by the drug industry's top executive, pharmaceutical lobbyists are warning that a health care amendment by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) threatens to unravel an $80 billion deal the industry struck with Senate Democrats and the White House," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "At a Wednesday health care panel, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America President Billy Tauzin suggested that his organization will continue negotiating with lawmakers on health care reform legislation and reserve judgment until a final bill emerges."
• "A top-ranking SEIU official says that the powerful union could support a health care bill that doesn't include a public option -- a striking contrast to the more hard-line stance on the issue taken by the new president of the AFL-CIO," Politico reports. "But pressed as to what Service Employees International Union will do if -- as some suggest is inevitable -- a public option is not included in the final version of the legislation, [Secretary-Treasuer Anna] Burger said even getting an imperfect bill is preferable to passing nothing at all. And, she said, this year's efforts may be just a first step."
• "Changes Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus has made to his healthcare overhaul mark sparked 'serious concerns' from major health insurance lobbying groups that wrote Baucus Wednesday warning the modifications could 'undermine the shared goals of the broader reform effort,'" CongressDaily AM (subscription) reports. "The joint letter from America's Health Insurance Plans and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association relayed some of the harshest language insurers have used to date as they have attempted to remain actively involved in negotiations around Baucus' mark."
• "Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who has supported the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on low-income housing issues, said he would have voted to strip federal funding for the group last week if he had been present. Frank was attending a White House Medal of Honor ceremony for a soldier from his state killed in action when the House approved the funding cuts," The Hill reports. "Frank in a lengthy memo said his support and Judiciary Chairman John Conyers's (D-Mich.) backing of an inquiry by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) into ACORN did not constitute support for the group, and may have been shortsighted."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual legislative conference kicks off today, but don't expect to see the CBC Political Action Committee taking an active role in the events that bring together hundreds of people to discuss issues of particular interest to African-Americans," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The CBC PAC, which raises personal and corporate hard dollars, and the CBC Foundation, which attracts corporate soft dollars, are separate organizations. The CBC PAC didn't schedule any events because it didn't want to have even the appearance of trying to use the legislative conference to its fundraising advantage, according to the group's executive director, Jessica Knight."
• "A law designed to shine a bright light on big political campaign contributors on K Street has in practice not been particularly illuminating, watchdogs charge," The Hill reports. "On its Party Time! Database, the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group, lists dozens of fundraisers hosted by lobbyists. But political campaigns have not filed bundler reports to the FEC, which tracks campaign spending, for all of those invitations, according to an analysis by The Hill."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "In what would be a dramatic next step in its drive to insulate itself from K Street, the White House is strongly considering limiting the ability of lobbyists to serve on federal advisory panels designed to bring the voices of outside interests into the halls of the administration," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "According to sources familiar with the deliberations, the White House is likely to either tell agencies to ban lobbyists from the panels or to provide the agencies guidance -- which would be hard to resist, considering the source -- suggesting they avoid having lobbyists serve on the committees."
• "A federal grand jury charged Hassan Nemazee, a New York businessman who has ties to prominent politicians, with defrauding banks of $292 million in part to benefit the Democratic Party," the Wall Street Journal reports. Nemazee "used the proceeds of his scheme to donate to campaigns and political-action committees, according to an indictment made public Monday, though the amount allegedly spent on these efforts wasn't specified. The donations helped him rise to become finance chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, among other major roles."
• "General Electric and Pratt & Whitney are both known for making heavy war machinery. But it's their K Street desk jockeys who are now on the front lines in a fierce clash over Pentagon billions," Politico reports. "GE is accusing Pratt & Whitney and its allies of using twisted Congressional Budget Office numbers to make their case. Meanwhile, Pratt & Whitney's team is smearing GE's allies by accusing them -- including House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) -- of being desperate enough to employ an earmark to get their way."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Watchdog groups are seizing on the recent edict by House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to extend the one-year lobbying ban for a former top staffer as a way to push Congress to revise lobbying rules to expand the cooling-off period for Members of Congress and senior staffers headed to K Street," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A former government official facing corruption charges for accepting improper gifts from Jack Abramoff is taking an unusually aggressive approach in fighting the Justice Department's case," The Hill reports. "Horace Cooper, a legal commentator and conservative writer who was a senior aide in then-Rep. Dick Armey's (R-Texas) office, is accusing prosecutors of dozens of mistakes and has invoked the prosecutorial abuse investigation that overturned the conviction of former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in an attempt to undermine the government's case."
• "The cost of preparing, filing and arguing the complaint the United Steelworkers union filed against China is relatively inexpensive, according to experts in the field," The Hill also reports. "Legal fees for most cases will run well under $1 million, according to a K Street source with experience on the filings. The safeguard case could cost as little as $750,000."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Some of the most influential aides in the closed-door Senate Finance Committee negotiations over health care reform have ties to interests that would be directly affected by the legislation," Politico reports. "There's no evidence that the aides' ties have shaped the bill that" Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., "hopes to release" today, "and the ultimate decisions over its provisions rest with the senators themselves. But critics say the involvement of such well-connected insiders could lead to dangerous conflicts."
• "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce planned to launch the first phase of its $100 million Campaign for Free Enterprise" today, "which includes an effort to get the White House to spell out its trade agenda," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Activists opposed to existing trade pacts are ramping up their efforts, urging" President Obama "to remember his 'reform' campaign rhetoric when he attends the Group of 20 meeting next week."
• "For more than a decade, trial lawyers used their deep lobbying bench and fundraising muscle to beat back Republican efforts to curb medical malpractice lawsuits," Politico reports. "Given that their political donations went overwhelmingly to Democrats -- generally, by a 3-to-1 ratio -- this should be a period of respite. But it won't be, now that" Obama "has injected tort reform into the health care reform debate."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Former aides to Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, "are finding a new crop of prospective business sprouting up" as Lincoln takes over the Senate Agriculture Committee and Harkin moves to Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "President Barack Obama's new special interest rules are having unexpected consequences with some lobbyists giving up their formal registrations and finding other ways to influence policy as they try to maintain access to key agencies or hope for future government jobs," Reuters reports. "Congressional aides, industry executives and watchdog groups say the rules have also slowed Obama's ability to fill key government jobs, eliminated some highly qualified candidates and kept away some others who worry tougher 'revolving door' rules could tie their hands in the future."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Congressional investigators on Thursday uncovered yet another forged letter sent to a House Democrat purportedly from a local nonprofit -- but actually from a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm -- urging opposition to controversial climate change legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The discovery means that at least 14 fraudulent letters were sent by Bonner & Associates, a subcontractor for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, to at least three different House Members in an effort to sway their votes on the climate change bill before it narrowly passed the House in June."
• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., "has come down on the side of a labor-backed petition for relief from a surge in Chinese tire imports this decade, making good on a pledge to United Steelworkers union president Leo Gerard," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "'Such relief is important to the tire industry, and the workers and communities it supports throughout America,' Reid wrote" to President Obama "in a letter dated Sept. 2."
• "Six of Washington's biggest business lobbies are urging lawmakers to boost the nation's debt limit above $12.1 trillion as the economy confronts historic mountains of red ink," The Hill reports. "The associations said in a letter on Thursday that it is 'critical to ensuring global investors' confidence in the creditworthiness of the United States, that Congress approve the administration's request for a higher debt limit.'"
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Conservative members of the Supreme Court indicated Wednesday that they could not reconcile government restrictions on corporate spending in elections with constitutional protections of free speech and may rule broadly to strike what has been a long-standing fixture of campaign finance law," the Washington Post reports. "A majority of the court seemed impatient with an increasingly complicated federal scheme intended to curb the role of corporations, unions and special interest groups in elections."
• "The campaign finance reform community was expecting the worst Wednesday after a Supreme Court hearing that could significantly loosen spending restrictions on corporations, trade association and unions in federal elections," Roll Call (subscription) reports. After the oral arguments "at least one campaign finance reform group said it did not like what it heard."
• "Sparked by complaints at town hall meetings last month about the impact of medical malpractice suits on healthcare costs, a battle is brewing between business advocates and lawyers over whether to limit damages in lawsuits against physicians and other medical professionals as part of a healthcare overhaul," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "In advance of President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, the American Association for Justice -- formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America -- has been mounting a public relations effort to dispel what it calls the 'myth' that the fear of malpractice lawsuits accounts for astronomical healthcare costs."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Months after the Obama administration announced billions of federal dollars for a U.S. high-speed rail system, a new trade association has emerged to help firms get their foot in the door of a potentially lucrative new market," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "'We saw this as the perfect opportunity to go ahead and turn this into an official association and start to bring together some of the experts,' Andy Kunz, president of the newly minted U.S. High-Speed Rail Association, said in an interview last month."
• "The trial of one of Jack Abramoff's close associates -- a case that will test how far lobbyists may push influence and access -- began Tuesday under the watchful eye of K Street," The Hill reports. The associate, Kevin Ring, "says the expensive tickets and meals he gave government officials and congressional aides were normal tools of the lobbying trade. Prosecutors argue they were part of a pay-to-play conspiracy that involved illegal gratuities intended to curry access and influence government action in favor of clients."
• "Lobbyists for banks big and small expect Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and other panel members to offer measures that would go further than the Obama administration in overhauling the existing regulatory scheme," The Hill reports. "Community banks that think their regulatory system works well fear Congress will push them under a single regulator with big banks."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Financial services lobbyists are quietly pushing for Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) to give up his chairmanship of the Banking Committee and take up the gavel of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where he is next in line following the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Such a move, they say, would remove a thorn from the banking industry, since Dodd has upped his anti-industry rhetoric ahead of his tough 2010 re-election bid."
• "The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that challenges decades of restrictions on corporations and unions spending unlimited cash on just those sorts of ads. Even more broadly, the case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, gives the court's conservative majority a chance to fundamentally redefine the role of corporations and unions in American politics," Politico reports. "Campaign finance experts predict the court, which has demonstrated an inclination towards incremental loosening of rules restricting the flow of money into politics, will expand the types of ads corporations and unions can pay for."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The liberal Progressive Change Campaign Committee is launching a petition drive to rally President Barack Obama's own campaign supporters to pressure him to stand up for a public insurance option as part of a sweeping health care overhaul," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The push comes as White House aides are signaling that Obama will not throw his support behind such a provision when he makes a critical public pitch for reform Wednesday in an address to a joint session of Congress."
• "Environmental-, civil- and women's-rights groups have set up a new hotline for tips on faked letters or other suspect lobbying efforts to undermine cap-and-trade legislation," The Hill reports. "The hotline follows the discovery more than two months ago of forged letters a grassroots group working on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) sent to three House Democrats."
• "The National Association of Manufacturers is ramping up its lobbying effort against pro-labor legislation as Congress heads back to work," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "NAM is launching a direct mail and advertising campaign through its Labor Policy Institute opposing the Employee Free Choice Act."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A coalition of business groups, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed for an emergency court order" Wednesday "to prevent a rule from going into effect that would require federal contractors to verify the legal status of their workers," CongressDaily (subscription) reports. The group "asked the U.S. District Court for Maryland for an emergency injunction to stop the Homeland Security Department from requiring contractors to use the so-called E-Verify system."
• "The incoming president of the AFL-CIO signaled Wednesday his union could accept a card-check bill that preserves an employer's right to demand a secret-ballot election," The Hill reports. "Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka hedged on whether a card-check bill must include the provision that gives it its name."
• "Thousands gathered Wednesday night at events held across the nation, including at least four in the Washington area, to urge Congress and the Obama Administration to approve a bill soon," the Washington Post reports. "'These vigils are to remind decision makers that the debate around health-care is not about politics but about people who are being crushed under the current health-care system,' said Nita Chaudhary, the national campaigns and organizing director of MoveOn.org, a liberal group that helped organize the 'We Can't Afford to Wait' vigils."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A new Web site has compiled a list of hard-to-get e-mail addresses -- including addresses for Members of Congress and top Congressional staff -- and is allowing the general public access to the list to send messages to this select group about the Democratic health care bill," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Over the August recess, top House Republican and Democratic aides confirmed receiving hundreds of e-mails with the subject line 'HR 3200' -- the bill number assigned to the House Democratic health care reform bill -- and the greeting 'To the House of Representatives' from people around the country. The messages were apparently facilitated by houseofbills.com."
• "Former Gen. Wesley Clark, chairman of the pro-ethanol group Growth Energy," launched a campaign Tuesday "urging lawmakers to establish mandatory country of origin labeling for gasoline," CongressDaily (subscription) reports. Clark announced "the 'Label My Fuel' campaign in Decatur, Ill., at the Farm Progress Show, an exhibition of advanced technology, business practices and manufacturing for agricultural producers."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Reynolds American Inc., Lorillard Inc. and several other tobacco companies filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block various provisions of a new federal tobacco law on the grounds that the provisions violate the companies' First Amendment rights," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The tobacco companies said the recently enacted law, which placed the industry under the oversight of the Food and Drug Administration, sharply restricts the companies' right to advertise their products to adult tobacco users."
• "Union leaders are launching a new offensive around Labor Day to provide fresh momentum for legislation aimed at making it easier to organize new locals," Politico reports. "The events begin" today, "when AFL-CIO President John Sweeney plans to release a new survey of young workers that sheds light on their experiences and expectations. Among its findings: 31 percent of young workers don't have health insurance -- up from 24 percent 10 years ago."
• "American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist Larry Frankel was found dead in Rock Creek Park late last week, the organization confirmed on Monday. Frankel, who worked at the organization for 15 years, was the state legislative director at the ACLU's Washington, D.C., office," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "A former aide to Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) has filed suit against the company for whom he helped secure a controversial $1.6 million earmark for a blimp project last year," Politico reports. "In his lawsuit, Adrian Plesha says that James Ferguson IV -- the son of the owner of the company that got the blimp funding -- owes him more than $262,000 in unpaid lobbying fees and expenses."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Despite a presidential order to do so, few federal officials' contacts with lobbyists "have been reported even though lobbyists say they are busier than ever with the multibillion-dollar stimulus," AP reports. "Since the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in February, federal agencies have reported 197 contacts with lobbyists about stimulus grants."
• The battle over the upcoming climate bill "could be just as nasty as the one over healthcare, and many of the groups opposing or supporting the energy proposals are gleaning lessons from the current fight," the Los Angeles Times reports. "Groups on both sides 'are not just watching healthcare closely, but calibrating how we go about doing this based on what we see happening out there,' said Matt Bennett, vice president for public affairs at Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank engaged in both the healthcare and climate fights."
• "Organized labor is betting big in Virginia and New Jersey, where two critical off-year gubernatorial races are taking place in November," Politico reports. "In New Jersey, where Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine trails Republican Chris Christie in the polls, the AFL-CIO earlier this month unveiled a web site slamming Christie for promoting an 'economic agenda threatens the middle class.'"
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee on Thursday joined the growing group of politicians and committees pledging to return or donate to charity campaign contributions from Democratic moneyman Hassan Nemazee, who was arrested and charged Tuesday with trying to defraud Citibank of $74 million by offering fake collateral for a loan," Politico reports. "But a DNC official stopped short of promising that Obama would give back or give away contributions from other donors that came through Nemazee through a process known as bundling that brought in more than $500,000 for Obama's campaign."
• "The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been lobbying for three decades for the federal government to provide universal health insurance, especially for the poor," the New York Times reports. "Now, as President Obama tries to rally Roman Catholics and other religious voters around his proposals to do just that, a growing number of bishops are speaking out against it."
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "has launched an urgent effort to raise $100,000 by Monday to help combat what she calls GOP 'smears' about health care reform," Politico reports. "'Republican opponents of reform are coming out with one outrageous smear after the next, all aimed at derailing our progress. We must be able to counter their special interest-funded attacks and set the record straight,' Pelosi wrote in a letter to Democratic supporters."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A new report by the group Public Citizen says that representatives of the banks that received the most money in a federal bailout have ponied up millions of dollars in campaign donations to Members of Congress," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Lobbyists, political action committees and trade associations connected to the industry have scheduled 70 fundraisers for Members since Election Day 2008 and have made $6 million in contributions," the report found.
• "Opponents of a health care overhaul have been stoking fears that a government health plan would entail 'death panels' that deny treatment to sick people. Now, a liberal group financed by two large labor unions is turning the tables with an attack ad that portrays health insurance companies denying medical care to patients as the 'real death panels in America,'" the New York Times reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Vice President Joe Biden, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday evening they plan to return or donate to charity campaign contributions from Democratic financier Hassan Nemazee, who was arrested and charged Tuesday with trying to defraud Citibank of $74 million by offering fake collateral on a loan," Politico reports.
• "New financial disclosure reports filed by Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) show that the veteran lawmaker failed to report more than $660,000 in assets during 2007, a potential violation of House ethics rules," Politico reports. "The latest revelations on Rangel's personal finances may prove problematic for the New York Democrat, who is already the target of a wide-ranging ethics investigation."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Four independent groups are launching more than $1 million in attack ads" today "targeting five House Republicans who voted against energy legislation in June, spokespeople for the groups said," Politico reports. "The ads from the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, MoveOn and Americans United for Change, will target Reps. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.), Denny Rehberg (R- Mont.), Roy Blunt (R- Mo.) and two Virginia Republicans, Frank Wolf and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor."
• "Faced with a souring public mood on health care reform, Democrats and their supporters are launching a national grassroots push Wednesday to show lawmakers that the majority of Americans still support overhauling the system," Politico reports. The Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America and Health Care for America Now "are planning to hold more than 500 events between Wednesday and when lawmakers return to Washington Sept. 8, ranging from neighborhood organized phone banks to professionally staffed rallies with hundreds of people."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "AARP thinks U.S. health care needs a sweeping overhaul. Problem is, a lot of its members don't agree," the Wall Street Journal reports. "That is putting the 40-million-strong organization of older Americans in a tight spot. It is fielding a flood of calls from worried seniors and battling rumors about" President Obama's "health push, which it supports."
• "The United Health Group, a major insurer seen as playing the politics of reform better than most, is denying a report that it directed its employees to attend tea parties opposing the Democratic plans," Politico reports. "The insurance giant, with about 75,000 employees, confirmed another element of the report, however: That its employees' talking points include opposition to a public option for health insurance."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Liberal bloggers say they have helped raise more than $160,000 in the past 24 hours for about 60 progressive House Democrats who have pledged to vote against any health care plan that does not include a public insurance option," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "House Democrats are probing the nation's largest insurance companies for lavish spending, demanding reams of compensation data and schedules of retreats and conferences," Politico reports. "Letters sent to 52 insurance companies by Democratic leaders demand extensive documents for an examination of 'extensive compensation and other business practices in the health insurance industry.' The letters set a deadline of Sept. 14 for the documents."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A lobbying firm working for a pro-coal industry group sent lawmakers a total of 13 fraudulent letters opposing the House climate bill -- five more than initially believed, the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming said Tuesday," Politico reports. The letters "purported to be from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, senior citizens groups and Creciendo Juntos, a Hispanic advocacy organization."
• "The prescription drug industry's lobbying arm is defending its deal with President Barack Obama in the wake of criticism from House Minority Leader John Boehner, who charged it with "appeasing" the Obama administration," The Hill reports. "'At the end of the day, comprehensive healthcare reform is good for patients, the economy and the future of our country,' Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said in an interview with The Hill."
• "Critics of President Obama's health-care overhaul are zeroing in on his senior adviser David Axelrod, whose former partners at a Chicago-based firm are the beneficiaries of huge ad buys -- now at $24 million and counting -- by White House allies in the reform fight," Politico reports. The scrutiny "revolves around two separate $12 million ad campaigns advocating Obama's health care plan that were produced and placed partly by AKPD Message and Media, a firm founded by Axelrod that employs his son and still owes Axelrod $2 million."
• "With just over 100 days until the expiration of a tax credit for roughly a third of U.S. homebuyers, building and Realtors' groups are spending August trying to sell lawmakers on a broad expansion of the incentive program," CongressDaily (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The pharmaceutical industry's trade group has bowed to bullying by Democrats and sold out its members and the public, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) charges in a strongly worded letter to a former GOP congressman who helms the organization," The Hill reports. "'Appeasement rarely works as a conflict resolution strategy,' Boehner wrote Monday to Billy Tauzin, the former Republican House member from Louisiana who has been president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) since 2005."
• "With health care town halls continuing to dominate the August recess, energy and environmental interest groups are making an aggressive lobbying push to bring the climate change debate to the fore," Roll Call reports. "The American Petroleum Institute, along with several other trade groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Association of Manufacturers, are launching a series of 19 'Energy Citizen' rallies Tuesday."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Some environmental groups are urging the Senate to include in its version of" climate change legislation "provisions to prevent" giving companies the incentive to "to squeeze even more power out of their old plants, many of which are running well below capacity," the Washington Post reports. "Public health advocates say these urban power plants can pose a threat to local residents, with ozone-forming compounds and particulate matter exacerbating respiratory and cardiac problems."
• Exotic pet industry "lobbyists are scrambling to win changes to legislation advancing in the House and Senate that would add pythons to a federal list of 'injurious' species -- a designation that would bar future imports and interstate transport," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The bills, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.), take aim at the tens of thousands of Burmese pythons that have invaded the Florida Everglades in recent years."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A multitude of former House and Senate aides are expected to take the witness stand when the trial of former House aide and lobbyist Kevin Ring begins next month," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Federal prosecutors said Thursday that they could call as many as 15 witnesses against Ring, who is charged in the ongoing influence-peddling investigation of disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, including former Hill aides and lobbyists, several of whom have cut plea agreements."
• "The cost of earmarks increased this year despite lawmakers' claims they're working to reduce pork-barrel spending," The Hill reports. "Earmarks, which are inserted in appropriations bills by members in order to fund specific projects, added up to $19.9 billion in 2009, according to an analysis by the Taxpayers for Common Sense and Center for Responsive Politics. Earmarks in 2008 spending bills were worth $18.3 billion."
• "The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry lobbying group, responded in writing Thursday evening to questions from Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) about a dozen forged letters that Bonner & Associates sent opposing the House climate change bill on behalf of the group," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "But the group refused to make the letter public and declined to say whether it had confirmed that additional letters the firm generated on behalf of the association were also forgeries."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Taking a cue from angry protests against the Obama Administration's health care restructuring, the oil industry is helping organize anti-climate bill rallies around the nation," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The American Petroleum Institute, along with other organizations such as the National Association of Manufacturers opposed to the climate legislation Congress will consider again in the fall, is funding rallies across 20 states over the August recess."
• "Environmental groups, including one led by former Vice President Al Gore, have unveiled a broad campaign that will run through Labor Day to push the Senate to follow the House toward passing a climate-and-energy strategy this year," CongressDaily (subscription) reports. "Repower America, an initiative Gore spearheaded, and the Blue Green Alliance, a coalition of labor and environmental groups, are kicking off a series of more than 50 events in 22 states, including states with particularly high unemployment and swing-vote senators."
• "Some of the nation's biggest food and agriculture companies are planning to release a flurry of studies in coming weeks that scrutinize the potential impact of climate-change legislation, warning that it could lead to higher food prices," the Wall Street Journal reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A group usually seen as one of Barack Obama's allies in the health care debate -- AARP -- says the president went too far Tuesday when he said the seniors lobby had endorsed the legislation pending in Congress," the AP reports. "AARP is sensitive to the issue because polls show that Medicare beneficiaries are worried their health care program will be cut to subsidize coverage for the uninsured."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says some little-noticed provisions in the House health care bill are racially discriminatory, and it intends to ask President Obama and Congress to rewrite sections that factor in race when awarding billions in contracts, scholarships and grants," the Washington Times reports.
• "A Washington nonprofit that advocates nutrition-policy reform paid $20,000 to get its message across and carefully maneuvered Metro's tangle of regulations to display its posters" mentioning Obama's daughters, the Washington Post reports. "Metro gave it a go -- but the White House did not, according to the group. Within 24 hours of the signs' appearance, the White House asked the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to take down the ads...The Physicians Committee has declined to take down the posters."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "In an increasingly bitter Washington battle between the nation's two largest shipping companies, some unionized UPS workers say they are being forced to write letters to their lawmakers in support of more stringent labor rules for arch rival FedEx," the Washington Post reports.
• "White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel warned liberal groups this week to stop running ads against Democratic members of Congress," Politico reports. "The powerful top aide to President Obama made his feelings known at the weekly closed-door strategy session of an array of progressive organizations, according to two sources who were there."
• "The Treasury Department is in the final stages of drafting restrictions on lobbying for financial bailout funds -- 10 months after the program began," The Hill reports. "The government's top watchdog over the financial bailout package said in a report released Thursday that the Treasury guidelines are now awaiting White House approval."
• "Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is demanding answers from a coal industry group as he continues his probe into a series of forged letters urging Democrats to oppose climate change legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Markey, chairman of the Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, on Wednesday sent a letter to the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity asking why the group waited to notify Members of Congress about the forged letters until after the climate change vote."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion," the New York Times reports. "Drug industry lobbyists reacted with alarm this week to a House health care overhaul measure that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices and demand additional rebates from drug manufacturers."
• "Small boutique lobbying firms are thriving in an otherwise mixed year for K Street by promising to deliver more bang-for-the-buck than marquee houses," The Hill reports. "Revenues at some of Washington's biggest lobbying firms have been falling as companies and trade groups look to cut costs during the recession. Eight of the 10 firms that booked the biggest earnings in the first half of 2008 saw hefty declines in the first half of 2009 -- some as high as 18 percent."
• "A lingering presidential veto threat and differences between the House and Senate over funding two engines for the Pentagon's next generation fighter jet have awakened a sleeping giant -- General Electric," Politico reports. "General Electric, the nation's fifth-largest company, has already spent nearly $12 million on lobbying this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and is girding for battle this summer, targeting senators who voted against the GE engine."
• "A Justice Department official who briefly worked as a corporate lobbyist has emerged as the leading candidate for U.S. attorney in Alexandria, one of the nation's most prominent law enforcement posts, sources familiar with the selection process said Wednesday," the Washington Post reports.
• "A former lobbyist for Pakistan has been hired by the State Department to coordinate aid to that country, which may highlight loopholes in the administration's tough new lobbying rules, designed to slow Washington's revolving door," The Hill reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The increasingly heated fight over health-care legislation is saturating the summer airwaves, with groups on all sides of the debate pouring tens of millions of dollars into advertising campaigns designed to push the cause of reform forward, slow it down or stop it in its tracks," the Washington Post reports. "Drugmakers, labor unions, both national political parties and the sector currently under the heaviest fire -- health insurance companies -- are all weighing in with significant ad buys. Nationwide, more than $52 million has been spent this year on health-care reform-related ads, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, setting the stage for what may be a record-breaking legislative battle."
• "The health insurance industry is fighting back against intensified Democratic attacks and vowing to 'correct the record' on its role in healthcare reform, its chief lobbyist said Tuesday," The Hill reports."The health insurance lobby, aware of its low public standing and the general antipathy of Democrats toward its industry, has put on a humble public face during the course of the healthcare reform debate. But strong anti-insurer rhetoric from Democrats struggling to win over a skeptical public could wake the sleeping giant."
• "For the insurance industry, long an opponent of health care reform, it was a striking change: with a new administration coming to Washington, insurers agreed to abandon some of their most controversial practices, like denying coverage to applicants with pre-existing medical conditions," the New York Times reports. "One of the main architects of the friendly approach, Karen M. Ignagni, the industry's chief lobbyist, personally pledged to President Obama that insurers would not stand in the way of a sweeping overhaul this time."
• "A coal and utility industry coalition has launched a major campaign pushing industrial and farm state Democratic senators to boost coal-friendly provisions in the Senate climate and energy bill," Politico reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Overall, Washington's lobbying business continued to slump as the economy pinched budgets at some big companies and trade associations," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Companies, nonprofits, unions and other organizations spent $814.6 million to influence Congress and the Obama administration in the second quarter, down 1% from $825.3 million during the same three-month period in 2008, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of lobbying data. The data were supplied by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics."
• "Towns, cities, counties and states across the country spent a total of $21.4 million on lobbyists between April and June, up 2.7% from the first quarter of the year and in line with spending levels through 2008, according to data provided by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Almost 1,000 different governments reported paying representatives to pursue their agenda. About a quarter reported lobbying specifically about the stimulus package."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Blue Dog Democrats, "who have become key brokers in shaping [health care] legislation in the House," have "set a record pace for fundraising this year... surpassing other congressional leadership PACs in collecting more than $1.1 million through June," the Washington Post reports. "More than half the money came from the health-care, insurance and financial services industries, marking a notable surge in donations from those sectors compared with earlier years, according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity."
• "A Republican lawmaker who is President Barack Obama's pick to become the next secretary of the Army endured a tough grilling at Thursday's confirmation hearing from Sen. John McCain," The Hill reports. "Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), the former ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, fended off questions from McCain, the Arizona Republican and Obama's opponent in last year's presidential election, about campaign contributions from a defense-lobbying firm that is now under investigation for possible campaign finance violations."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Rep. Pete Sessions -- the chief of the Republicans' campaign arm in the House -- says on his website that earmarks have become 'a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people.' Yet in 2008, Sessions himself steered a $1.6 million earmark for dirigible research to an Illinois company whose president acknowledges having no experience in government contracting, let alone in building blimps," Politico reports. "What the company did have: the help of Adrian Plesha, a former Sessions aide with a criminal record who has made more than $446,000 lobbying on its behalf."
• "The AFL-CIO sought to slow momentum on one idea to finance healthcare reform that has been gaining supporters on Capitol Hill by expressing misgivings about a proposal to tax insurance companies that offer the most expensive plans," The Hill reports. "The tax on so-called 'Cadillac' health plans has been seen by Democrats as a compromise that would allow them to to raise revenue for healthcare reform and reduce healthcare spending by discouraging very generous insurance plans without capping the currently unlimited tax exclusion for workplace health benefits."
• "One of the largest sources of campaign contributions to Senate Democrats during this year's health care debate is a physician-owned hospital in one of the country's poorest regions that has sought to soften measures that could choke its rapid growth," the New York Times reports.
• "Natural-gas companies are ramping up their lobbying efforts against a House climate change bill they believe is too generous to the coal industry," The Hill reports. "An alliance of gas producers and pipeline companies formed in March is taking out ads in Washington publications, including The Hill, and staffing up with lobbyists to tilt the Senate version of climate change legislation more in the industry's favor."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Trade associations and companies both inside and outside of Honduras have stepped up their lobbying efforts in Washington as the nation's political crisis remains unresolved in the wake of President Manuel Zelaya's ouster," The Hill reports. "A review of lobbying disclosure records by The Hill show that U.S. companies have worked to protect their operations in Honduras while more business groups from the Central American nation have turned to Washington lobbyists in order to keep Zelaya out of power."
• The New York Times analyzes the 2007 jockeying for a chunk of the $50 billion overseen by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation: "As a New York money manager and investment banker at four Wall Street firms, Charles E. F. Millard never reached superstar status. But he was treated like one when he arrived in Washington in May 2007."
• "Credit unions are being courted by Democrats to back a key part of the financial regulatory overhaul strongly opposed by the bulk of their industry, giving the institutions an opportunity to reshape the measure more to their liking," The Hill reports. "With roughly 90 million members and thousands of credit unions across the country, the lobby and its grassroots forces would give the Obama administration instant credibility at a time when others have panned the legislation."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "After a decline in lobbying activity during the first quarter of this year, the major recipients of cash from the Troubled Asset Relief Program -- TARP -- have stepped up their spending as drafts of a new financial regulatory system have begun to take shape, according to the second-quarter lobbying disclosure reports released last week," Politico reports.
• "Lobbying interests that President Obama campaigned against last year have gained the upper hand on the White House in recent weeks," The Hill reports. "In stark contrast to Obama's first few months in office, special interest groups this summer have aggressively opposed the president's top domestic priorities. And they have succeeded in slowing legislation to revamp the nation's healthcare system, won an essential change to climate change legislation and put off efforts to set up a consumer agency in the financial sector."
• "The Hilton Hotels Corp. -- which is currently in the process of moving its global headquarters from Beverly Hills, Calif., to McLean, Va. -- is already acting like a savvy Beltway insider. The company has just hired a top in-house lobbyist," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Five years after lawmakers began a high-profile campaign to expose how influence-peddler Jack Abramoff bilked American Indians out of millions of dollars with inflated lobbying fees, many tribes continue to do business in Washington, D.C. -- but they are spending a lot less money," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The scars remain, however, in a scandal that many Indians believe unfairly tarred their community, not just Abramoff and his associates."
• "A strong force, perhaps as powerful in Congress as President Barack Obama, is keeping the drive for health care going even as lawmakers seem hopelessly at odds. Lobbyists," AP reports. "The drug industry, the American Medical Association, hospital groups and the insurance lobby are all saying Congress must make major changes this year. Television ads paid for by drug companies and insurers continued to emphasize the benefits of a health care overhaul -- not the groups' objections to some of the proposals."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The GOP-tilting Chamber of Commerce is backing Sonia Sotomayor in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee" sent Thursday, Politico reports. "'Her extensive experience both as a commercial litigator and as a trial judge would provide the U.S. Supreme Court with a much needed perspective on the issues that business litigants face,' wrote COC executive vice-president R. Bruce Josten."
• "EMILY's List, the Democratic fundraising powerhouse, finally weighed in on the special election to replace former Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), endorsing Thursday state Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan in the Sept. 1 all-party primary," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "The commander in chief may have no love for K Street, but his aversion to traditional lobbying tactics has combined in the public mind with the extraordinary grass-roots campaign that helped propel him to the presidency to produce a result he probably didn't foresee: a new enthusiasm for grass-roots campaigns among lobbying firms and their clients," Politico reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The Obama administration released Wednesday night a list of 15 health-care lobbyists and senior executives who have visited the White House to discuss health-care reform," the Washington Post reports. "The list was released in response to a lawsuit filed earlier in the day by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, which had been denied access to the names by the U.S. Secret Service. Many of the meetings, it turned out, were well-known gatherings that had already been publicized."
• "Backers of Democratic proposals to overhaul the nation's healthcare system have spent twice as much on television advertising as their opponents this year, as advocates on different sides of the debate brace for a costly ad war that could stretch into the fall," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "According to the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks TV ad spending nationwide, about $12 million has been spent this year on ads that support Democrats' healthcare reform plan, compared to $5.9 million spent by groups hoping to derail changes sought by President Obama and his allies."
• "K Street is getting nervous that it will lose its ability to influence Medicare policy thanks to growing enthusiasm for an independent commission that would limit Congress's authority on a program that accounts for 14 percent of the federal budget," The Hill reports. "President Obama has been promoting the creation of the Independent Medicare Advisory Commission, made up of physicians and healthcare policy experts, which would issue recommendations for Medicare payment rates and payment policies that Congress would then vote on -- a system that would give healthcare interest groups little say in the decision process."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Auto companies and eight of the country's biggest banks that received tens of billions of dollars in federal bailout money spent more than $20 million on lobbying Washington lawmakers in the first half of this year," The Hill reports.
• "Energy companies and industry groups with a major stake in climate change legislation are spending millions of dollars more on lobbying this year," The Hill reports. "The two biggest consumers of coal, for example, each reported increases in lobbying expenditures as lawmakers considered a climate bill, which could reshape the nation's energy fuel mix by capping carbon dioxide."
• "The American Medical Association and drug giant Eli Lilly & Co. spent more on lobbying than other healthcare groups in the second quarter, according to reports filed Monday on Capitol Hill," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The AMA said it spent $4 million from April through June, while Eli Lilly spent $3.6 million."
• "Sweeping proposals to reform the energy, healthcare and financial-services sectors helped K Street shake off a slow start to the year, although corporate belt-tightening continued to be a drag on revenues at some lobbying firms, a preliminary analysis of midyear lobbying revenue totals shows," The Hill reports. "Although several firms rebounded during the second quarter, midyear figures still appeared to be down from where they were a year ago. Lobbyists attributed the decline to the problems of the broader economy."
• "Despite taking on a larger role in crafting the GOP's legislative and policy strategy, recently installed Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Thune (S.D.) is keeping the bulk of his K Street outreach portfolio," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Thune will continue to take the lead for Senate Republicans on meeting with business lobbyists, trade groups and conservative issue-advocacy organizations, according to his spokesman."
From today's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Concerned that emerging healthcare reform legislation could erode their ability to advise and advertise to potential clients, health insurance agents and brokers will mobilize on Capitol Hill this week to lobby lawmakers on the high-stakes measure," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The coalition of insurance consultant groups, overshadowed by well-financed stakeholders like physicians' groups and pharmaceutical companies, hopes to protect the role of licensed brokers and ensure against the implementation of potentially burdensome rules governing how and when they can sell coverage plans."
• "The battle over climate legislation will now pit the country's top power sources against each other," the New York Times reports. "Saying they failed to protect their interests as a landmark bill came together and passed the House last month, natural gas executives are forming a strategy to influence rewrites in the Senate."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Honduran business leaders are turning to Washington lobbyists to convince Congress that it should support rather than oppose the military removal of President Manuel Zelaya from office," The Hill reports. "The Honduran branch of CEAL, the Latin American equivalent of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has hired Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe to make the case to U.S. lawmakers and foreign diplomats."
• "The increasingly contentious debate over health care reform is fueling new advertisements aimed at key Senators. The conservative group Patients First is spending $1.3 million on a one-week ad buy in a dozen states, while the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association has launched a new campaign over generic biologics," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "The League of Conservation Voters announced Thursday that it is launching a new TV ad to laud Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) for his vote in favor of controversial climate change legislation, in an effort to blunt Republican attacks on the freshman over the issue," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Perriello was recently targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee in a TV ad that criticized his vote for the cap-and-trade bill that narrowly passed the House in late June."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Pressure is building on the Senate to ratify a treaty designed to bolster American and British military cooperation by removing red tape that critics say delays the transfer of defense technologies and products between the two countries," The Hill reports. "The Senate's inaction has frustrated leaders in the United Kingdom and spurred a strong lobbying push from the American defense and aerospace industry, which stands to benefit from the treaty."
• "Under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, staffers earning at least 75 percent of their bosses' salaries for more than 60 days trigger the lobbying moratorium," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "But the rule has also ensnared at least one unwitting junior Senate staffer whose $8,000 bonus unexpectedly triggered the lobbying restrictions."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "As Sen. Chris Dodd gears up for a grueling re-election fight, he has tried to distance himself from K Street by taking an increasingly pro-consumer, anti-industry tack, according to many lobbyists who work closely with the Connecticut Democrat," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Organized labor this week is warning Senate Democrats not to renege on trade protection included in House climate change legislation that would buffer domestic manufacturers from cheap consumer products made in China and elsewhere," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Al Franken's victory in Minnesota over incumbent Norm Coleman gives Democrats the 60th vote they need to overcome Republican filibusters -- assuming, of course, they can keep their often-feuding caucus unified," The Hill reports. Union officials plan to renew their push for a controversial bill that would make it easier for employees to organize, legislation that has stalled so far this Congress under a massive lobbying campaign by business groups that oppose it as a threat to an already listless economy."
• "A group of unions, including the AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said they will start pressing lawmakers for a jobs bill," The Hill reports. "They said the $787 billion economic stimulus approved earlier this year, though helpful, wasn't big enough and didn't include enough government spending."
• "Through June 27, $31 million has been spent for roughly 47,000 TV ads on health care this year, says Evan Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, a firm that tracks issue advertising," AP reports. "That's double the roughly $14 million the insurance industry spent in 1993 and 1994 for the famous 'Harry and Louise' ads credited with helping kill President Bill Clinton's health care drive, but a fraction of the $250 million Tracey guesses will ultimately be spent this year."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A new technological marvel appears, and its proprietors -- at least initially -- pay little heed to Congress and the potential havoc that federal lawmakers can wreak," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Witness Microsoft and Google, which were flourishing entities before finally wising up and staffing substantial D.C. outposts. Twitter seems to be following suit."
• "Financial services lawmakers and lobbyists will ramp up their efforts this week to shape legislation creating a consumer financial protection agency," The Hill reports.
• "Months after instituting tough new rules designed to limit the influence of lobbyists on the administration, the White House has a growing and thriving relationship with K Street, though not one that appears to violate promises that President Barack Obama made to curtail influence peddling," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
•"The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records," the Washington Post reports.
•"Across the country, activist groups on each side of the health care debate stepped up their campaigning last week while members of Congress were home for the Fourth of July recess," the New York Times reports. "In Maine, home to Sens. [Olympia] Snowe and Susan Collins, moderate Republicans who could provide crucial support for the Democratic health care plan expected to emerge in the coming weeks, efforts to sway their votes -- and to sweep average citizens into the debate -- were intense."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The Laborers' International Union of North America on Tuesday announced plans to target Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) with a cable television spot in Des Moines even as it cut short ad buys in Montana and North Dakota at the request of Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.)," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "The pharmaceutical industry and one of the country's leading consumer health care groups on Tuesday launched a multimillion-dollar national television advertising campaign to urge lawmakers to pass quality, affordable health care reform," Politico reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Kazakhstan refuses to let Borat have the last word on its image," The Hill reports. "The Central Asian republic's foreign affairs ministry inked a $1.5 million deal with a Washington lobbying firm, according to records recently filed with the Justice Department, with a partial goal of combating the image presented in the blockbuster film 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.'"
• "The intensifying health care debate is following Members of Congress home to their districts during this week's recess," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "A long list of industry and interest groups have taken out advertising spots, are activating grass-roots networks and are planning Member meetings outside the Beltway."
• "Horse trading in Washington is infamous. But it's rare to catch a glimpse of the horse in the midst of the trade in real time," Politico reports. "Friday was one of those rare exceptions when the powerful lobby for seniors, the AARP, sent a memo to Senate officials threatening to yank support for the chamber's health committee's version of reform if it didn't get what it wanted on another provision in the bill related to biogeneric drugs."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Despite House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson's farm and forestry amendment to the climate change bill, agriculture groups are all over the map in their views on the underlying bill that is expected on the House floor today," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The deal House Democrats were forced to strike on the climate change bill demonstrates the power of the corn ethanol lobby to get its way on Capitol Hill, despite an array of interests aligned against it," The Hill reports.
• "As the House prepares to vote Friday on climate change legislation, two groups representing tens of thousands of small businesses are upping the ante, saying they will use the cap-and-trade energy package vote to score lawmakers," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The National Federation of Independent Business and the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors will 'key vote' the bill, making it part of the organizations' public scorecard on how lawmakers vote on priority legislation."
• "Many farm lobbyists are still on the fence with climate change and energy legislation headed to the House floor Friday, though most are singing the praises of House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson for negotiating changes in the bill," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Most were pleased Wednesday that the bill would put the sections of a carbon offsets program that applies to agriculture under the control of the USDA rather than the EPA."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The League of Conservation Voters (LCV), an environmental group that is an active player in political campaigns, said it would not endorse any member of the House who opposed the climate bill scheduled to be voted on this week," The Hill reports. "The bill would create a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over the next four decades."
• "President Barack Obama's executive order banning lobbyists from joining any areas of the executive branch that they might have lobbied in the past two years appears to have sparked several public interest group terminations under the Lobbying Disclosure Act," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "But not all nonprofit advocates are shy about registering to lobby."
• "Lee Geisse bound the stack of letters supporting the House climate change bill in baler twine, a symbolic, back-home gesture to reassure Ohio Democratic Rep. John Boccieri the measure wouldn't hurt his rural constituents," The Hill reports. "Geisse was one of around 50 union officials on Capitol Hill this week to persuade members from agriculture and industrial states who are wary the climate bill will increase energy costs and drive jobs overseas."
• "This development bears watching, as the left wing of the Democratic Party keeps going after top lawmakers within its own realm," the New York Times reports. "MoveOn has begun urging its sizable membership to hound Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, criticizing her for cautionary remarks she made on CNN on Sunday about overhauling the health care system."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) has a powerful ally in his battle with the White House over the highway bill: K Street," The Hill reports. "Trade associations, unions and business coalitions are getting behind the House Transportation Committee chairman in his push to complete the $450 billion measure before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30."
• "The PMA Group, the lobbying titan that closed its doors in March after an FBI raid, has filed more than a dozen lawsuits against former clients for failure to pay outstanding debts," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Now, one company has responded with a $3 million countersuit that alleges PMA cheated it out of an earmark it was expecting to receive."
• "Nine major financial and real estate lobbying associations are joining forces to push for a greater say in a series of accounting rule changes, one of which could soon force banks to raise tens of billions of dollars in capital," The Hill reports. "A recently adopted accounting rule effective at the beginning of 2010 requires firms to bring off-balance sheet assets onto their own balance sheets."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Many hedge funds were relieved last week when the Obama administration's financial-overhaul plan included no big surprises or threats to the lucrative, secretive industry," the Wall Street Journal reports. "It isn't clear exactly why hedge funds escaped their worst fears. But one factor might have helped: The hedge-fund industry has been spending a lot more time and money in Washington during the past few years."
• "Supporters of regulating the insurance industry at the federal level are lobbying Congress to go beyond President Barack Obama's financial regulatory reform overhaul," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Groups like the American Insurance Association, the Financial Services Roundtable, and the American Council of Life Insurers support the White House's efforts to create a national insurance infrastructure but are also pushing for the creation of an optional federal charter that would allow insurance companies to choose whether to follow state or federal rules."
• "As the Obama administration prepares to announce which nuclear utilities will receive billions in government-backed financing to build the next generation of plants, industry executives and lobbyists are busy making the case that it won't be nearly enough," The Hill reports. "The industry's main trade group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, wants $20 billion more in loan-guarantees in addition to the $18.5 billion in financing currently available to kick-start the long-awaited industry revival."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "American International Group (AIG), the insurance firm that has received roughly $180 billion in government support in the financial crisis, is officially closing its Washington lobbying office," The Hill reports. "AIG was a major lobbying presence in Washington for many years. In 2008, the firm spent nearly $10 million on lobbying, according to congressional records."
• "The practicality of President Obama's pledge to change the ways of Washington is colliding once more with the reality of how money, influence and governance interact here," the New York Times reports. "He repeatedly declared while campaigning last year that he would 'not take a dime' from lobbyists or political action committees. So to follow through with that promise, Mr. Obama is simply leaving the room."
• "The coal industry is pushing back against a climate change bill that would likely curb coal use by circulating a map that shows which states would see their electric bills increase the most under the legislation," The Hill reports. "But supporters of the bill say the industry's figures are off the mark and don't factor in ways the bill will offset rising energy costs or the jobs that it will create."
"A draft proposal in the Senate to overhaul the nation's health-care system would require most people to buy health insurance, authorize an expansion of Medicaid coverage and create consumer-owned cooperative plans instead of the government coverage that" Obama "is seeking," the Washington Post reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The House clerk and Senate secretary have clarified guidance for the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) that had confused K Street on how lobbyists can de-register," The Hill reports. "The clarified guidance makes clear that individuals can only de-list as lobbyists if they do 'not reasonably expect to make further lobbying contacts' on behalf of a client."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Although President Obama "prohibited his campaign from accepting contributions from lobbyists and political action committees, he nonetheless took advantage of their campaign and policy experience to help him win the presidency," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Yet nearly five months after Obama took office, several Democratic lobbyists who supported Obama say their loyalty hasn't translated into any tangible benefits."
• "The Obama administration on Wednesday will unveil its wide-ranging proposal to remake the financial regulatory system, but lobbyists across the political spectrum were already digging in and drawing up strategies for a major overhaul battle that will last at least through the rest of the year," The Hill reports.
"Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, abruptly canceled a campaign fundraising lunch scheduled for Wednesday after the Washington lobbyist, Heather Podesta, helping to organize the event suggested in an invitation that the committee's work would be served as the 'first course,'" the Washington Times reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The House ethics committee is investigating the PMA Group and its ties to lawmakers, the panel confirmed Thursday," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The announcement comes eight days after the House called on the committee to disclose within 45 days whether it is probing the now-defunct lobbying firm's dealings with senior Democratic appropriators."
• "The largest medical insurers and drug companies spent 41% more on lobbying this year as Congress began debate on an overhaul of health care, which may include a public insurance plan the industries oppose," USA Today reports. "Despite an overall decline in lobbyist spending this year... 20 of the largest health insurance and drug companies and their trade groups spent nearly $35 million in the first quarter of 2009, up more than $10 million from the same period last year."
• "An investigation into Rep. Don Young's (R-Alaska) relationship with an oil services corporation in his home state has cost the 18-term congressman more than $1.3 million, according to records made public this week," The Hill reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would result in millions in additional political funds for organized labor over the next 10 years, a business group opposed to the legislation will argue in a report to be released" today, The Hill reports. "Unions would stand to gain an additional $320 million more to spend on political activities in the next decade, according to a report put together by the anti-EFCA Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI)."
• "With the House gearing up for a potential vote on climate change legislation before the Independence Day recess, major interest groups are preparing the latest front in the public relations war," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Groups on the left want to boost the bill's requirement for electric utilities to produce renewable electricity and to reduce their energy consumption. They do not want the bill to prevent the Obama administration from regulating carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "United Against Nuclear Iran, a well-funded group warning that enrichment activity by Tehran could be used for arms, is running its first TV ad this week to encourage President Obama to ratchet up pressure on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad," Politico reports. "'This is Iran,' the narrator says. 'Young, vibrant -- a people Americans have no quarrel with. Unfortunately, this is also Iran -- radical rulers seeking nuclear weapons, threatening the world.'"
• "The meat industry has a beef with food safety legislation that is making its way through the House Energy and Commerce Committee," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The Subcommittee on Health is expected to mark up a food safety bill as early as Wednesday, and the committee's Democratic and Republican staffs were meeting into the evening Friday to try to iron out some of the measure's sticking points. But meat industry groups say they will have a difficult time swallowing the bill in its current form."
• "Automobile dealers have been among the biggest contributors to U.S. political campaigns over the past decade, surpassing all but two groups in donations," Bloomberg News reports. "That investment may be paying off as the dealers get a lot of attention on Capitol Hill."
• "FedEx is expected to launch a multimillion-dollar lobbying offensive as early as Tuesday to thwart legislation that would put the Memphis, Tenn.-based package delivery company under the same labor laws as its main competitor, United Parcel Service Inc.," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The legislation would make it far easier for some 100,000 FedEx Express drivers and certain other employees to unionize."
• "Months of characteristic doggedness paid off last week for Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) when he appeared to accomplish a feat his own leaders have struggled to match: backing a muscular Democratic majority into a corner, then getting it to fold," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Aiming to head off Flake's latest attempt to force an ethics committee investigation of the defunct lobbying firm PMA Group and its ties to senior Democrats, the majority on Wednesday overwhelmingly called for the ethics panel to disclose whether it is probing the matter."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "With the expansion of FCC regulations aimed at preserving an open Internet all but inevitable during President Obama's administration, Verizon Communications Inc. has softened its opposition in an effort to influence the agency's tougher approach to network neutrality," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "During a news briefing Thursday, Verizon's chief lobbyist Tom Tauke struck a conciliatory tone when asked about his company's position. 'We're starting with the premise that we're going to work with the new chairman,' he said, referring to Julius Genachowski, a close friend of Obama who's been nominated to run the five-member commission."
• "Opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act are questioning the validity of a new business coalition supporting the union-backed bill, saying the group's motive is to lessen competition for unionized companies," The Hill reports. "Launched Thursday, Business Leaders for a Fair Economy, put together by labor groups like the AFL-CIO, is running newspaper ads and hosting business roundtables to garner support for the bill, which would make union organizing much easier if passed."
• "The staff of Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) continued its outreach to business lobbyists on Thursday, convening a meeting of K Streeters to discuss health reform legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Thursday's 'stakeholders' meeting included representatives from big business lobby groups and some of America's largest companies, according to people familiar with the session."
• "The oil-and-gas industry is gearing up for a battle over the regulation of a high-tech drilling technique that has opened up huge new fields for drilling, but that environmentalists fear could contaminate ground water," the Wall Street Journal reports. "On Thursday, a congressional subcommittee held a hearing on the practice, known as hydraulic fracturing, and two Democratic lawmakers said they would introduce legislation that would regulate it at the federal level for the first time."
From this morning's Earlybird:
"Google's recruitment of Seth Webb, the House Financial Services Committee's second-most senior Republican aide, is the latest in a string of recent GOP hires by major high-tech companies in Washington," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The trend, some policy watchers believe, demonstrates the tech lobby hasn't shied away from wooing Republicans even as much of K Street has augmented its Democratic workforce since President Obama took office."
"As the Obama administration works to put the finishing touches on plans for a major revamp of financial services regulations, a who's who of the sector's top lobbyists and high-level representatives are making the rounds this week at Treasury and the White House," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
"The U.S. House approved by a wide margin an effort to force the ethics committee to report within 45 days on what actions, if any, it has taken to examine an escalating federal investigation involving at least one senior House Democrat and a defunct defense lobbying firm," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Democrats are under increasing political pressure to respond following a series of subpoenas issued last Friday to employees in both the congressional and campaign offices of Rep. Peter Visclosky (D., Ind.) regarding the lawmaker's relationship with the defunct lobbying firm, PMA Group."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• General Motors Corp. is firing all of its outside lobbyists as part of the automaker's massive court-supervised reorganization, the company confirmed on Tuesday," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "According to Senate disclosure statements, GM spent $2.8 million on lobbying during the first three months of 2009, including $100,000 in fees to Duberstein, $70,000 to the Washington Tax Group and $60,000 to the Nickles Group."
• "Internet search giant Google has been steadily increasing its presence in Washington as the company seeks to capture a larger share of the federal market for information technology products and services," Nextgov reports. "Google officials discussed the company's increasing involvement in the government space on at an event on Tuesday."
• Union leaders are pushing to reshape the boards of directors of some of America's largest companies, hoping to use government bailouts as leverage to fundamentally alter the way the companies are run in the years to come," Politico reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Obama administration officials are ramping up their outreach to financial industry representatives ahead of their expected announcement next week for sweeping new regulations," The Hill reports. "After a round of meetings last week with industry lobbyists, officials at the White House and Treasury are slated to meet with insurance industry CEOs on Wednesday and insurance trade association representatives on Thursday, two industry sources said on Monday."
• "The Obama administration's ethics chief said Monday that newly tightened restrictions on oral communication between federal officials and those seeking a share of the $787 billion economic stimulus package will ensure that grants and contracts only flow to the most deserving applicants," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "But, said Norm Eisen, White House special counsel for ethics and government reform, it is premature to view the rules as a prototype for a larger regulatory overhaul of lobbying in the nation's capital."
• "The health insurance lobby Monday proposed mandatory, industrywide paperwork standardization to reduce healthcare providers' administrative loads as part of a broader effort to drastically cut costs and help pay for healthcare overhaul," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "America's Health Insurance Plans proposed standardizing claims submissions, eligibility, claims status, payment, and remittance forms and putting it all online in regional or state portals that would act as a one-stop shop for healthcare providers and eliminate the need for actual paper. The Web sites are starting off as pilot projects in Ohio and New Jersey this summer."
From this morning's Earlybird:
"Retail associations, anti-tax groups and even some progressive organizations are dusting off battle plans to fight a potential new tax they say would cripple the economy and unfairly target the poorest Americans," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The idea of a value-added, or national retail, tax has quietly been floated by some Democrats as a possible way to raise revenue. And last week after reports surfaced that the Obama administration might be eyeing the idea more seriously, groups that oppose the tax kicked into gear."
"Hospitals plan to begin a lobbying campaign this week to prevent Congress from including charity care requirements in legislation to overhaul the health care system," the New York Times reports. "The Senate Finance Committee is considering a bipartisan proposal that would require hospitals to provide 'a minimum annual level of charitable care' as a condition for getting or keeping the tax-exempt status available to charitable organizations."
"Billing it as their largest health reform campaign ever, progressive leaders are planning to spend at least $82 million to push reforms that include a public health insurance plan option," Politico reports. "The campaign, expected to be announced Monday, is designed to put public plan opponents on notice that supporters are ready for a fight."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Progressive health care reform groups demanded on Thursday that Washington's NBC television affiliate refuse to air a 30-minute infomercial funded by a conservative group opposed to creating a public insurance plan," Politico reports. "The Service Employees International Union sent a letter to NBC4, arguing that the station has a responsibility to pull the documentary-style commercial paid for by Conservatives for Patients' Rights."
• "The average family with health insurance in 2008 paid a 'hidden health tax' of $1,017 to cover the health-care costs of the uninsured, according to a report released Thursday by advocacy group Families USA," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The report by the group, which promotes universal health insurance, found that a total of $42.7 billion in care for those without insurance was passed on to health insurers. The insurers, in turn, passed on the costs through higher premiums, the report said."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Conservative judicial activists have gone up with a new Web video questioning the judicial philosophy of President Barack Obama's Supreme Court pick, Sonia Sotomayor," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The Judicial Confirmation Network put up its Web ad, aboutsoniasotomayor.com, in response to a television ad campaign kicked off Wednesday by Sotomayor's backers. The JNC's ad, 'Equal Justice for All?' questions Sotomayor's judicial bent and references an excerpt from a speech that she gave in 2002."
• "Conservative groups are stepping up the battle against Democrats' proposed health-system overhaul with advertising campaigns contending that the changes could result in long waits for surgery and difficulty obtaining prescription drugs," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a conservative advocacy organization, on Wednesday plans to launch a $1.7 million television-advertising campaign that negatively likens the U.S. health-care system envisioned by lawmakers to Canada's publicly administered system."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Liberal-leaning groups have launched a TV ad campaign attacking three lawmakers who voted against cap-and-trade legislation in the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Reps. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) are targeted in the ads paid for by the League of Conservation Voters, VoteVets.org and building trades unions."
• "A report by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) disclosed that four lobbyists collected $209,700 in campaign contributions for the political committee during the month of April," The Hill reports. "The top lobbyist bundler for the Senate Democrats' campaign committee is Ted Burnes, a lobbyist for the American College of Radiology."
• "Conservative groups are stepping up the battle against Democrats' proposed health-system overhaul with advertising campaigns contending that the changes could result in long waits for surgery and difficulty obtaining prescription drugs," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "The conservative groups' campaigns seek to liken the Democrats' proposed system to those in countries where the government has more involvement in the health system."
• "Drug-company executives are aiming to prevent steep cuts in prescription prices by joining the effort to overhaul the U.S. health-care system," the Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports. "The pharmaceutical executives are using their new access to try to steer lawmakers away from measures that could reduce drug margins, pressing instead for cost reductions by hospitals and insurers."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "President Obama and his allies in Congress have given the gun lobby a string of victories - from forgoing new gun laws to easing restrictions already on the books - since Mr. Obama took office and Democrats assumed complete command of political power in Washington," the Washington Times reports. "Gun-control groups blame the Obama White House for the setbacks, saying the administration kept mum on firearms issues even when shooting incidents killed six at a North Carolina nursing home in March and left 13 dead at an upstate New York immigration center in April."
• "The White House has yet to nominate anyone for the top food safety slot at the Agriculture Department, but public health and consumer advocates have already started a quiet campaign against the job's frontrunner," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Michael Doyle, a professor at the University of Georgia and director of the school's Center for Food Safety, is certainly no registered lobbyist. But his critics charge that he's too cozy with the meat industry that he would be in charge of regulating as undersecretary for food safety at USDA."
• "A battle royal is brewing on Capitol Hill for an already bruised business community," Politico reports. "The Treasury Department this week is expected to unveil its plan for revamping the patchwork of agencies that oversee the financial industry. Judging from the talk of add-ons from Congress and even the White House, some business lobbyists figure the package might as well come with Santa wrapping, tinsel and lights."
• "The definition of renewable energy seems clear cut: The sun continues to shine, so solar energy is renewable. The wind continues to blow, so wind turbines churn out renewable power," the New York Times reports. "But industries are now pushing to have a growing number of other technologies categorized as renewable -- or at least as environmentally advantageous. They include nuclear power plants and the burning of garbage and even the waste from coal mines."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that would make it easier to unionize FedEx Corp. workers, prompting the company to renew its threat to hold off buying billions of dollars of new planes if the bill becomes law," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Supporters of the bill, including the Teamsters and FedEx's biggest rival, United Parcel Service Inc., applauded Thursday's vote. But the measure faces a difficult climb in the Senate. A similar bill passed the House in 2007 but died in the Senate."
• "A pharmaceutical company that collected campaign contributions for Rep. Henry Waxman is the only bundler disclosed under a new ethics rule that took effect earlier this year," The Hill reports. "The political action committee for Gilead Sciences, Inc. has collected $17,500 in campaign contributions for LA PAC, a leadership political action committee affiliated with Waxman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee."
• "There are two ways of looking at the Transportation Security Administration's performance in the 2009 Best Places to Work in the federal government report released this week," the Washington Post reports. "One is to hail the TSA's nearly 23 percent increase in its score measuring job satisfaction among employees -- the largest jump among any large subcomponent agency in the federal government -- as evidence that the troubled Department of Homeland Security agency has turned a corner. A second take, offered by unions representing TSA employees, is that the agency's score of 49.7 still leaves it near the bottom of the rankings, and that the new study is therefore evidence the agency is still mired in problems."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Business Forward, a coalition of executives backing President Obama's priorities, will announce its formation Thursday, the New York Times reports. "Organizers said the group, whose initial members include AT&T, Facebook, Hilton, IBM, Microsoft, Pfizer and Time Warner, will engage in public advocacy but will not lobby administration officials or members of Congress."
• "A lobbying fight between the high-tech industry and a group that includes manufacturers and pharmaceutical representatives has the potential to stall controversial changes to the nation's patent laws at a time when the congressional calendar is filling up," The Hill reports. "Heading into the congressional recess next week, several loose ends remain for a patent reform bill that has yet to get a floor vote in either chamber."
• "Freshman Rep. Alan Grayson, a Democrat whose Florida district includes tourist meccas such as Walt Disney World and the Universal Orlando Resort, plans to introduce a bill today that would mandate paid vacation for most American workers," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "While the measure could boost travel to Grayson's district and theoretically spur an uptick in tourism around the United States, the travel industry's response has been tepid."
• "Top aides to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) held a private meeting on Monday with a bloc of prominent Democratic lobbyists, warning them to hold their fire or be left out of negotiations on President Barack Obama's No. 1 legislative priority," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "From the perspective of gun control advocates, the playing field is upside down," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Their nemesis, the 138-year-old National Rifle Association, seems more powerful than ever. Instead of a Democratic trifecta lending gun control the upper hand, it has energized the NRA, whose membership has grown 30 percent since the November elections. And the NRA has been on the attack."
• "A new analysis of Senate disclosure records by The Center for Public Integrity found that 10 lobbying firms -- all with deep ties to Capitol Hill -- have amassed such large client lists that they represent nearly 100 of the business stakeholders in the [climate legislation] brawl," Politico reports.
• "Reshaping the nation's health care system has spurred some shotgun marriages of convenience," AP reports. "Momentum for redoing the medical system has been helped by unlikely alliances that broadly embrace" Obama's "drive for overhaul but gloss over prickly issues like how to pay for it. Those political unions, though, will likely fray when Congress begins to pencil in the details."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's switch to the Democratic Party underscores the clout of Club For Growth, a conservative group that targets Republicans it brands insufficiently committed to low taxes and small government," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Mr. Specter fingered Club For Growth as the key factor behind his decision, saying he would have lost the Republican primary to a Club-backed rival. His decision has prompted some Republicans to turn on the organization, saying it backs those who are so conservative that they then lose to Democrats."
• "Despite moves by Senate Republicans to downplay expectations of a battle royal over the next Supreme Court nominee, conservative judicial activists are increasing pressure on their Congressional allies to oppose a liberal jurist," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Though it's unclear just how soon President Barack Obama will name Justice David Souter's replacement, groups such as the Third Branch Conference, the Judicial Confirmation Network and the Committee for Justice are mapping out their strategy to rally Senate Republicans' appetite for pushback."
• "Union groups are targeting one of their close allies in Congress over a controversial proposal to tax employee healthcare benefits," The Hill reports. "In a coordinated campaign using radio advertising, mail and other pressure mechanisms, three top unions are urging Oregonians to voice their displeasure to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), whose proposal may be stalled in the Senate."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The 60-day review period for the Obama administration's new restrictions on lobbying federal agencies for stimulus funds ends Tuesday, but already there is concern that the White House will not address lobbyists' concerns that the rules are discriminatory," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Six health care groups that pledged to cut the growth rate in health care spending restated their commitment Friday after some of their leaders suggested this week that the deal had been misinterpreted," Politico reports. "The statement followed news reports detailing doubts raised this week by the American Hospital Association and the Advanced Medical Technology Association about the agreement to trim $2 trillion from health care spending over the next decade."
• "It may be surprising that company executives are pushing Congress to pass a version of President Obama's plan for combating global warming," the Los Angeles Times reports. "After all, Obama wants to slap hefty fees on facilities like [electric utility] Alcoa's that pump millions of tons of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the air. Those fees could raise costs for the company and leave it vulnerable to foreign competitors. But a growing number of coal users have come to believe that, with the right tweaks, Obama's plan would not only help the environment but boost their profits."
• "Last week, hundreds of nurses rallied on Capitol Hill, carrying signs and calling for health care reform legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The California Nurses Association-National Nurses Organizing Committee and other nursing unions want lawmakers to pass legislation that would bring all Americans into a single-payer government system."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Business and environmental groups are flooding the airwaves with advertisements targeting a dozen or so Democrats whose votes are seen as crucial on a controversial climate bill," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The outreach is intensifying as House Democratic leaders are gaining confidence that they have the votes needed to move the bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee as early as next week."
• "A top pharmaceutical company executive Thursday came out hard against any public healthcare plan, saying it would stifle innovation and be a 'slippery slope' to government-run care," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "'There is simply no example, worldwide, of a robust private health insurance market co-existing with a government plan that's open to all,' Eli Lilly President and CEO John Lechleiter said at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The high-tech industry, disturbed by President Obama's proposal to raise taxes on U.S. companies operating overseas, is being courted by the Republican Party while ramping up its own opposition strategy," The Hill reports. "The president has embraced technology-- from the use of his BlackBerry to his administration's policy agenda -- and that has won favor from tech companies. But now Obama has proposed a change to 'deferral,' which would allow the government to tax the overseas revenue of U.S. companies. That could mean billions in increased taxes for tech companies, many of which do more than half their business abroad."
• "A rise in issue advertising, the so-called 'permanent presidential campaign' and early primary elections could combine to drive 2009 political advertising to 'well over $1 billion this year,' according to Evan Tracey, founder and president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group," TVNewsday reports. "The administration's tough rules requiring public officials to wait at least two years before entering the ranks of lobbyists has restricted traditional lobbying avenues, he said. 'This forces advocacy groups to go outside the Beltway' and do more advertising."
• "With climate change legislation heating up, liberal advocates are taking aim at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been skeptical of recent legislative moves to deal with global warming," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "A petition organized by MoveOn.org that asks the chamber to stop lobbying against" Obama's "clean-energy bill has already garnered the names of more than 10,000 small-business men and women, 650 of whom are also chamber members."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The drug industry, already the biggest-spending lobby in Washington, is placing an even bigger bet on the influence game," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Potential windfalls and pitfalls in the expected overhaul of the health-care system have energized drug companies, which spent $47.4 million on lobbying in the first three months of 2009. That is up 36% from the first quarter of 2008, according to company disclosure reports filed with Congress and analyzed by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics."
• "A breakaway group of homebuilders is mounting its own lobbying campaign -- and working around the powerful National Association of Home Builders -- to secure passage of a tax provision that would help its members write off billions of dollars in losses," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The new entity, the Homes for America Alliance, includes about 75 big and small builders."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Several major defense contractors reduced their lobbying expenditures in the first quarter of 2009, even as the companies are quietly trying to reverse President Barack Obama's proposal to slash the budget for several high-profile military aircraft," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Utilities, steelmakers and oil industry lobbyists have tried to ease the pain of" Obama's "push to curb global warming, and they've gotten an early return on the millions of dollars they've spent influencing Congress," AP reports. "Lawmakers determined to get a deal on climate change are going along with valuable concessions to polluters."
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has weighed in with the White House against lobbying restrictions placed on the stimulus package, arguing the rules could limit its members' First Amendment rights," The Hill reports. "Chamber General Counsel Steven Law laid out two points of concern the business group has with the restrictions, which forbid lobbyists from talking or holding meetings with government officials to discuss specific stimulus projects. Lobbyists instead must submit their views in writing."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "As President Obama ends his 100-day honeymoon and begins his first term in earnest, two things are clear downtown: The 111th Congressional agenda is truly as ambitious as the most optimistic lobbyists had expected and the recession is having a real impact on K Street's hiring practices," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "While Washington isn't facing massive layoffs, the influence business hasn't been trying to woo politically-connected aides with the massive signing bonuses and compensation packages it would have offered in a more upbeat economy."
• "It still may seem like the winter of discontent for Republicans looking for lobbying slots, but the job chill for many K Street GOPers has begun to thaw," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Republicans might not command the top salaries they did three years ago, but that doesn't mean their dream jobs are out of reach."
• Obama "will announce an initiative Monday that the administration says will reduce national healthcare spending by $2 trillion over 10 years," The Hill reports. "A coalition of six interest groups representing healthcare companies and a labor union are behind the plan. Their chief executives will meet with the president Monday to present him with a written commitment to cut the rate of growth in healthcare spending by 1.5 percentage points each year for 10 years."
• "Duke Energy is bailing on its membership in the National Association of Manufacturers, in part because of disagreements with the lobbying group's stance on climate change policy," Politico reports. "Duke, one of the largest utilities in the country, supports passing legislation that caps greenhouse gas emissions. The company is a founding member of United States Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of business and environmental groups advocating for a cap-and-trade system."
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "With Justice David Souter set to step down from the Supreme Court, lobbying groups are revving up their research and advocacy efforts in a battle that could cost a million dollars or more before a justice is confirmed," The Hill reports. "The White House said this week that the nomination process is on a "tight timeline," and that President Obama would like to see a new justice installed on the court by October."
• "The White House's top ethics cop said on Tuesday that 'there is a process' in place for enforcing the new lobbying rules on the books since President Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "'We have had extensive conversations with both the groups that agree with the rules and disagree with the rules,' White House special counsel Norman Eisen said Tuesday at George Washington University. 'We're also in regular conversation with the agencies.'"
• "During the 2008 campaign cycle, a political action committee set up by Rep. Paul Gillmor spent nearly $6,000 on seemingly personal outlays: fast-food, doughnuts, bar tabs and golfing," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The spending was highly unusual. The Ohio Republican was dead. Such free spending on behalf of federal lawmakers who are retired, defeated -- or, in this case, deceased -- is legal, according to the Federal Election Commission, and becoming increasingly common."
• "Online gambling advocates are upping their ante inside the Beltway, adding new hired guns and rethinking their Capitol Hill strategy as Congress gets ready to take up legislation that would reverse the ban on online gaming," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is expected to introduce legislation as early as today aimed at legalizing online gambling."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "An anonymous organization backing the card-check bill is using tags on Twitter to con opponents of the legislation into signing a petition supporting it," The Hill reports. "The group, operating in apparent association with a primitive website called TheTruthAboutEFCA.org, links to a pro-Employee Free Choice Act petition in its Twitter feed, run under the name EFCANow. But in doing so, the EFCANow Twitter feed broadened its reach well beyond the 2,274 followers it has on the popular micro-blogging site."
• "Retailers and credit card companies are facing off over interchange fees as merchants try to add language to a Senate bill that limits the ability of banks to raise interest rates," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The Merchants Payments Coalition has long lobbied against the fees, which are about 2 percent of each purchase and are charged to merchants each time a customer uses a credit or debit card."
• "From car companies to big retailers, firms looking for shelter in the recession are swarming around a promising opportunity: a multibillion emergency spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," AP reports. "Whenever such a must-pass bill comes along, it becomes a magnet for interest groups and industries looking to use its momentum for their own purposes. Lawmakers get in on the act too, using the bill as a shortcut to accomplish their goals."
• "A cybersecurity adviser in the White House would provide the coordinated and consistent approach industry needs to create and develop technology for the federal government, officials at the technology industry group TechAmerica said today," Federal Computer Week reports. "The group supports provisions in the Information and Communication Enhancement bill introduced by Sen. Thomas Carper (D-Del.), including naming a White House cybersecurity adviser."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A growing number of industries are lobbying for free pollution permits under legislation capping greenhouse-gas emissions, in a potential threat to the funding for President Obama's proposed middle-class tax cut," the Wall Street Journal reports. "A range of industries, including electric utilities, auto makers, and oil and natural gas refineries, are making their case to lawmakers ahead of a vote on proposed climate legislation expected this week by the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment."
• Obama "says lobbyists won't run his administration, but he picked an antitobacco lobbyist with ties to the pharmaceutical industry as the No. 2 official at the Department of Health and Human Services," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The nomination of William Corr -- former executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, where he was a registered lobbyist until September -- highlights the murkiness of Mr. Obama's antilobbyist policy."
• "Less than a week after the House passed an expansion of federal hate crime laws, gay rights activists are upping the pressure on lawmakers to enact the first of several pro-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender bills," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "To press the point, the Human Rights Campaign is blanketing Capitol Hill on Monday and Tuesday with a 'Clergy Call for Justice and Equality,' bringing in more than 300 clergy from all 50 states to lobby on LGBT issues."
• "For going on two weeks, the Washington professionals who represent the nation's 67,000 pork producers have been in a mad dash to, as President Obama once said, put lipstick on this pig," the Washington Post reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Farm-state lawmakers added their voices to those looking to protect the pork industry from bad press about the swine flu," The Hill reports. "And the first offensive they launched was against their own colleagues. On Wednesday morning the House Agriculture Committee majority staff sent an e-mail out to all Democratic press secretaries asking them to stop referring to the Mexican-born flu as the 'swine flu' and imploring them to stop using pig graphics on their webpages."
• "Although the Air Force chief and Lockheed are staying out of the public brawling," Defense Secretary Robert Gates' "decision to cap new purchases of F-22s at 187 sparked a wave of protest from retired generals, aerospace industry advocates, unions and interested members of Congress, who have rallied to defend the fifth-generation fighter jet -- on both economic and national security grounds," Politico reports.
• "A federal court in Florida is scheduled to begin a criminal trial next month featuring an intriguing cast of characters, with multiple links to the PMA Group and other entities in the orbit of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) that are under investigation by the FBI," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Neither Murtha nor PMA is mentioned in the Florida case."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) "didn't outright oppose" former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, "a Democrat whose duties will include overhauling the country's healthcare system and overseeing the response to swine flu," McClatchy reports. "But the Alaska governor also said nothing while her supporters on Team Sarah, a Web site affiliated with an anti-abortion group, worked the phones in an effort to derail Sebelius' nomination because she favors abortion rights. The Senate confirmed Sebelius anyway, 65-31."
• "It's hard for competitors to speak with one voice when their industry faces extinction. And that's exactly what competing constituencies within the private student loan industry are discovering as they scramble to preserve the way they do business," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The industry is responding to the president's proposal in his 2010 budget to switch the federal student loan system entirely to the government's direct student loan program, eliminating the 'middlemen' of banks and lenders that critics say are inefficient and wasteful."
• "Pork producers are pushing back against suggestions from public interest groups that the flu virus popping up across the world may have been caused by factory farms in Mexico," The Hill reports. "If the farms, based in the Mexican province of Veracruz, are determined to be the source of the swine flu, watchdogs expect to argue for increased regulation of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, to lawmakers on Capitol Hill."
• "Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to switch political parties and run for re-election as a Democrat in 2010 reverberated down K Street on Tuesday as lobbyists braced for a dramatically new environment around some of the year's most heavily lobbied issues," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Specter's switch has implications across a broad swath of policy areas as the Obama administration tees up massive governmental reforms on health care, climate change, labor and economic policy."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Lobbyists are working around a White House order banning them from seeking details about the $787 billion economic-stimulus plan by instead sending company executives, lawyers or consultants to meet with federal officials in the hope of securing a share of the money," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• "Labor unions are mobilizing against the pending U.S.-Panama trade agreement forcefully, more so than they did two years ago when a Republican president was pushing a more commercially significant deal with Peru," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is drafting a letter to lawmakers outlining concerns with the proposed Panama deal, a union official said. That would mark a deliberate and significant shift from the 2007 Peru vote, when many trade-watchers credited successful passage in part to the lack of clear opposition from the powerful union."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Fifty of the nation's largest electric utilities amped up spending on lobbyists by 30% late last year to influence the debate in Congress just underway on one of the biggest issues facing lawmakers: climate change," USA Today reports. "From Duke Energy, with 4 million customers, to American Electric Power (AEP), which sells energy in 11 states, the companies spent a total $51 million in the last six months of 2008, $12 million more than the same period in 2007, a USA TODAY review of lobbying reports shows."
• "So powerful was Representative John P. Murtha at one time that he used to put up billboards in his Western Pennsylvania district declaring that 'the P is for Power,'" the New York Times reports. "Now, however, a string of federal criminal investigations of contractors or lobbyists close to Mr. Murtha, the top Democrat on the defense appropriations subcommittee, are threatening to undermine his backroom clout...In a private meeting with the chairman of the House appropriations committee, Mr. Murtha, the unofficial leader of the 'old bulls' who oversee the subcommittees, was forced to accept a series of new restrictions on his authority to grant earmarks, Democratic aides briefed on the meeting said."
• "According to an extensive report released by the Federal Election Commission today, political action committees spent $135.2 million on independent expenditures in the last election cycle in an attempt either to seat the congressional candidates and presidential hopefuls that would best promote their agenda or to defeat those they thought would not," OpenSecrets.org reports. "That's a 250 percent increase over their independent expenditures in the 2006 election cycle and a 100 percent increase over what they spent to influence elections in the last presidential election cycle in 2004."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The United Arab Emirates is wise to the ways of Washington," AP reports. "With Capitol Hill soon to review a deal to send American nuclear power technology to the U.A.E., the oil-rich nation has enlisted a pair of heavyweight lobbying firms to convince lawmakers the agreement won't be a boost to neighboring Iran's pursuit of atomic weapons."
• "An environmental group is increasing the pressure to pass a sweeping environmental measure by taking out ads in the home districts of Republicans who oppose the bill," Politico reports. "The League of Conservation Voters will advertise in the Michigan district of Republican Rep. Mike Rogers starting Friday, officials at the group said. It will be the second in a series of ads accusing members who oppose the legislation of lacking faith in America."
• "Representatives from the American League of Lobbyists, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, and the American Civil Liberties Union are set to meet with White House ethics adviser Norm Eisen on Friday," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The groups recently sent a letter to White House Counsel Gregory Craig expressing frustration at the Obama administration's recently minted lobbying restrictions on stimulus funds."
• "Black lawmakers are roiled over the Obama administration's move to potentially cap billions of dollars in compensation owed to black farmers, saying the position contradicts legislation the president championed as an Illinois senator," The Hill reports. "In a meeting Wednesday, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) vented frustration at recent court filings by the Justice Department that could severely limit compensation owed to black farmers discriminated against in the past by the Department of Agriculture (USDA)."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A region of Somalia that is home to many of the pirates who have made national news terrorizing area waters is seeking help from K Street to calm the troubled seas," The Hill reports. "The Puntland State of Somalia, an autonomous region in northeastern Somalia formed in 1998, has hired a lobbying firm in Washington, hoping to make the case that lawmakers on Capitol Hill should send money their way to combat piracy and reduce terrorism in the chaotic Gulf of Aden region."
• "Despite faltering support for a bill that would make it easier for unions to organize, backers of the Employee Free Choice Act are continuing to push key Senators to move forward on the legislation," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "After a two-week recess during which big business and unions blanketed lawmakers' districts with anti- and pro-'card check' rallies, advertisements and phone calls, both sides are soldiering on in what has become a multiyear, multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign."
• "Big industry trade groups cut their lobbying spending during the first three months of 2009, while large labor unions ramped up expenditures to influence Congress and the Obama administration," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Disclosure statements made public Tuesday showed a 31% slide to $62.5 million in spending on lobbying activities by 20 leading business trade associations, compared with $90 million in the previous three months at the end of 2008. The largest labor unions increased lobbying spending by 15% to $5.3 million in the same period, according to the disclosure reports."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Two reform-minded Democrats will introduce a bill" today "to address the growing controversy around the corruptive influence of earmarks and campaign donations from the companies that receive them," The Hill reports. Reps. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., and Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., "who are in their second terms, are co-sponsoring a measure that would prevent lawmakers from taking campaign contributions from entities for which they have requested earmarks, as well as the entities' lobbyists and employees."
• "Environmental groups are storming the airwaves this week, taking out significant ad buys in key states to push climate change legislation and increased investment in renewable energy, even as the issues face a tough fight in the Senate," Politico reports. "The ads come before any significant global warming legislation has been formally introduced in Congress."
• "The economic downturn means lobby shops and clients alike are scrutinizing their books and watching their bottom lines, according to an analysis of termination reports filed with the Secretary of the Senate," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "According to records filed by Tuesday morning, firms filed roughly 1,500 termination contacts with the Senate through March 31, ending lobbying campaigns that ranged from pro bono work to sophisticated in-house lobbying blitzes costing thousands of dollars per day."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "In the aftermath of hypocrisy alarms that sounded early in his administration over personnel picks that seemed contrary to his vow to halt the 'revolving door,' President Barack Obama is mostly eschewing the reservoir of Washington, D.C., veterans on K Street that served as a deep pool of talent for recent presidents," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "In a request submitted last month and made public Monday, a campaign official for House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Peter Visclosky, D-Ind., asked the FEC if the lawmaker can use contributions to his re-election campaign to defray expenses incurred as a result of the PMA probe," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Under that law, the FEC evaluates whether legal fees qualify as 'personal use' on a case-by-case basis."
• "The Poker Players Alliance is betting $3 million that it can overturn an Internet gambling ban or at least carve out an exemption that would legalize and regulate online poker," AP reports. "The alliance, chaired by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, New York Republican, says it plans to spend that much on lobbying in this session of Congress."
• "Environmental and labor groups are running aggressive ad campaigns aimed at influencing Rust Belt and other skeptical Democrats on climate change -- the subject of high-profile marathon House hearings that start today," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The potential creation of green jobs to replace those lost in traditional manufacturing industries is the central tenet of the ads -- many of which began running last week when lawmakers were home for recess -- to assuage concerns that placing caps on greenhouse gas emissions could further harm areas hit hard by the recession."
• "Proponents call it a public policy 'win-win': Give drivers money to replace old cars with newer, more efficient ones and you boost struggling auto companies and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions," The Hill reports. "But questions over whether car sales or the environment is the higher priority have split the domestic auto industry and labor unions from environmental advocates, dividing Democrats and putting the brakes on a federal 'cash for clunkers' program."
• "Automakers and financial services firms that received federal bailout funds are continuing to spend large amounts of money to influence Congress, although less than in a comparable period in 2008, according to recently filed Senate lobbying disclosure reports," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Transportation, health care and high-tech firms aren't the only special interests angling for the ear of President Barack Obama since he replaced George W. Bush. Turnover at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. also means some foreign governments are seizing the opportunity to try to ingratiate themselves to the executive branch," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Only a few years ago, Quinn Gillespie and Associates was the lights, camera, action darling of K Street. Big names. Big money. Big timing," Politico reports. "But following any good buzz, there's always the hangover. And for Quinn Gillespie, 2008 was a take-two-of-these-and-call-me-in-the morning kind of year."
• "After weeks of negotiations, banks and credit unions are continuing to drag their heels, at least publicly, on committing to compromise language in a bill that would give bankruptcy judges the power to modify mortgages," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "The Poker Players Alliance is betting $3 million that it can overturn an Internet gambling ban, or at least carve out an exemption that would legalize and regulate online poker," AP reports. "The alliance, chaired by former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., says it plans to spend that much on lobbying in this session of Congress. The group gets its money from the Interactive Gaming Council, a Vancouver, British Columbia-based trade association for online casinos, as well as from its poker player members."
• "Two of the nation's most influential health care adversaries are uniting to promote key portions of health care reform but leave unaddressed the debate's most controversial element: the creation of a public insurance plan," Politico reports. "The consumer group Families USA and the trade association Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America are launching a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to push the package of reforms, which includes expanding Medicaid."
• "House lawmakers reported a decline in political fund raising in the first three months of the midterm-election cycle, driven largely by a drop in donations to Republicans, according to new finance reports," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The reports, filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, are the latest evidence that individuals and corporate political-action committees are dialing back on political contributions during the recession."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Three senior House Democrats revealed sharp declines in donations for the first quarter of 2009 after the shuttering of" PMA Group, "a lobbying firm that in previous election cycles helped steer millions of dollars in donations to their political committees from its lobbyists and earmark-seeking clients," the Washington Post reports. "Reps. John P. Murtha (Pa.), Peter J. Visclosky (Ind.) and James P. Moran Jr. (Va.) have taken in 58 percent less in combined campaign contributions this year compared with the first quarter of 2007, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission."
• "When a group of Jewish liberals formed a lobbying and fundraising group called J Street a year ago, they had modest hopes of raising $50,000 for a handful of congressional candidates," the Washington Post reports. "Instead, the group's political arm ended up funneling nearly $600,000 to several dozen Democrats and a handful of Republicans in 2008, making it Washington's leading pro-Israel PAC, according to Federal Election Commission expenditure records."
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Amid signs that Cuban purchases of U.S. agricultural products continue to grow, congressional, farm and trade leaders on Cuba say President Obama's decision Monday to make it easier for Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba and send remittances should be followed by policy changes making it easier for farmers and agribusiness executives to travel to Cuba to sell products and for Cubans to buy them," CongressDailyPM (subscription) reports.
• "Several Republican lawmakers are expected at 750 Boston Tea Party-styled protests to mark the day federal taxes are due," The Hill reports. "House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is attending a party in Bakersfield, Calif., while House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will join protestors in Madison, Wis."
• "After a long silence on the unfolding federal probe of the PMA Group and its ties to senior Democrats, House Democratic leaders are cobbling together a defense to offer political cover to their rank and file," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has enlisted Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.) to consult with House Democrats on why they should continue to resist Republican demands for an ethics committee investigation into the matter."
• "The AFL-CIO and the union political federation Change to Win announced today they will back a common framework for comprehensive immigration reform, healing a major rift in the Democratic party on the issue and illustrating organized labor's increased clout under the Obama administration," CongressDailyPM (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "With deep pockets and an influential network of political allies, Big Tobacco for the past decade has been able to fend off most unwelcome actions in Washington," Politico reports. "But the week before Congress left town for spring break sent an unmistakable message: Those days are over. In that week, the federal excise tax on a pack of cigarettes jumped 62 cents, and the House voted overwhelmingly to authorize the Food and Drug Administration to regulate the tobacco industry."
• "In America, there are always people to sue or contracts to negotiate, right? Apparently there aren't enough," AP reports. "The recession is taking a steep toll on the legal profession, an industry long seen as immune from the ups and downs of the economy. Trying to weather the financial crisis, the nation's largest law firms are laying off attorneys and delaying the hiring of others."
• "An unusual pairing of environmentalists and union members launched two multimillion-dollar ad campaigns this week aimed at tying climate legislation to economic recovery and building support for a carbon cap," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The first campaign, a $3 million-plus effort funded by the Environmental Defense Action Fund, the United Steelworkers and the Blue Green Alliance, began running in eight states and the District of Columbia on Sunday, featuring unemployed steelworkers and the tagline: 'I can sum up a carbon cap in one four-letter word: jobs.'"
• "Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D), who used healthcare reform as a signature issue during his 2004 presidential campaign, is using a call for universal coverage to raise his profile once again," The Hill reports. "Dean left his position as chairman of the Democratic National Committee in January after four years at the helm. Now, Dean is using Democracy For America -- the organizing group that grew out of Dean's presidential campaign -- to build a 50-state strategy advocating for public healthcare."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The Turkish government has signed another prominent former congressional leader to join its K Street team," The Hill reports. "Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and others at his firm, Dickstein Shapiro, are working on a $35,000-per-month contract for Turkey, according to records on file with the Justice Department."
• "Dennis Fitzgibbons, former top aide to the House Energy and Commerce Committee under then-Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), is headed back to K Street," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Fitzgibbons has joined solar energy company First Solar as vice president for federal affairs."
• "The private student lending industry and its allies in Congress are maneuvering to thwart a plan by President Obama to end a subsidized loan program and redirect billions of dollars in bank profits to scholarships for needy students," the New York Times reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "White House ethics adviser Norm Eisen is expected to meet with American League of Lobbyists representatives and others frustrated by the Obama administration's recently minted lobbying restrictions on stimulus funds," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Eisen returned ALL President David Wenhold's calls on Wednesday, saying he would be open to meeting, according to Wenhold."
• "Lobbying, scorned during the 2008 campaign, is an occupation of choice among former members of Congress looking for jobs," Bloomberg News reports. "About one-quarter of the House and Senate members who retired or lost elections last year have found new jobs with lobbying firms, where business is booming as" President Obama "pushes for multitrillion-dollar changes in federal banking, health care, energy and military procurement policies."
• "Financial firms seeking big bucks and favorable terms from Congress and the White House are deploying Capitol Hill aides turned lobbyists to win favorable treatment from the congressional lawmakers who are managing various aspects of the financial recovery--overseeing or appropriating nearly $3 trillion in spending and lending," Mother Jones reports.
• On the campaign trail, President Obama promised to increase the transparency of government. Among the pledges he made was to create a centralized database on lobbying," NationalJournal.com reports. "The Sunlight Foundation has proposed something similar, saying the executive branch should create and administer a website aggregating disclosures of meetings between government officials and lobbyists."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "The potentially lucrative aftershocks of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' call for a broad overhaul in military spending quickly spilled onto K Street on Tuesday, where lobbyists mobilized to respond to the slew of cuts made to some of Congress' most favored programs," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Gary Locke is new to the Commerce Department but already known to corporate America, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help re-elect him as Washington's governor," AP reports. "His donors included Microsoft and Boeing, two home-state companies that Locke tried hard to please and whose issues he will almost certainly encounter as a Cabinet secretary."
• "A new ad from organized labor targets Wall Street in calling on Congress to move the controversial card-check bill," The Hill reports. "American Rights at Work (ARAW), a labor advocacy group affiliated with several unions, plans a nationwide buy for the ad to play on cable television across the country. It will begin during the two-week congressional recess now under way."
• "Some bloggers are using the social media tactics that President Obama has long promoted against him as they protest his proposed rule to overturn conscience protections for health care workers who refuse to participate in controversial medical procedures," Nextgov reports. "Obama's proposed regulation would rescind a Bush administration rule that prohibits federal funds from going to health care providers that force workers to deliver services they find religiously or morally objectionable, including abortion and sterilization."
• "A coalition of liberal groups are waging a broad national campaign to build pressure on conservative Democrats and centrist Republicans who may not support President Obama's vision for healthcare reform," The Hill reports. "The coalition, Health Care for America Now (HCAN), which includes groups such as ACORN, the AFL-CIO, Campaign for America's Future and MoveOn.org, has not begun to target individual lawmakers but they are making a loud call for a potentially controversial element of Obama's reform plan."
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Political fund raising has suffered a rare decline since Election Day as corporate political-action committees have trimmed campaign donations amid an economic slump," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Contributions from company PACs fell 6% to $8.2 million in the first two months of the year, compared with the same period in 2007, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the most recently available fund-raising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission."
• "Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) on Monday became the first Senate Democrat to oppose the card-check bill heavily backed by unions," The Hill reports. "In a statement, Lincoln pledged to vote against legislation formally known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would allow workers to organize into unions more easily. She said she could not vote for the bill in its current form."
• "Retailers and merchants upped the ante last week in their long-standing fight against credit card interchange fees, barnstorming the House and Senate financial committees long considered the home turf of their foes," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Anti-abortion activists and other conservatives are not happy with Republican senators for not taking a tough line against Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius," The Hill reports. "Sebelius, the Democratic governor of Kansas, made her Capitol Hill debut last week at two confirmation hearings. Anti-abortion groups have been campaigning against her nomination to the Cabinet based on her record in favor of abortion rights."
• "Kathryn Kolbert, a longtime advocate for abortion rights and other liberal causes, has resigned as president of People for the American Way," the Legal Times reports. "Kolbert, whom the organization hired a year ago to succeed longtime president Ralph Neas, says she and the organization's board wanted to go in different directions. Her sudden departure also comes amid a strained financial situation for the group, perhaps best known for its high-profile campaigns against conservative nominees to the Supreme Court."
• "A lobbyist was sentenced Friday to three years probation for destroying evidence about her ties with former Pennsylvania congressman Curt Weldon, who is under FBI investigation," AP reports.
• "Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), who was among the top recipients of campaign contributions from the PMA Group and its former clients, is apparently steering clear of making any earmark requests this year in connection to the now-defunct lobbying firm," The Hill reports. "Visclosky, who sits on the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee, released on his office's website his project requests for the 2010 budget. His requests do not include any clients of PMA, according to a review by The Hill."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Labor leaders are giving President Barack Obama a pass -- for now -- on his failure to put 'card check' legislation at the top of his to-do list, but they are preparing to demand immediate action if Democrat Al Franken is seated as Minnesota's Senator," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "Call it one of the hardest lobbying jobs in town: Seven banks have formed a coalition to argue that Congress should not go overboard in regulating the derivatives market following the downfall of American International Group," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "That's right: Big banks are lobbying lawmakers not to severely regulate the over-the-counter market where insurancelike contracts called credit default swaps are used to mitigate risk."
• "Payday lenders are girding for a million-dollar lobbying campaign this year to beat back legislation on Capitol Hill that would put federal restrictions on the industry for the first time," The Hill reports. "While much of the attention in Congress since last fall has been focused on the broader financial crisis and bailing out some of the nation's largest banks, payday lenders are raising money and hiring lobbyists to fight new limits that will come up for the first time this year at a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on Thursday."
• "The main proponent of a bill to regulate Internet gambling will introduce his legislation as a standalone bill and will not seek to add it to must-pass legislation," The Hill reports. "The decision by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, means it will be much more difficult for his measure to emerge from Congress."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Members of the U.S. financial industry and the National Rifle Association, two of the most influential lobbying forces on Capitol Hill, are trying to head off legislation in Congress that some say is needed to fight Mexican drug cartels and the threats they pose across the U.S. border," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "In separate efforts, the groups are building support on the Hill to oppose what they contend is unnecessary legislation to help prevent the drug cartels from obtaining illicit cash and weapons."
• "The health reform debate may be focused in Washington, D.C. -- but it's an obscure group in Seattle, with a top political operative in Vermont, that is shaping how Democrats try to win the fight," Politico reports. "Herndon Alliance is the most influential group in the health arena that the public has never heard of. Its work has flowed through the three major Democratic presidential campaigns and built a following among senior administration officials who receive its daily e-mail analysis of news clips."
• "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is under increasing pressure from conservative Democrats to provide political cover from GOP calls for an investigation into PMA Group, a now-defunct defense lobby under firm scrutiny for questionable campaign donations and earmarks," The Hill reports. "Members of the conservative Blue Dog and centrist New Democrat coalitions are calling on Pelosi to fulfill her promise to set a new standard for congressional ethics by either shaking the ethics committee into action on the PMA controversy or providing an alternative resolution to the one offered repeatedly by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)."
• "America's Health Insurance Plans has approached physicians' groups in its effort to drum up congressional support to pressure the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to change payment rates it is poised to set for next year and that AHIP says will lead to higher premiums and reduced benefits for seniors," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Republicans are still trying to kill it," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Democrats are still hoping to revive it. And forces on both sides of the debate over controversial union organizing legislation are still pressing ahead with multimillion dollar lobbying campaigns."
• "When Democrats acted last month to give the District of Columbia long-denied voting rights in Congress, the powerful gun lobby saw a target too good not to take a shot at," AP reports. "The result showed the strong sway the NRA has even over a Congress dominated by liberal Democrats who mostly disagree with the organization's positions. The Senate voted overwhelmingly to add the gun-rights proposal. House Democratic leaders, fearing a tough vote on the issue, swiftly scrapped plans to consider the D.C. voting legislation."
• "After two years of campaign rhetoric and months of hearings, Congress is set this week to begin testing whether it can turn the push for renewable energy sought by President Obama into reality," the Washington Times reports. "But the result is likely to fall short of Mr. Obama's goals and, ironically, preserve the primacy of the most abundant and dirtiest fossil fuel: coal."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Main Street's gloom has been K Street's boon," the Washington Post reports. "The $787 billion stimulus package -- along with an ambitious new federal budget, bank bailouts and the beginning of a regulatory overhaul -- has succeeded in stimulating the economy along Washington's avenue of influence."
• "The National Republican Congressional Committee -- the entity charged with pushing the House GOP back into the majority -- is reaching out to former Capitol Hill staffers and veteran campaign consultants to craft its 2010 political strategy and rally the Republican troops on K Street," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "For most of the last three decades, the lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti might have been mistaken for an owner of the Alpine, a wood-paneled Italian restaurant across the Potomac River from Washington where he routinely presided over boisterous tables of lawmakers and their staff members," the New York Times reports. "Now, however, Mr. Magliocchetti's generosity is coming to an abrupt halt: his firm, the PMA Group, is closing its doors next week, after reports that federal prosecutors had recently raided his office and his home."
Roundup from news sources and Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Organized labor and trade groups are promising that it will be business as usual after Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-Pa.) surprise announcement this week that he will not cast the deciding vote to cut off debate on controversial 'card check" legislation,'" Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "A new business trade group, Business Forward, run by Democrats close to President Obama may offer K Street an avenue into a White House extremely wary of lobbyists," The Hill reports. "Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to and close friend of Obama; Michael Strautmanis, Jarrett's chief of staff; and Tina Tchen, the White House public liaison director, met with more than 40 executives and lobbyists from several Fortune 500 companies at a reception last Friday at the Hay-Adams Hotel."
• "Two months have passed since the Treasury Department said it would unveil lobbying rules for firms receiving federal bailout money, yet the department has not issued actual regulations," The Hill reports. "Washington lobbyists and campaign finance watchdogs say they continue to ask the department for clarification but haven't heard anything specific."
• "As President Obama pitched his budget plans to Senate Democrats Wednesday, progressive groups, including a Democratic National Committee affiliate linked to the president, stepped up pressure on moderate Democrats to back the plan," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Organizing for America, a DNC project that aims to drum up grassroots support for Obama's policies by tapping the campaign's extensive grassroots network, sent e-mails to supporters around the country asking them to contact lawmakers and ask where they stand on Obama's plan."
• "After months of meetings, a diverse collection of health care groups plans to issue recommendations on Monday for Congress as lawmakers work on legislation revamping the U.S. health care system," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The proposal is consistent with plans outlined by" Obama "and key congressional Democrats, said three people familiar with the report, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report isn't yet public."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Representatives from the insurance industry drew a line in the sand Tuesday on the Obama administration's proposed healthcare plan, after months of meetings and saying all the right things about finding common ground on reform," The Hill reports. "The two trade associations that represent health insurance companies declared in no uncertain terms their opposition to creating a new, government-run health benefits program, in a letter delivered to the top Democratic and Republican senators on the Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committees Tuesday."
• "Consumer groups want the Commerce Department to put open-access conditions on the $7 billion in economic stimulus funds for building new broadband networks," Federal Computer Week reports. "The consumer groups want the department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to require that any broadband networks funded by the stimulus law be open to all traffic. However, carriers say such provisions are counterproductive and hurt the goal of building networks quickly."
• "Union and business group officials on Tuesday warned a House panel against approving a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gases that could further undermine the international competitiveness of the recession-damaged manufacturing sector in the U.S.," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports.
• "Beer, wine and distilled spirits wholesalers are planning a counteroffensive to a White House budget proposal they claim may retroactively tax their businesses $100 billion or more," Roll Call (subscription) reports. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America "and other foes of the administration's budget are dusting off the LIFO Coalition to help beat back "Obama's "proposed repeal of 'last in, first out' accounting."
• "Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act is a major blow to unions but a gift for President Barack Obama and centrist Democrats, who get a reprieve from having to take sides in a death match between Big Labor and Big Business," Politico reports. "Specter announced Tuesday that he would oppose cloture and oppose passage of EFCA, or "card check," as its opponents call it."
• "Efforts by President Obama and Democratic lawmakers to end tax breaks for 'corporations that ship jobs overseas' are being squeezed by major U.S. multinationals, and a senior Democratic tax-writer said the issue might have to wait for a broader tax reform discussion," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "About 200 companies and trade associations wrote to congressional leaders Tuesday urging them to oppose a move to end the current tax regime where companies are able to indefinitely defer tax on foreign earnings until the money is brought back to the United States."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Irate over the demonization of their profession, lobbyists say they will push back against a new White House directive aimed at limiting lobbyists' influence on how the government doles out $787 billion in stimulus funds," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The Obama administration memo released Friday says lobbyists cannot meet or speak with executive branch officials regarding specific stimulus projects or applications."
• "The eight largest banks receiving government bailout funds cut back on their campaign contributions in February amid a public backlash toward Wall Street, but Bank of America doled out more than $150,000 to federal politicians," The Hill reports. "The bank's political action committee (PAC) gave the most money of the eight firm PACs in February, contributing to a range of campaign committees as well as to lawmakers' and other corporate PACs, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Bank of America has received $45 billion in federal bailout money."
• "The companies that announced an alternative to the union-backed Employee Free Choice Act over the weekend stepped into the middle of a firefight and became targets of both sides," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "Starbucks, Whole Foods and Costco announced last weekend they were forming the Committee for a Level Playing Field and, with the backing of Democratic operative Lanny Davis, would set out to promulgate six principles for labor-law reform that provided an alternative to EFCA."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "A potential compromise for the labor movement's No. 1 legislative priority this Congress is earning harsh reviews from a number of industry-affiliated groups that have lobbied against the bill," The Hill reports. "The compromise would allow workers to bypass secret ballot elections to form a union if 70 percent of them sign authorization cards stating their intention to organize. In the current version of the bill, workers could organize into a union if 50 percent of them sign cards."
• "Despite the fact that the firm will be closing its doors shortly, the PMA Group has filed several lawsuits against its clients in recent weeks for failure to pay a combined $150,000 in fees the firm believes it is owed, and more suits are apparently in the works," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "The FBI raided the PMA Group offices in November and is reportedly investigating whether some of the firm's campaign contributions were improper."
• "The business community is facing a tough choice: cozy up to a new coalition close to President Barack Obama that some fear could wind up working against their own interests or risk alienating the new White House," Politico reports. "It's a Sophie's Choice being forced by the creation of Business Forward, a new advocacy association backed by the White House and populated by Obama campaign veterans who are pushing issues that closely reflect the president's broad economic competitiveness agenda, including health care reform, school improvements and environmental protection."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "After a tumultuous year that included a short war with Russia, the small Caucasus nation of Georgia is spending big on lobbyists and public-relations consultants to shore up support in Washington," The Hill reports. "The country's roster of advocates includes top officials with Democratic and Republican connections. The firm, which was signed to a six-month, $300,000 contract, will provide media and public-relations consulting to enhance 'the reputation of the Republic of Georgia government,' according to the agreement."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Financial services lobbyists have moved into hyperdrive, engaging in a behind-the-scenes counterattack after lawmakers trained their eyes on all bonuses paid out by struggling banks," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "The Obama administration's threatened cuts in weapons systems and military hardware have defense contractors chugging Maalox and adjusting their business plans for a new era of slow-growing budgets," Politico reports. "But as they watch for exactly where" President Obama's "budget ax will fall, they also are exploring new areas of opportunity, guided by Defense Secretary Robert Gates' goal to shift spending away from massive weapons systems and toward the sorts of materials needed for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."
• There was lots of chatter yesterday over which lobbyists got language added to the federal stimulus bill to make sure that already-existing contracts for bonuses at companies receiving federal bailout money were honored. Turns out it wasn't a lobbyist. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., "told CNN Wednesday that he was responsible for the language. Dodd said that "administration officials pushed for the language to an amendment designed to limit bonuses and 'golden parachutes' at those companies."
• "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Wednesday got drawn further into the drama over Sen. Roland Burris' (D-Ill.) controversial appointment, as they found themselves in the uncomfortable position of giving information to the Senate Ethics Committee about the embattled Senator's questionable push to join the world's most exclusive club," Roll Call (subscription) reports.
• "A proposal to boost auto sales by offering government-funded discounts to consumers who trade in old cars for new, more efficient models got a boost Wednesday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi," D-Calif., the Wall Street Journal reports. "But the proposal, which also is supported by Detroit auto makers and the United Auto Workers, is coming under fire from some foreign auto makers critical of a provision limiting the vouchers to vehicles built in North America. That limitation would exclude some of the most fuel-efficient cars and trucks sold in the U.S., including the Prius from Toyota Motor Corp."
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday filed yet another resolution aimed at triggering a House ethics probe of the PMA Group, the defense lobbying firm under criminal investigation for allegedly providing improper campaign contributions," Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Flake's resolution, the fourth of its kind, is more narrowly focused than the previous three: It asks the ethics committee to examine the relationship between fiscal 2009 earmarks for PMA clients and campaign contributions from PMA CEO Paul Magliochetti and his relatives."
• "The battle over a bill that would ease union organizing is zeroing in on lawmakers in three states -- Pennsylvania, Arkansas and Colorado," the Wall Street Journal reports. "Business and labor are pressuring three key senators who are up for re-election in 2010, sparing little expense as they ratchet up television and radio ads, and recruit well-connected lobbyists."
• "Alliant Techsystems, a defense company with a relatively low profile, is preparing for growth even as the Pentagon works to cut what it spends on weapons systems," The Hill reports. "The Minnesota-based company, known as ATK, has increased its political giving and reached out to a number of offices on Capitol Hill to raise its profile in Congress and the administration."
From this morning's Earlybird:
Lobbying related stories of interest from the Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "Having campaigned on a promise that lobbyists won't run his White House, President Barack Obama is discovering that what may make for a good sound bite on the campaign trail can complicate governing," Politico reports. "As he strives to build an administration beyond his top Cabinet officers, Obama is finding that he has limited his pool of potential appointees because of a ban on individuals from agencies that they have lobbied within the past two years."
• Obama's "endorsement of climate legislation to clamp down on greenhouse gases has set off a lobbying rush in Congress and made the air thick with rival proposals," the Washington Post reports. "Coal companies, utilities, economists and environmentalists are vying to shape legislation that could rechannel hundreds of billions of dollars from one part of the economy to others."
• "Republicans on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said pro-Israel lobby groups did not spur their opposition to Charles Freeman," The Hill reports. "Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), a senior member of the House intelligence panel, also denied that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was involved in derailing Freeman's appointment to head the National Intelligence Council."
• "The new administration has rapidly changed the focus of technology lobbying in Washington, much to the advantage of Google and other Silicon Valley power-houses," National Journal (subscription) reports.
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
• "What's it like to be at Washington's political ground zero? Ask Dave Wenhold, who trudges to work with two bull's-eyes pinned to his back," AP reports. "He's a lobbyist and he earns part of his living fighting for special-interest earmarks, those prized pots of money that lobbyists vie for and critics decry."
• "Organized labor will ramp up its involvement in a recording industry-led effort to end the royalty exemption granted to AM and FM radio as stakeholders debate the issue today before the House Judiciary Committee," CongressDailyAM (subscription) reports. "The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Federation of Musicians have been on the front lines of the fight for some time, but groups representing service employees, teachers and others plan to back artists."
• "A coalition of 30 high-profile organizations, including the
insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies, unions and business, patient and
physician groups, tried to persuade House and Senate budget leaders
Monday to buck pay/go rules in the upcoming budget resolution when it
comes to universal health care," Congress DailyAM(subscription) reports.
• "Key Senate Democrats are wavering in their support of legislation that would give more power to labor unions, dealing a setback to labor's top priority as businesses warn of the damage the bill would cause," the Wall Street Journal reports. The Employee Free Choice Act is expected to be introduced in the Senate today.
From this morning's Earlybird:
From this morning's Earlybird:
Lobbying: Congressman Wants Inquiry Into PMA Group
• "Several former lobbyists are scattered throughout the Obama administration, despite the president's efforts to slow the revolving door," The Hill reports. The newspaper's review "of staff announcements for the White House and other departments in the administration found about two dozen people who have registered to lobby in the past, some as late as last year, according to lobbying disclosure records."
• "Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) called on Democratic leaders to open an ethics inquiry into the actions of PMA Group, a lobbying firm under federal investigation," The Hill reports.
• "The recent approval of a new device to treat knee injuries followed a lobbying campaign that overcame repeated rejections by scientists within the Food and Drug Administration, agency documents show," the Wall Street Journal reports.
• "Obama vowed Thursday to end a decades-long stalemate on overhauling the health care system, and he indicated for the first time that he was open to compromise on details of the proposal he put forth in the 2008 campaign," the New York Times reports. "At a White House forum on health care... he bluntly warned lobbyists and 'special interests' not to stand in the way of efforts to rein in costs and guarantee coverage for all Americans."
• "The House on Thursday passed a broad housing bill that includes a controversial provision allowing bankruptcy judges to shrink home mortgages," The Hill reports. "Banks lobbied heavily against the bill, which passed 234-191.... Liberal Democrats, though, were insistent that banks hadn't been doing enough on their own to prevent foreclosures."
Top lobbying stories from Earlybird, NationalJournal.com's daily news roundup:
Top lobbying stories from EarlyBird, NationalJournal.com's daily news roundup:
• "Firms receiving billions of dollars in government bailout money have continued to contribute large sums to political campaigns," The Hill reports. "The eight largest banks' political action committees (PACs) spent roughly $225,000, not including operating expenses, between Nov. 25 and the end of January, according to a review of year-end and February filings with the Federal Election Commission."
• "Will Citigroup's heavyweight lobbying team soon go the way of its counterparts at Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and American International Group?" Roll Call (subscription) reports. "Not according to the banking giant's chief lobbyist, Nicholas Calio, who says despite the recent cash infusions of government money, it's business as usual for his lobby team."
• "In the midst of a deepening economic recession, the Republican Party is turning a cold shoulder to one of its closest allies: business," the Politico reports. "When the Obama administration announced last week that it would come to the rescue of Citigroup, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) denounced the move as 'corporate welfare.'"
Top lobbying stories from EarlyBird, NationalJournal.com's daily news roundup:
• "Firing some of the first shots in the coming showdown over health care, a conservative group led by the former owner of the Hospital Corporation of America is beginning a multi-million dollar campaign" today "in opposition to government-run coverage," the Politico reports.
• "Around a dozen nonprofit groups spent $80 million on television advertisements and grassroots lobbying efforts last election, according to a new study," The Hill reports. "Most of that money was spent debating a controversial proposal to expand union membership known as the Employee Free Choice Act, an analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute released Friday found.
Top lobbying stories from Earlybird, NationalJournal.com's daily news roundup:
• "Obama shunned contributions from political action committees during his campaign but the special-interest spigot remained wide open for Congress and could still influence his agenda. A USA Today analysis of campaign contributions identified 175 members of Congress who received half or more of their campaign cash from political action committees in 2007-08."
• "After the frenzied weeks of effort to shape the $787 billion stimulus package passed last month, lobbyists' work has shifted to combing through more than 1,000 pages of fine print in the measure to identify opportunities for business and government -- and then help clients tap those opportunities in state and federal agencies," Newsday reports.
• "The pharmaceutical industry that long has benefited from Sen. Orrin G. Hatch legislative efforts has directed large sums of money to a charity he helped found -- and still raises money for -- while also hiring the Republican lawmaker's son as a lobbyist," the Washington Times reports.
• New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg (R), Obama's former nominee for Commerce secretary, "won taxpayer money for redevelopment of a shuttered Air Force base where he and his brother had invested in commercial property, an Associated Press investigation found."
• "Conservative evangelical leader James Dobson has resigned as chairman of Focus on the Family but will continue to play a prominent role at the organization he founded more than three decades ago," AP reports. "Dobson's resignation as board chairman 'lessens his administrative burden' and is the latest step in a succession plan, the group said."
Top lobbying stories from Earlybird, NationalJournal.com's daily news roundup:
• "A foreign national employed by a top Florida Republican fundraiser has been indicted in California, accused of steering illegal campaign contributions to Gov. Charlie Crist and three presidential candidates," the Miami Herald reports. "Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles charged Ala'a al-Ali of the Dominican Republic with using straw donors to give about $50,000 to presidential candidates John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton and $5,000 to Crist's 2006 campaign."
• A lobbyist "got scolded by name for trying to spy on an administration conference call with reporters Thursday," The Hill reports. "The call was set up for the press but, information being power, at least one lobbyist was dying to hear for herself what the OMB had to say."
• "The growing prospect that there may be federal action on climate change apparently has spawned a wave of lobbyists in Washington," the Baltimore Sun reports. "The Center for Public Integrity reports that in the past year, as climate legislation finally came to a vote on Capitol Hill, more than 770 companies and interest groups hired an estimated 2,340 lobbyists to influence federal policy."
Top lobbying stories from Earlybird, NationalJournal.com's daily news roundup:
• "Medical research institutions scored a major coup when Congress included an additional $10.4 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the stimulus bill, but their advocates are not stopping there," The Hill reports. "Biomedical research groups sense an opportunity to build on that victory and are pressing lawmakers and the Obama administration for more money."
• "Industries from health care to agribusiness to mining that stand to lose under" Obama's "policy agenda are ramping up lobbying campaigns to derail or modify his plans," the Wall Street Journal reports. "The day after Mr. Obama formally laid out his policy goals in his first address to Congress, the former chief executive of HCA Inc. unveiled a $20 million campaign to pressure Democrats to enact health-care legislation based on free-market principles."
