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With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman
HOW LOBBYISTS ARE HELPING THEIR CLIENTS GET CORONAVIRUS RELIEF LOANS: Washington lobbyists are scrambling to help companies tap into the hundreds of billions of dollars in loans outlined in the coronavirus relief bill, H.R. 748 (116), before it’s too late. ‘A number of businesses are literally asking which hour of which day they can get financing,’ said Travis Norton, a lobbyist at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. Holland & Knight, meanwhile, has set up a team of dozens of lobbyists and lawyers to handle the rush of calls from clients and potential clients looking for help understanding which provisions in the 880-page law might be able to keep their businesses afloat. The team got about 100 calls on Thursday, according to Rich Gold, who runs the firm’s public policy and regulation group.
— The law set up two main ways for businesses to get emergency loans: a program for companies with fewer than 500 employees run by the Small Business Administration and another for larger businesses backed by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve. While the legislation set aside hundreds of billions of dollars, there’s still a sense that it may not be enough to shore up all the businesses clamoring for help. “There’s not going to be enough room in the boat for everybody. Not everybody’s going to get an SBA loan, or get one in time,” Gold said.
— Lobbyists are also working to shape the rules governing loans to larger businesses, which will determine which companies will be able to apply for loans. Companies in need of help such as Macy’s and Gap Inc. — both of which announced on Monday that they’d furlough most of their workers — have less-than-ideal credit ratings and could be excluded, as POLITICO’s Victoria Guida and I report. Russ Sullivan, a veteran tax lobbyist, said he and his colleagues at Brownstein Hyatt are trying “to persuade Treasury and the Fed, who have enormous flexibility in how to administer this program, to do it broadly” — that is, to loan to companies that might be risky bets as well as ones with impeccable credit.
— “In case where the eligibility criteria is too narrow for some of America’s best-recognized companies, we ask that your respective agencies exercise discretion to make these programs more widely available,” Matthew Shay, the president and chief executive of the National Retail Federation, wrote in a letter on Friday to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The American Gaming Association is also lobbying on the matter.
— But there’s a tradeoff for the federal government in loaning money to businesses with less-than-ideal credit. The Treasury Department is planning to stretch the $454 billion Congress set aside for loans to big and medium-sized businesses by working with the Fed, which will chip in much more. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told reporters last week he hoped that together the Treasury Department and the Fed could lend $2 trillion to $3 trillion to keep corporate America going for several more months. Because the Fed isn’t set up to take on the risk of companies defaulting, though, the worse the credit of the businesses allowed to apply for loans, the more money Treasury will have to kick in.
— Some lobbyists believe the Treasury Department and the Fed will end up writing relatively forgiving rules. David Stewart, a former staff director for the House Ways and Means Committee who’s now at Squire Patton Boggs, said he expected the rules would “allow a broad array of businesses to access this credit.”
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LYNN JENKINS LANDS ON K STREET: Capitol Hill Policy Group has hired former Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.), making her the latest lawmaker who left office last year to land on K Street. She’ll be a senior policy adviser, while her former chief of staff, Pat Leopold, will be a principal. She plans to register as a lobbyist, focusing on health care, tax, aviation and trade, among other matters. “What I bring to the table is a decade in the House and eight years on Ways and Means,” she said in an interview.
— Jenkins took steps to set up her own consulting firm, LJ Strategies, before leaving Congress last year and has advised clients including the National Council for Behavioral Health. She and Leopold will continue to consult for state and local clients through her firm while lobbying for new clients through Capitol Hill Policy Group. She plans to split her time between Kansas and Washington.
WHAT THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY WANTS FROM CONGRESS: Three dozen trade groups today proposed a new coronavirus "'recovery fund' that would direct federal funds to businesses disrupted by the pandemic,” POLITICO’s Zachary Warmbrodt reports. “The proposal grew out of discussions between the insurance industry and groups representing other sectors of the economy, amid growing controversy that business interruption insurance policies do not cover the coronavirus outbreak. Insurers have warned that their industry could be destabilized if they are forced to pay what could be hundreds of billions of dollars in claims across the country.”
— “In a letter to President Donald Trump and congressional leaders, groups including the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, the International Council of Shopping Centers and the National Retail Federation outlined a proposal for a ‘Covid-19 Business and Employee Continuity and Recovery Fund’ that would try to fill the gap.”
LOBBYING ON THE NEXT BILL HAS ALREADY STARTED: What are industries that missed out on getting their priorities in the relief bill that Trump signed into law on Friday looking for as Congress turns to the next one? “Restaurant owners are asking Congress for a new insurance program to cover pandemic-related losses,” Bloomberg News’ Jennifer Dlouhy, Ari Natter and Naomi Nix report. “Hotel operators are pleading for larger loans. Renewable power developers want money to keep solar installers on the job. And the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pitching its initiative to rebuild roads and bridges.”
NO CREDIT SCORE BREAKS FOR CONSUMERS IN RELIEF BILL: “The financial industry persuaded Congress to reject a moratorium on recording missed and late payments on credit reports during the coronavirus outbreak, raising concerns that people who lose their jobs will take a lasting hit to their credit scores,” The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Bykowicz and Ted Mann report. “Legislation that would have prevented credit bureaus from reporting negative credit information for four months was shelved in the lobbying frenzy ahead of last week’s passage of the roughly $2 trillion economic stimulus bill, lawmakers said. The credit industry argued that it already has adequate measures to protect people’s credit during disasters, and that incomplete reporting would lead to lasting problems in determining people’s creditworthiness.”
IF YOU MISSED IT ON MONDAY: Unite the Country, the super PAC backing Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and the Democratic outside group “American Bridge are teaming up to coordinate their efforts in hopes of raising about $175 million together to defeat President Trump in November, leaders from the two groups said Monday,” The New York Times’ Jonathan Martin and Shane Goldmacher report. “‘It made more sense to raise money together than raise money competing against one another,’ said Steve Schale, who helps run Unite the Country. The partnership will be co-chaired by Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor and a late entrant into this year’s presidential race, and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.”
HOW TO HELP THE STAFF OF CAFE MILANO: Add Cafe Milano to the list of Washington restaurants that lobbyists and other K Street types are helping to support in the time of coronavirus. “Cafe Milano closed due to COVID-19 emergency mandates, leading to the layoffs of the hardworking staff members,” Tammy Haddad, the Washington host and impresario, wrote in an email on Monday, which was obtained by PI. “While we all continue to navigate these trying times, if you can help get them through please donate to the Cafe Milano Team Relief Fund.” The effort had raised nearly $50,000 early this afternoon. Similar efforts have been organized to help the staffs of lobbyist haunts including Tosca, the Palm, Ocean Prime, Bobby Van’s Grill and Morton’s.
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Jobs Report
— Atrium Health has hired Kristen Morris as senior vice president for government relations. She was previously an in-house lobbyist for the Cleveland Clinic. She plans to register to lobby eventually.
— Banner Public Affairs has promoted Kyle Bogucki, Tkeyah Lake and Kelly Miller to vice president, Talia Cadet to director and Madeline Kauffman to senior account executive.
New Joint Fundraisers
None
New PACs
America Come Together, Inc. (PAC)
Fight for Earth Victory Fund (Super PAC)
New Lobbying Registrations
Alston & Bird LLP: Mechanical Contractors Association of America
Ballard Partners: Laundrylux
Phi Health LLC: Phi Health LLC
Polaris Government Relations, LLC: US Manufacturers for Development and Enterprise
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Financial Data and Technology Association of North America
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: National Recreation and Park Association
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Outset Medical
Strategic Health Care: American Academy of Sleep Medicine
Strategic Health Care: Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare
Strategic Health Care: The Queen's Health Systems
The Duberstein Group Inc.: Match Group
New Lobbying Terminations
Alpine Group Partners, LLC.: Broadnet
Ballard Partners: Colonial Management Group, LP
Ballard Partners: Sada Cumber
Behan Communications, Inc.: Glens Falls Hospital
Capitol Resources, LLC: Selex Gallileo [sic] Inc.
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