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With Daniel Lippman

INFRASTRUCTURE COALITION FLIES IN AHEAD OF EXPECTED HOUSE VOTE: A coalition of business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is amping up its pressure on House lawmakers to pass the bipartisan infrastructure package next week as political dynamics surrounding the measure have kept its prospects for passage murky. The groups, part of the Coalition for Bipartisan Infrastructure, launched a national day of action today, which includes a letter to House members, meetings on the Hill and a grassroots and social media push urging members to support the bill if, as Democratic leaders pledged this morning, it comes up for a vote next Monday.

A spokesperson for the Chamber said that the business lobby is doubling down on its outreach to Republicans in the House, a push that comes as a bloc of liberal Democrats threatens to torpedo the bill if its not tied to passage of a partisan $3.5 trillion social spending and climate package. Though 19 Republicans in the Senate voted for the bipartisan legislation, POLITICOs Olivia Beavers reported this morning that House leadership only has fewer than a dozen Republican votes not enough to overcome progressives opposition. The Chamber is lobbying House Republicans, highlighting the historic levels of funding that will be provided as well as the local projects that will be completed if the bill passes.

Another member of the infrastructure coalition, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, has been blanketing the Hill today as part of a sprint to Mondays deadline, focusing its lobbying efforts at this point on House Republicans almost exclusively. Out of meetings with around 60 congressional offices today and tomorrow, the vast majority have been with Republicans as the trade association urges them to not throw the baby out with the bath water, the groups top lobbyist, Kip Eideberg, told PI. After their meetings, Eideberg said AEM feels confident that anywhere from 10 to 15 Republicans will vote for the package while trusting in [Speaker Nancy Pelosi] when she tells us that she will have enough Democrats to pass the bill.

AEM is pairing its D.C. advocacy with a grassroots pushback in members districts, looking to get Republicans out to equipment manufacturing facilities while providing air cover to yes votes and nudging other lawmakers who are leaning in that direction. It's an all-out effort on House Republicans, Eideberg said.

Both trade groups joined more than 100 trade associations, business groups and unions on a letter to all House members today urging yes votes on the bipartisan bill. The letter touts the broad benefits of the bipartisan bill in each state as identified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, in addition to good-paying jobs through project construction in the short term and improved safety and mobility for people and goods for decades to come across the country. The letter was signed by other groups, including the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Trucking Associations, the AFL-CIO, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Got some juicy K Street or reconciliation gossip? Lets hear it: [emailprotected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

SLACK YOU LATER: Slack, the ubiquitous business messaging platform from Salesforce Inc., is debuting a new tool for business leaders to coordinate policy letters and outreach to Congress, the White House and other local or global policymakers, Salesforces head of global sustainability, Patrick Flynn, told POLITICO Long Games Lorraine Woellert. Were going to bring our voice together and communicate to Congress or the president or the G-20 that climate matters to us, Flynn told her. The current process involves a flurry of emails and back-channel communications, and the new feature brings those talks to a single place. Its a massive streamlining of that effort.

ANNALS OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE: A political strategist who was pardoned by the former president after being convicted in a 2012 campaign finance scheme is facing new charges related to an alleged 2016 plot to illegally funnel donations made by a Russian national to support then-candidate Donald Trumps White House bid, The Washington Posts Felicia Somnez and Isaac Stanley-Becker report.

Jesse Benton, 43, who was previously a top aide to former congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and later ran the pro-Trump Great America super PAC, was charged this month, according to a federal indictment in Washington unsealed Monday. Also charged is Roy Douglas Doug Wead, 75, a conservative author and former special assistant to President George H.W. Bush.

Prosecutors allege that Benton and Wead made a so-called straw-man donation, illegally soliciting a contribution from a Russian national months before the 2016 election that they then funneled into a joint fundraising committee. The pair then filed false FEC reports to conceal the true source of the funding, prosecutors say. Federal disclosures from that period make clear the donation went to support Trumps election, though the recipient is not named in the indictment. Authorities allege Benton arranged for the Russian national to attend a fundraiser and get a photograph with the candidate, in exchange for a political contribution.

Benton and Wead concealed the scheme from the candidate, federal regulators, and the public, according to the indictment. The court filing does not name Trump, but details in the indictment match a $25,000 donation that Benton made in the fall of 2016 to a committee that jointly raised money for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, campaign finance records show.

CASSIDY ADDS LONGTIME APPROPS HAND: Sarah Young has left the House Appropriations Committee, where she was the top staffer on the Military Construction-VA Subcommittee, after more than two decades to join Cassidy & Associates as a senior vice president. Young is the latest Hill aide to end up at Cassidy in recent months Samantha Swing, a former aide to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and a Harry Reid alum, joined Cassidy last month as a vice president. Earlier this year, Andrew Forbes rejoined the firm after serving as legislative director for the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), while Will Fadely joined as a vice president from The Wilderness Society.

HEARING AID MANUFACTURER LAUNCHES PUSH TO SHAPE ACCESSIBILITY RULES IN WASHINGTON: Starkey Hearing Technologies has launched a new initiative looking to shape the conversation around various legislative and regulatory pushes in D.C. aimed at making hearing aids more accessible. The new initiative, dubbed Listen Carefully, will seek to make health care professionals' voices more prominent as Democrats in Congress weigh expanding Medicare benefits to include hearing.

The companys push also looks to counter misinformation surrounding an executive order from President Joe Biden this year targeting the lack of over-the-counter hearing aids, as the industry awaits regulations from FDA that were due last year. As the push ramps up, lobbying disclosures show Starkey brought on a new outside lobbying firm at the beginning of August, retaining Robert White Associates in addition to its existing bench of lobbyists at Forbes-Tate and The Petrizzo Group.

As the largest American-owned hearing aid manufacturer, Starkey has a responsibility to share accurate information with lawmakers about hearing healthcare, to help guide informed legislative policies, Starkey President and CEO Brandon Sawalich said in a statement. Together, we will be a voice for the millions of Americans who suffer from hearing loss and are looking to officials in Washington to get OTC hearing aid regulation and Medicare expansion right.

REGULATORS MOVE TO CRACK DOWN ON STABLECOINS: The Treasury Department is moving to rein in a new class of cryptocurrencies whose popularity as a payment method is skyrocketing, POLITICOs Victoria Guida reports, citing a need to head off potential risks to consumers and to the financial system. So-called stablecoins payment tokens that differ from other cryptocurrencies because their value is often pegged to the U.S. dollar are drawing scrutiny because they have already been used in trillions of dollars worth of lightning-fast transactions and could transform the way Americans pay for things. Treasury and other regulators want to ensure that theyre reliable, even during financial panics.

The new attention is setting up a clash between the emerging crypto industry and financial regulators and is also feeding tension between the upstarts and more traditional firms like banks, which dominate the payments industry. Yet its also a sign that, even as assets like Bitcoin grab headlines as speculative investments, virtual currencies are steadily becoming more enmeshed in the U.S. financial system. There are some benefits to consumers that are worth exploring; namely, facilitation of faster payments, FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams said in an interview. But there are also risks if stablecoins are adopted more broadly.

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Michele Connell has been appointed global managing partner at Squire Patton Boggs. Shell succeed Fred Nance, who will launch a newly created DEI office within the firm. Connell was previously managing partner of Squires Cleveland office and strategic adviser to its corporate clients.

Sarah Meek joined BlueCross BlueShield as its director of government affairs, where she will be responsible for developing CareFirsts advocacy strategy. Meek previously worked for Lutheran Services in America Disability Network and the Alliance for Retired Americans.

Progressive data firm TargetSmart added Jamaa Bickley-King, a veteran of New Virginia Majority and Change the Game, as chief solutions officer. Chris Brill will rejoin the firm as director of strategic consulting after advising progressive outside groups in 2020.

Anand Gopal is joining Energy Innovation as executive director of strategy and policy. He was previously an environment program officer at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Reana Kovalcik is joining the Organic Trade Association in October as director of public affairs. Kovalcik previously served as the associate director for communications and development at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and most recently as communications adviser on climate for American Forests.

Former Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) is joining FTI Consulting as a senior adviser in the strategic communications practice. She most recently was president and CEO of the Better Medicare Alliance.

Bonnie Glick is joining the Center for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue as its inaugural director. She previously was deputy administrator and COO at USAID.

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HCA Healthcare has treated more suspected and positive COVID-19 inpatients than any other health system in the nation. We are taking the learnings and insights we have gathered from these encounters and sharing them with prominent research institutions to accelerate the discovery of new approaches to care, improve patient outcomes and, ultimately, save lives.

Our innovative partnerships with governments, technology companies and other health systems allow us to pool resources, expertise and capabilities to improve the national COVID-19 response. By collaborating with the CDC, government agencies and other healthcare organizations, HCA Healthcare is supporting hospitals and caregivers around the world not just our own in the fight against COVID-19.

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The rest is here:
Business groups zero in on House Republicans to save BIF as progressives waver - Politico