WHO’S HIRING LOBBYISTS FOR HELP WITH CORONAVIRUS: Companies and trade groups that have never hired Washington lobbyists before are turning to K Street for help navigating the pandemic. Chipotle paid DLA Piper $40,000 to lobby on the coronavirus relief bill for less than two weeks last month, according to new disclosure filings. Harry’s, the razor startup, hired Ballard Partners to lobby on “relief programs.” And the National Independent Venue Association, a new trade group representing venues such as the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix and First Avenue in Minneapolis, brought on Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.
— Companies that have had a presence on K Street for years are also adding lobbying firepower. American Airlines brought on CGCN Group to lobby on legislation related to the coronavirus. The airline also retains 10 other lobbying firms. And Yelp recently added Squire Patton Boggs to monitor “tax policy in federal legislation addressing the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to a disclosure filing.
Elvina Nawaguna at Roll Call:
As the economic threat of the coronavirus pandemic emerged, a mining trade group wrote to Congress with a familiar request: reduce the tax rate coal companies pay to take care of black-lung disease victims and their widows.
That letter delivered in March was part of the mining industry’s efforts to cut its expenses, partly by tying its troubles to the pandemic.
Mandatory lobbying disclosures for January to March show the National Mining Association spent $313,000 to have discussions with Congress and the administration on a number of issues, including the black-lung excise tax and coronavirus economic relief legislation as it argued the pandemic was hurting the coal industry.
That spending was up from the $255,000 the group spent the last three months of 2019, although slightly below the $330,000 in the first quarter last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment