| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by Binance | With Daniel Lippman PROGRAMMING NOTE: We'll be off next week for the holidays but back to our normal schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 3. TALLY IT UP: Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election raked in more than $34 million in campaign contributions from major companies or their trade groups through November's midterms. — Dozens of corporations pledged to pause or permanently stop donating to those lawmakers in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Among those was AT&T — the top corporate donor to election objectors so far this cycle, according to data and a new analysis compiled by the watchdog group Accountable.US, ahead of the release of a final report on the insurrection by the congressional panel investigating it. — The telecom giant has given more than $600,000 to 99 of the 147 election objectors leading up to and immediately after the midterms, though four trade associations that did not swear off donations to those lawmakers gave more to the group. — The National Beer Wholesalers Association 's PAC tops the list with more than $877,000 in donations to 121 election objectors, followed by the political action committees for the American Bankers Association, National Automobile Dealers Association and National Association of Home Builders. — PACs for the Associated Builders and Contractors, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Credit Union National Association, Home Depot and Lockheed Martin rounded out the top 10 Fortune 500 and association donors to the election objectors, according to the analysis. — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise pulled in the most corporate cash of the election objectors, a somewhat predictable development given their leadership positions in the conference and the likelihood for them to become House speaker and majority leader, respectively, in the next Congress. — Behind McCarthy and Scalise were three lawmakers in the running to chair key committees next year: Transportation & Infrastructure, Ways and Means, and Small Business. Good afternoon and welcome to PI . Which omnibus wins (or losses) are still flying under the radar? Reach out: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from Binance: It's been a tough year for crypto. After unprecedented fraud and mismanagement, industry confidence has been shaken. As the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance believes greater transparency is critical. At Binance, user assets are backed 1:1 and our capital structure is debt-free, and we are eager to work with regulators to help bring order to the markets. Learn more about our commitment to moving forward in Politico this week. | | | MORE OMNIBUS WINS: Private equity, which has a good record this year of beating back various legislative threats, scored another victory in the omnibus with language "strongly" encouraging the SEC to redo its economic analysis of a proposed rule requiring more disclosure from private fund advisers and banning certain practices. — The proposal drew opposition and complaints from both the hedge fund industry and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that the agency had not given stakeholders enough time to weigh in on the private fund adviser rule and other proposals more broadly, even after the SEC extended the public comment period. — Language in a lawmakers' report accompanying the omnibus also chided the agency, encouraging it to "extend comment periods to a length that is appropriate for the complexity and potential impact of the rule" while re-conducting its economic analysis of the private fund adviser proposal to ensure it "adequately considers the disparate impact on emerging minority and women-owned asset management firms, minority and women-owned businesses, and historically underinvested communities." — The request "proves once again that there is growing bipartisan concern that [SEC Chair Gary Gensler ] is moving too fast on extreme regulations without considering how proposals will impact small businesses and private investment," said Drew Maloney, the head of the American Investment Council. — HBCUs and other minority serving institutions scored a small victory as part of a bipartisan, bicameral push to invest in infrastructure improvements. Lawmakers, universities and even tech companies and trade associations had pushed for the inclusion of the IGNITE HBCU, TCU and MSI Excellence Act, which would create a grant program for HBCUs and other MSIs to renovate or construct new campus facilities, expand access to campus-wide broadband and purchase equipment for research and instruction. Though there is no authorizing language for the program in the omnibus, it includes $50 million in funding for such investments, according to report language.
| | | | A NEW POLITICO PODCAST: POLITICO Tech is an authoritative insider briefing on the politics and policy of technology. From crypto and the metaverse to cybersecurity and AI, we explore the who, what and how of policy shaping future industries. We're kicking off with a series exploring darknet market places, the virtual platforms that enable actors from all corners of the online world to traffic illicit goods. As malware and cybercrime attacks become increasingly frequent, regulators and law enforcement agencies work different angles to shut these platforms down, but new, often more unassailable marketplaces pop up. SUBSCRIBE AND START LISTENING TODAY. | | | | |
INSIDE THE LEFT'S ELECTION LITIGATION POWERHOUSE: With Republicans "scrutinizing almost every aspect of the electoral process, from the constitutionality of ballot drop boxes to the ability of election boards to decline to certify results" in the aftermath of the 2020 elections, Democrats have sought to "mount a counteroffensive to this legal red wave. And they're doing it with the considerable muscle of the D.C.-based law firm" the Elias Law Group, Jesús Rodríguez writes for POLITICO Magazine.
— Since launching last year, the firm, founded by longtime Democratic operative Marc Elias , "has become the central node of the official Democratic Party's legal strategy. With 80 lawyers and 51 support staff, the firm says it's the largest private law firm in the country, solely dedicated to 'helping Democrats win, citizens vote, and progressives make change.'" — "Democratic candidates and their affiliated groups have funneled at least $21 million into the firm's coffers this cycle so far, public filings with the Federal Election Commission show. The firm now represents 950 clients, which include the Democratic National Committee; the Democratic campaigning committees helping to elect senators, representatives, governors, secretaries of state, and attorneys general; and at least 150 House and Senate campaigns and members of Congress." — "And it's clear, from interviews with nine of the firm's 15 top partners, that Elias' attorneys see their mission as making a last stand for democracy — a task that in their view requires giving election denialism (and Republicans) no quarter in court." WASHINGTON'S DATA BROKER CONUNDRUM: "As the data broker industry has come into Washington's sights, it has been pushing back against a proposed law that would limit its ability to harvest millions of people's information and give citizens a right to block all third parties from collecting it," POLITICO's Alfred Ng reports. — "At the same time, Washington is also increasingly reliant on the industry. Thanks to a combination of a 50-year-old privacy law, growing need for anti-fraud measures and the difficulty of building its own in-house systems, Washington has become an enormous client for services that many consumer advocates would far rather curtail than support." — The parent company of one such broker that's received billions in government contracts has spent "at least $630,000 lobbying against federal privacy regulations, arguing that the restrictions would hobble the company's ability to prevent fraud." The dynamic is raising concerns among advocates "that the government is relying on, even propping up, an industry that it would otherwise be trying to regulate more tightly." — "There's a deeper irony in the government's reliance on private firms: Much of the information they use is issued by the government itself" but is inaccessible across different agencies "because of a nearly 50-year-old law designed to protect Americans' privacy, which applies to government agencies, but not to data brokers. That loophole in privacy regulations has allowed data brokers to hoover up millions of Americans' data from public records and sell it back to the U.S. government." DIGITAL CHAMBER ADDS BINANCE: Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is joining the Chamber of Digital Commerce as the company continues to face questions over its finances in the wake of rival FTX's collapse last month. Binance.US, which is a separate entity from the global exchange that licenses its name, is already a member of the association, whose other members include traditional financial institutions, fintechs and blockchain companies.
| | | | POLITICO AT CES 2023 : We are bringing a special edition of our Digital Future Daily newsletter to Las Vegas to cover CES 2023. The newsletter will take you inside the largest and most influential technology event on the planet, featuring every major and emerging industry in the technology ecosystem gathered in one place. The newsletter runs from Jan. 5-7 and will focus on the public policy related aspects of the event. Sign up today to receive exclusive coverage of CES 2023. | | | | | | | | — Anna Kurian Shaw has been appointed global managing partner for diversity, equity and inclusion at Hogan Lovells. She's currently a partner in the D.C. office. — Mary Baskerville has joined HP as global strategic partnerships and engagement lead. She's a Clinton Foundation, Hillary for America, and Obama administration alum.
| | | | A message from Binance:   | | | | | | None.
| | | Americans for Energy Independence (Super PAC)
Americans FormEconomic Independence (Super PAC)
Kentuckians for Balance (Super PAC)
| | New Lobbying Registrations | | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Cresco Labs, Inc
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Curaleaf
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Gpf Na LLC
Confluence Government Relations: Saltchuk Resources, Inc
Danaher Corporation: Danaher Corporation
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP: Rieth-Riley Construction Co., Inc.
Fgs Global (US) LLC (Fka Fgh Holdings LLC): Fgs Global (Asia) Limited (On Behalf Of Lenovo Group)
Invariant LLC: Plaid Inc.
O'Brien, Gentry & Scott, LLC: Forward Power Co.
Troutman Pepper Strategies, LLC (Fka Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, LLC): Botanic Tonics LLC
Troutman Pepper Strategies, LLC (Fka Troutman Sanders Public Affairs Group, LLC): Iex Group, Inc.
Virginia Credit Union League: Virginia Credit Union League
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | Monument Advocacy: International Society Of Automation Global Cybersecurity Alliance
| | | | A message from Binance: It's been a tough year for crypto. Macroeconomic headwinds have ushered in challenging market conditions, followed by unprecedented fraud and mismanagement. The combination rocked consumer confidence and created a level of skepticism about the future of crypto. Binance strongly believes crypto's best days remain ahead, but to get there, transparency is the only path forward. At Binance, we are investing in transparency protocols to demonstrate our strong financial health. Our capital structure is debt-free and all user assets are backed 1:1. Binance does not borrow against customers' funds or invest them without their consent. Most importantly, we look forward to working with policymakers to better protect consumers while promoting innovation. Learn more about our commitment to moving forward in Politico this week. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
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