MANCHIN'S CHIEF JUMPS TO API: The top aide to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), the Senate Energy and Natural Resources chair who played an outsize role in determining the size and scope of Democrats' policy agenda over the past two years is leaving the Hill to join the American Petroleum Institute. — Lance West , who's worked for Manchin on and off for most of the past decade, will be vice president of federal government relations for the oil and gas trade group. He'll head API's outreach to the Hill as well as federal agencies and report to the association's top lobbyist Amanda Eversole. — West's hiring means now, the top aides to two of the Senate's most important members in the last Congress — and those most intimately involved in the negotiations over the bipartisan infrastructure bill and Democrats' climate and social spending package — will now be working from the outside to shape policy as the Biden administration works to implement both bills and Republicans in Congress seek to undercut them. — As PI readers might recall, the health care-centric lobbying firm Tarplin Downs & Young last fall hired Meg Joseph, the longtime chief of staff to Manchin's fellow swing vote Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.). — Per Axios, West "worked closely with White House officials and other senate offices" to negotiate what became the Inflation Reduction Act. He'll now represent the fossil fuel industry as Manchin embarks on another bid to overhaul the permitting process. — West's "position on Capitol Hill placed him at the center of some of our country's more important legislative debates, and his deep relationships on both sides of the aisle will be a tremendous asset to our organization and the industry we serve," API President and CEO Mike Sommers said in a statement. MCHENRY PLANS CRYPTO, FINTECH PANEL: "House Republicans will establish a new subcommittee dedicated to cryptocurrency this Congress, a move that puts oversight and legislation around the ailing industry high on the GOP agenda," POLITICO's Zach Warmbrodt and Eleanor Mueller report. — "Incoming Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who has long made a priority of financial technology issues, said in an interview Thursday that he plans to create the panel because he believes there is 'a big hole in how we structure the committee' as it spends more time grappling with crypto topics." — "The subcommittee on digital assets, financial technology and inclusion will be chaired by Rep.French Hill (R-Ark.), who has led Republican efforts to explore the viability of a central bank digital currency. Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), another prominent crypto voice in the House, will serve as the subcommittee's vice chair." S-3 NAMES NEW PARTNERS: S-3 Group haspromoted Matt Bravo and Martin Delgado to partners in the firm, where they'll join John Scofield and Mike Ference on the management team. Bravo and Delgado are both former GOP House aides, and Bravo previously served as floor director to now-Majority Leader Steve Scalise. — Bravo "helped us secure numerous victories for House Republicans, and has always been a tireless advocate," Scalise said in a statement provided by the firm. "To those of us who have worked with him, this promotion comes as no surprise, and is well deserved." The firm also promoted Hastie Afkhami to managing director of digital communications in S-3's strategic communications practice. ACROSS THE POND: An effort underway in the U.K. to introduce new FARA-like disclosure requirements is hitting some speed bumps "after an outcry from businesses worried it will spook overseas investment,"our transatlantic colleague Matt Honeycombe-Foster reports. — "The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme — contained in the National Security Bill currently making its way through the U.K. parliament — is meant to shield British politics from malign foreign influence. It has long been called for by MPs worried about covert lobbying by hostile states like Russia and China, and the Home Office has looked to similar schemes in the United States and Australia for inspiration." — "But overseas firms doing business in the U.K. have warned that the current drafting of the scheme is far broader than international equivalents, and say it risks deterring investment as well as scuttling day-to-day engagement by firms based in countries friendly to the U.K. … A U.K. government official confirmed to POLITICO that the register is now being reconsidered. 'It's under review,' the official said. 'There has been a lot of opposition, and it has been noted.'" — The proposal would "require most foreign organizations, including businesses and charities, to publicly register every interaction they have with a U.K. policymaker or risk committing a criminal offense that carries potential jail time." — "Critics of the proposed register argue that it fails to differentiate between hostile powers and countries with whom Britain has a strong relationship, with some firms calling on the Home Office to bring in a 'whitelist' of countries whose businesses will not have to register."
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