FLYING IN: The Energy Workforce & Technology Council, which represents oil field service companies, is kicking off its fly-in tomorrow. The trade group will hear from administration officials at the Interior, Energy and State departments and lawmakers, and are set to meet with more than a dozen members on the Hill, including Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Reps. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), David Valadao (R-Calif.), Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.), Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) and staff from another dozen or so offices. — Member companies will push for lawmakers to adopt permitting and NEPA reforms, greater access to federal lands and waters, and market access for things like oil and gas exports, in addition to policies to grow the energy workforce. ‘ZOMBIE’ PACS FLUSH WITH CASH: “Members of the 117th Congress who have since left Capitol Hill still hold nearly $54 million in leftover political money — cash they may tap to make contributions as lobbyists or bank for future runs,” Roll Call’s Kate Ackley and Herb Jackson report. — “The majority of the money, $49.3 million, came from their principal reelection committees, according to a CQ Roll Call analysis of federal campaign reports through Dec. 31. Those funds cannot be used for personal expenses, but ex-lawmakers may use that money to make political donations and charitable contributions. They are under no time pressure to purge the money, either, and can sit on old campaign cash to use later, including for future runs for office.” — “Another $4.5 million sits in recent ex-members’ leadership PACs, which were created so officials could raise money to support their parties and fellow candidates but have fewer restrictions and, campaign finance experts say, could be spent on personal uses.” — “Former California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes, who resigned Congress to run a Donald Trump-owned media enterprise, held the most cash on hand with $11.2 million in his campaign account, plus another roughly $330,000 in his leadership PAC,” but several former members who’ve since decamped for K Street also boast some healthy bank accounts. — Perlmutter reported $637,000 in cash on hand between his old campaign committee and leadership PAC, while Davis has $128,000 on hand, Bustos has $730,000, DeFazio has $225,000 and Katko has more than $900,000. IF YOU MISSED IT OVER THE WEEKEND: The New York Times’ Eric Lipton dove into how a lobbying campaign by military contractors and local leaders last year saved a fleet of Navy littoral combat ships from early retirement despite a series of engine failures and other breakdowns. — “A consortium of players with economic ties to the ships — led by a trade association whose members had just secured contracts worth up to $3 billion to do repairs and supply work on them — mobilized to pressure Congress to block the plan, with phone calls, emails and visits to Washington to press lawmakers to intervene.” — “‘Early decommissioning of littoral combat ships at Mayport Naval Station would result in the loss of more than 2,000 direct jobs in Jacksonville,’ a coalition of business leaders from the Florida city wrote last summer.” — “The effort targeted members of Congress who represent communities with large Navy stations and have collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the same military contractors that help maintain and operate these ships. … Within weeks, lawmakers offered amendments to the 2023 Pentagon spending authorization law that prohibited the Navy from retiring four of the eight ships in Jacksonville and the one in San Diego.” — “The Navy and [Lockheed Martin] are still negotiating how much the contractors should have to pay to resolve design flaws in the ships’ propulsion systems. But having largely won the battle, at least for now, to keep the Freedom-class ships operational, the contractors who built them have already returned to promoting a new class of vessels with an even higher price tag.” CHECK THAT RETURN POLICY: “Sam Bankman-Fried showered politicians with tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions before his FTX empire imploded in November. Now, the bankrupt crypto exchange wants that money back,” CoinDesk’s Danny Nelson reports. — “On Sunday, FTX Group said it is sending ‘confidential letters’ to politicians and other political beneficiaries of Bankman-Fried, his deputies and his companies, asking them to return the money by the end of the month. In a press release the debtors said they ‘reserve the right’ to try and force repayments – plus interest – through court action.” — “The announcement escalates a fight over as much as $93 million (according to the debtors' estimates) in political donations FTX made to an array of Washington, D.C., lawmakers and causes across the political spectrum. One in three members of the current Congress received contributions from Bankman-Fried’s orbit, according to CoinDesk reporting. It was a monumental influence campaign that crossed party lines.” — “With FTX’s top brass now facing an array of criminal charges over their alleged multibillion-dollar fraud, many of their beneficiaries have tried to cancel out the taint of scandal by making equivalent donations to charities. But the debtors now charged with recouping creditors’ losses warned such action ‘does not prevent the FTX Debtors from seeking recovery.’”
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