With Daniel Lippman NEW BUSINESS: The Association of American Publishers has retained the mostly Democratic lobbying firm TheGROUP DC to fight against proposed tweaks to a program aimed at making college textbooks more accessible. — As part of the Biden administration’s crusade against so-called junk fees, the Education Department is pitching a rules change for the program known as inclusive access, which allows universities to automatically charge students to effectively rent course materials digitally as part of agreements struck between colleges, publishers and on-campus bookstores, unless the student opts out. — The administration wants to require students to opt in to the product instead, which universities and publishers say would drive down participation in the program necessary to subsidize the program’s discount on materials while sending textbook prices higher and potentially reducing student access to textbooks. — Off-campus bookstores and other education advocates, meanwhile, say the program blocks competition by hampering the secondary market for textbooks and argue that many students aren’t aware of the program before they’re charged. — Joseph Kwabena Nsiah, a former aide to the Congressional Black Caucus and chief of staff to Biden adviser Cedric Richmond, is working on the issue for TheGROUP along with former Nancy Pelosi aide Jorge Aguilar, according to a disclosure filing. CORPORATE TAX CHIEFS FLY IN: Two dozen heads of corporate tax policy headed to the Hill today to plead their case for preserving the corporate tax rate as part of next year’s battle to renew key pieces of the GOP’s 2017 tax law. — The fly-in featured members of the Business Roundtable hailing from a range of industries, including energy, tech and manufacturing and was also focused on shoring up support for another business priority, a competitive international tax ecosystem. — Today’s push comes as the business community faces headwinds stemming from an increased focus on the cost of extending key tax breaks, as well as a growing skepticism of corporate America among lawmakers. BRT has already pledged to spend eight figures defending the law, and earlier this month hosted a boot camp for staff of member companies to gear up for the tax push. — The tax chiefs were slated to meet with staff of the tax writing committees, as well as offices for those committee members and leadership from both sides of the aisle and both chambers of Congress to argue that the 2017 tax law was a success on multiple fronts important to lawmakers. Happy Thursday and welcome to PI. What should we be looking out for in this quarter’s lobbying disclosures? Plus, send all your takes, memos and gossip about the fallout of President Joe Biden’s announcement: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X: @caitlinoprysko. KNOWING AMERICAN COMPASS: “A converted yoga studio a few blocks from the Capitol has become ground zero in a fierce conservative clash over Trump-era economics. It’s the home of American Compass, a right-leaning think tank with eight staff members that’s spent the last four years challenging the GOP intelligentsia’s devotion to free markets and small government,” our Zach Warmbrodt writes. — “The approach has triggered intense criticism from the ‘legacy’ conservative think tank world, even as the group has cultivated powerful connections on Capitol Hill and in former President Donald Trump’s orbit of economic thinkers,” but “amid the resistance, American Compass is having a big moment and is poised to expand its influence.” — “Sen. JD Vance, an ally whose own staff has deep ties to the organization, is indirectly bringing attention to its ideas as Trump’s running mate. The group will also announce Thursday that it has hired Michael Needham, the former chief of staff to Sen. Marco Rubio and the one-time leader of the Heritage Foundation’s advocacy arm, to be its chair and grow its Washington footprint.” MORE NEW BUSINESS: Diamond Sports Group, the parent company behind the regional network of Bally Sports channels, has enlisted a team of lobbyists including former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman as the company navigates bankruptcy proceedings and a carriage dispute with Comcast. — Coleman and seven other lobbyists at Hogan Lovells began lobbying on issues related to carriage agreements on June 19, according to a newly filed disclosure. Bally Sports channels have been off the air for Comcast cable subscribers — the networks’ third-largest distributor, according to ESPN — since the beginning of May, following a failure by the two sides to reach an agreement on a contract extension. — The carriage dispute means that Comcast-subscribing baseball fans in a dozen markets have been largely unable to watch their teams on TV for much of this season — a situation that prompted Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) to relay the plight of “furious” constituents in a June letter to Comcast demanding the cable provider “promptly resolve” the carriage dispute. — Major alcohol distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, which is facing a potential lawsuit from the FTC over its business practices, has hired Invariant to “educate policymakers about competition issues in the alcohol industry,” according to a disclosure. — As PI reported in June, Southern Glazer’s lobbying outlays skyrocketed from $50,000 in the final quarter of 2023 to $310,000 in the first quarter of 2024. Its lobbying expenditures dropped down to $120,000 last quarter, according to disclosures filed this week, which only included about two weeks of work by Invariant. — Meanwhile, one of PhRMA’s former top lobbyists is once again working for the drug industry’s main trade group. Anne Esposito stepped down last summer as the head of the association’s federal lobbying operation amid a shakeup following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and its drug pricing provisions. But according to a disclosure filed this week, Esposito is back on PhRMA’s lobbying rolls through her own firm AEGIS, lobbying on IRA implementation and PBM reforms among other issues. WAPO COLUMNIST FACES HEAT AFTER WIFE’S ARREST: Fox News’ Brian Flood and David Rutz report that The Washington Post is facing new questions after Sue Mi Terry, the wife of columnist Max Boot, was charged last week with acting as an unregistered foreign agent of South Korea. — “The indictment alleged that Terry accepted lavish gifts in exchange for pushing South Korean government positions during media appearances, sharing private information with intelligence officers and facilitating meetings to allow South Korean officials to be granted access to U.S. officials, without registering as a foreign agent. She has denied the charges.” — “Boot, an ex-Republican opinion columnist for the Post, has co-authored five pieces for the paper with his wife, all related to Korean issues. The Post responded by placing editor's notes atop several opinion articles that were written or co-authored by the suspected foreign agent, but the paper has also used Terry as an expert in news articles, and failed to disclose her marriage to the liberal columnist.” — “One of the columns Boot wrote alongside his wife, according to the 31-page indictment, was done at the specific behest of the South Korean government, headlined ‘South Korea takes a brave step toward reconciliation with Japan.’ The Post editor's note on that article used the same text as the others but added, ‘The indictment alleged that Terry co-authored this column at the request of a South Korean official.’” HARRIS’ WALL STREET CAVALRY: “Vice President Kamala Harris’ allies on Wall Street huddled on a private Zoom call Wednesday to strategize how to defeat former President Donald Trump,” per CNBC’s Brian Schwartz. — “The call featured dozens of major financiers backing Harris, and lasted over an hour. They include Avenue Capital CEO Marc Lasry, Centerview Partners co-founder Blair Effron, Lazard President Ray McGuire, former Treasury Secretary and veteran banking executive Robert Rubin, businessman Tony Coles, Paul, Weiss chair Brad Karp, founder of 32 Advisors Robert Wolf, longtime asset manager Brian Mathis and Jon Henes, the CEO of C Street Advisory Group,” according to people familiar with the matter. — “People on the call said it was the first gathering that had brought all of these major players together in finance and business since President Joe Biden dropped out the race. The goal was to start organizing a large scale fundraising effort in support of Harris’ campaign.”
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