Presented by the Consumer Brands Association
With Daniel Lippman
AIRLINES MOUNT A LAST STAND: Nick Calio, Airlines for America’s president and chief executive, will hold a press conference on the Hill this afternoon with the chief executives of American Airlines, United Airlines and JetBlue Airways and the heads of unions representing pilots, flight attendants and other airline industry workers as part of a last-ditch effort to convince Congress to extend billions of dollars of coronavirus relief aid before it runs out on Oct. 1. In an interview this morning, Calio said the airlines would shed tens of thousands of jobs without additional aid. “We can’t afford to keep flying planes with two, three, eight, 15 people on them,” he said.
— The problem: Airlines and their unions have been lobbying Congress for months with little to show for it. “It’s a very strange situation,” Calio said. “Everyone’s for it but we can’t seem to get it done.” The airlines met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday and have been in touch with Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — but Congress remains as deadlocked as it has been for months. “We can’t make the case any more than we already have,” Calio said. “We’re giving it a last try.”
SANDERS ALLY STARTS HER OWN FIRM: Former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, who served as a co-chair of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, is starting her own public affairs firm. Amare Public Affairs will handle communications, crisis management, grassroots work and coalition-building for “corporations, nonprofits and other entities that have a social justice component,” Turner said in an interview. She’s starting the firm in partnership with Mercury after talking with Charlie King, a Mercury partner. “In some cases we will work together and in others we may not,” she said.
— The firm will make Turner one of relatively few prominent Sanders allies working on K Street and in the broader Washington public affairs space. Michaeleen Crowell, a former Sanders chief of staff, is a lobbyist at the S-3 Group, where she has lobbied for clients including Boeing, the Consumer Brands Association and Duke Energy, according to disclosure filings.
Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Election Day is six weeks away. What are your clients most anxious about? Let me know: [email protected]. You can follow me on Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.
FLYING IN (VIRTUALLY): As Congress works to avert a government shutdown and the Senate prepares to consider President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, the fly-ins must go on. The National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association is holding a virtual fly-in this week to press lawmakers on transportation funding. They'll meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Rep. David Price (D-N.C.). They'll also hear remarks from Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Reps. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Salud Carbajal (D-Calif.). The American Exploration and Production Council and the Hospice Action Network are also holding virtual fly-ins this week.
HOW RELIEF FUNDS MADE THEIR WAY TO DEFENSE CONTRACTORS: “A $1 billion fund Congress gave the Pentagon in March to build up the country’s supplies of medical equipment has instead been mostly funneled to defense contractors and used to make things such as jet engine parts, body armor and dress uniforms,” The Washington Post’s Aaron Gregg and Yeganeh Torbati report. “The change illustrates how one taxpayer-backed effort to battle the novel coronavirus, which has killed about 200,000 Americans, was instead diverted toward patching up long-standing perceived gaps in military supplies.”
— The CARES Act “gave the Pentagon money to ‘prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.’ But a few weeks later, the Defense Department began reshaping how it would award the money in a way that represented a major departure from Congress’s intent. … Among the awards: $183 million to firms including Rolls-Royce and ArcelorMittal to maintain the shipbuilding industry; tens of millions of dollars for satellite, drone and space surveillance technology; $80 million to a Kansas aircraft parts business suffering from the Boeing 737 Max grounding and the global slowdown in air travel; and $2 million for a domestic manufacturer of Army dress uniform fabric.”
PROCTER LEAVES SIGNAL FOR AVISA: John Procter, the head of Signal Group’s communications practice, has left the firm to become a partner in the Washington office of Avisa Partners, the French “competitive intelligence” and public affairs firm. He’ll work with Eric Bovim, a former Signal managing director who left last year to become chief executive of Avisa’s U.S. operations.
WHAT (SOME OF) BIDEN’S DONORS WANT: “Liberal activists have opened a new front in their battle to push Joseph R. Biden Jr. to the left on climate change: a campaign to pressure the Democratic presidential nominee to reject advisers with any ties to fossil fuel companies,” The New York Times’ Lisa Friedman and Thomas Kaplan report. “The targets include former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and others who served in the Obama administration.”
— “Last week more than 60 deep-pocketed donors asked Mr. Biden to commit to a moratorium on all new coal, oil and natural gas development — and to select advisers who are ‘free from fossil fuel influence.’ The group, which includes Kathy Washienko, a clean-energy investor in Seattle; Robin Chase, a co-founder and former chief executive of Zipcar; and Adelaide Park Gomer, the president of the Park Foundation philanthropic group and a longtime anti-fracking activist, implored Mr. Biden to ‘choose new, bolder leadership’ than those with whom he worked under President Barack Obama. ‘This incumbency of old ideas (like ‘all of the above’ energy policy) must end,’ the donors wrote.”
Jobs Report
— The Entertainment Software Association has hired Annie Chavez as senior director of federal government affairs, David Thomas as senior counsel for global policy and international trade, Tara Ryan as vice president for state government affairs and Karen Elliott as vice president of communications and public affairs. Chavez was previously Sandia National Laboratories’ senior officer for government affairs. Ryan was previously the Association for Accessible Medicines’ vice president of state government affairs.
— Preston Rutledge has started his own consulting firm, Rutledge Policy Group. He previously served as the Labor Department’s assistant secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration.
— The S-3 Group has hired Jennifer Holmes as vice president of operations. She was previously a staffer on the House Appropriations Committee.
New Joint Fundraisers
Ben David Victory Fund (WY Democratic State Central Committee, BenDavid2020)
New PACs
Change the Judges, Change the System (Super PAC)
PA for a New Way (PAC)
Police Coalition of America (Super PAC)
The American Fire Fighters Initiative (Super PAC)
New Lobbying Registrations
None
New Lobbying Terminations
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC)
Ballard Partners: MCI, LC
National Federal Development Association: National Federal Development Association
"last" - Google News
September 23, 2020 at 02:15AM
https://ift.tt/3hSxyMj
Airlines mount a last stand - POLITICO - Politico
"last" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2rbmsh7
https://ift.tt/2Wq6qvt
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Airlines mount a last stand - POLITICO - Politico"
Post a Comment