| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | Presented by American Hospital Association | With help from Daniel Lippman DAVIS LOBBYING FOR RAIL ASSOCIATION: One of the rail industry’s top trade groups, the Association of American Railroads, has tapped former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) for its roster of outside lobbyists. Davis, who joined Cozen O’Connor after leaving office last year, began working for the trade association last month, according to a disclosure filing. Cozen’s Madison Smith, a former Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) staffer, is also working on transportation policy for AAR, per the filing. — A spokesperson for the group, Ted Greener, declined to share specifics on what Cozen is lobbying on for the firm, telling PI in an email that they’ll be “working across the set of policy issues railroads are navigating,” like all of the trade group’s lobbyists, including safety, environmental, infrastructure and economic regulation issues. — AAR also retains Forbes Tate Partners, the Jerry Costello Group, SBL Strategies and the Polaris-Hutton Group. The latest hire comes as bipartisan efforts to enact stronger rail safety standards in the wake of last year’s Norfolk Southern crash in East Palestine, Ohio, have stalled in Congress amid opposition from key lawmakers and pushback from industry. — Detractors have included AAR, which has said it supports portions of the legislative response to the crash but called for trimming back provisions that it said amounted to mandates and micromanaging. At the same time, AAR, whose members include Norfolk Southern and the rest of the top railroads, has touted safety improvements railroads have implemented on their own since the wreck. NEW AI GROUP LOBBIES UP: Another upstart advocacy group looking to shape the future regulatory framework for artificial intelligence has turned to K Street for help doing so. The group, Americans for Responsible Innovation, was launched last month by former congressman and Pentagon official Brad Carson and tech entrepreneur (and effective altruist) Eric Gastfriend. — Axios reported at the time that the group’s key position is that “the best way to protect the public while maintaining America's AI competitive advantage is to adapt successful rules from other industries that pose safety risks,” and is seeking to stake out its independence from the rest of the tech industry or partisan blinders. — ARI last month registered its first in-house lobbyist, Douglass Calidas, a former chief of staff to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and former senior aide to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), newly disclosed filings show. — ARI has also retained two outside firms: Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid and Navigators Global. Among the group’s first outside lobbyists are a former legislative director to Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), a Senate leader on AI policy; a former chief of staff to House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.); a former chief of staff to Manchin; and other top aides to key senators. Happy Thursday and welcome to PI, where we’re looking forward to Greta being our boss one day. Send K Street tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | | | A message from American Hospital Association America’s hospitals and health systems are ready for you, 24/7. This week, about 1 in 100 of us will visit the emergency room. And by the end of this year, more than 130 million of us will have made this visit. You may not know when you’ll need us, but in America’s hospitals and health systems, we’re always ready — because emergencies don’t wait for business hours. This is the hospital story. | | | HOW IT’S PLAYING: “Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle aired outrage Thursday after a POLITICO report that the Chinese embassy lobbied members of Congress on legislation that would force the sale of TikTok by its Beijing-based parent company,” per our Anthony Adragna. — “‘These reports are no surprise. The Chinese Communist Party has a vested interest in keeping TikTok under its current ownership structure in the United States so it can influence and spy on Americans,’ Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), outgoing chair of the House's select China panel, said in a statement to POLITICO. ‘The more the CCP digs in to retain control of the platform, the more it demonstrates exactly why we must divest TikTok from the CCP.’ He's not alone among senior House committee members.” — Other soundbites came from House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and China committee member Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), who quipped: "TikTok has no connection with China, I thought, so why would they do that?" — Incoming China Chair John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) told our colleagues the report “illustrates the importance of why we need to separate TikTok’s operations here in the United States.” Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jim Risch (R-Idaho) redoubled his support for the TikTok bill, writing in a post on X that “lobbying by the Chinese Embassy is not going to convince the American people that TikTok is independent from the #CCP” and that “I will do all I can to stop #China from using it to collect data on U.S. citizens.” — Meanwhile the TikTok bill got a major boost last night when Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who’d been seeking changes to the House-passed version, signaled her approval of tweaks included in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s piecemeal foreign aid package. HOSPITALS LOBBIED AGAINST CYBER PENALTIES: The American Prospect’s David Dayen writes that years before February’s ransomware attack on billing support provider Change Healthcare — which was the subject of a House hearing Tuesday and which parent company UnitedHealth Group said this week has already cost it $872 million — lawmakers passed a lame-duck bill limiting providers’ liability for such breaches after lobbying from the industry. — The bill from Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), an OB-GYN, “limited penalties for health care providers whose patient records were breached in cyber attacks, as long as they had complied for one year with ‘recognized security practices,’” per Dayden. “These voluntary practices were self-designed by the health care sector, and experts find them to be far less than the bare minimum needed to protect health providers.” — “More important, the bill terminated audits of attacked hospitals, the one window regulators could have into systemic vulnerabilities and poor defenses. The law effectively states that the government would rather remain in the dark about cyber attacks than force hospitals to expend time and effort on figuring out their security deficiencies.” — “Four lobbying groups worked on H.R. 7898, mostly health information technology trade groups. One of them, HITRUST, is based in Burgess’s district, and one of its founding members is none other than UnitedHealth, the parent company of Change Healthcare.” — “Burgess’s office never responded to repeated requests for comment about the bill. One lobbyist-directed law isn’t responsible for the Change crisis. But it’s indicative of how the health care industry has fought stronger cybersecurity standards for years, opting instead for the kind of easy-to-clear self-certification systems like those HITRUST has set up.” NRA SETTLES D.C. SUIT: “The National Rifle Association is promising to reform how its charitable arm distributes money in a settlement with D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb (D), allowing the beleaguered organization to avoid another potentially embarrassing and expensive trial,” The Washington Post’s Beth Reinhard reports. — “The announcement comes nearly two months after a New York jury found the top NRA leadership liable for financial misconduct and corruption, following a six-week trial that exposed how the nonprofit’s officials spent millions on luxury travel, designer clothes and other extravagant perks.” — “A trial was scheduled to begin April 29 in the D.C. case, which accused the NRA Foundation of funneling millions of dollars without proper oversight to the organization to compensate for its reckless spending,” and Schwalb accused the gun rights group in a statement of using the foundation “as an unchecked piggy bank.” — “The NRA did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement,” which “requires the NRA Foundation to form an audit committee and to establish new policies on avoiding conflicts of interest and making grants and loans to the NRA. Board members will have to undergo annual nonprofit compliance training through 2026.”
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | | | — Alliance for Automotive Innovation named Steve Sisneros as chief external affairs officer. Sisneros was previously vice president of external mobilization at the American Petroleum Institute. — Mark Elliot has joined Crowell & Moring International as a senior director. Elliot was most recently senior vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group and is a U.S. Chamber of Commerce alum. — The National Pork Producers Council has added Andy Curliss as vice president of strategic engagement. Curliss was most recently director of external affairs at the SAS Institute. NPPC also promoted Maria Zieba to vice president of government affairs and Chase Adams to assistant vice president of domestic policy. — Heather Sawyer is joining Cooley as special counsel in its congressional investigations practice. She most recently was executive director at American Oversight, and is a Senate Judiciary alum. — Linda Smith is joining the Buffett Early Childhood Institute as its first director of policy. Smith is currently at the Bipartisan Policy Center. — Vincent Barnes is joining AnnDyl Policy Group as senior vice president of government affairs. He was previously the primary lead for demand-side policy development and implementation for the Alliance to Save Energy. — Cheryl Miller is joining the U.S. Council for International Business as vice president for digital policy. She is a Meta, Verizon and Senate Small Business alum. — Archer Aviation has added Melissa McCaffrey to work on state and local government affairs and moved Billy Nolen to become chief regulatory affairs officer, leading its government affairs. McCaffrey previously led Overair’s government affairs division. — Ryan Carroll has joined the American Forest & Paper Association as senior director of government affairs. He previously oversaw government affairs at the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association. — Leah Courtney will be a senior media manager at the National Federation for Independent Business. She currently is communications director for Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.). — Nirosha Lederer is now head of biopharmaceuticals policy evidence at AstraZeneca. She was previously vice president of U.S. federal government at Aetion. — Rochelle “Shelley” Washington has been appointed as senior program manager at the Normal Anomaly Initiative. She previously was an educator in Fort Bend County, Texas. — Sam Hattrup has joined ClearPath as government affairs director. He was formerly legislative director for former Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio). Kelsey Grant also joined ClearPath as a policy adviser overseeing the carbon capture portfolio. She previously was a project manager for Adamantine Energy. — C2ES has added Melissa Hulting as director of industrial decarbonization, Shannon Wood as advocacy manager and Naila Karamally as low carbon transition planning fellow. Hulting spent the past 23 years at EPA, most recently as supervisor of the Clean Air Strategies Section in Chicago. — Eric Schaeffer is retiring as executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project, which he co-founded in 2002 after several years running EPA's Office of Civil Enforcement. David Bookbinder has joined the organization as director of law and policy. He was formerly chief counsel at the Niskanen Center.
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| | New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS | | | 21St Century Lobbying, Inc.: Optical Sourcing Experts Acg Advocacy: Banco San Juan Actum I, LLC: Advancing Community Values Actum I, LLC: Singleton Schreiber Americans For Responsible Innovation: Americans For Responsible Innovation Atlantic Strategies Group: Hither Creek Strategies, LLC Obo Aana Atlantic Strategies Group: Navistar Defense LLC Atlas Crossing LLC: Empire Aviation Catalyst Global Strategies, LLC: Kyle House Group (On Behalf Of Davos Alzheimer'S Collaborative) Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Theradaptive, Inc. Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies: Bioko Science And Technology Company Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies: Peoria County Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies: Water From Innovation LLC Delta Development Group, Inc.: City Of University Place, Washington Delta Development Group, Inc.: East Whiteland Township Dentons US LLP: Astranis Space Technologies, Inc. Eastport Strategies LLC: Clean Energy, LLC Forbes-Tate: Safetyspect Forbes-Tate: Voter Registration Project Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: Animal Legal Defense Legislative Fund Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: Black Veterans Empowerment Council And Mission Uplift Fulcrum Public Affairs LLC: National Asian Pacific American Womens Forum Hannegan Landau Poersch & Rosenbaum Advocacy, LLC: Nextera Energy, Inc. Holland & Knight LLP: Cuberg Hsb Advantage, LLC: Soelect Inc J.A. Green And Company (Formerly LLC): Adaptive Surface Technologies, Inc. J.A. Green And Company (Formerly LLC): Lynx Software Technologies J.A. Green And Company (Formerly LLC): Natures Toolbox, Inc. J.A. Green And Company (Formerly LLC): Q30 Innovations J.A. Green And Company (Formerly LLC): Taqtile J.A. Green And Company (Formerly LLC): Westwin Elements Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid, LLC: American Kratom Association Kountoupes Denham Carr & Reid, LLC: Americans For Responsible Innovation Lake Shore Strategies, LLC: Newberry County Leading Builders Of America: Leading Builders Of America Mercury Public Affairs, LLC: United Cement Group Milne, Wiener & Shofe Global Strategies (Fka M & W Government Affairs, LLC): Houghton Main Street Foundation Milne, Wiener & Shofe Global Strategies (Fka M & W Government Affairs, LLC): Innovas Indiana, LLC Mr. Robert Talley: Nebraska Public Power District Navigators Global LLC (Formerly Dc Navigators, LLC): Americans For Responsible Innovation Passage Consulting Group LLC: Aevum Skylus Company LLC Passage Consulting Group LLC: Mcwane, Inc Patterson Earnhart Real Bird & Wilson LLP: Tule River Tribe Prime Policy Group: American Water Prime Policy Group: City Of Peoria, Az Prime Policy Group: Environmental Defense Fund, Incorporated Prime Policy Group: Maxeon Solar Technologies Ltd. Putalastrategies: Plus Power, LLC Rogue Space Systems Corporation: Rogue Space Systems Corporation The Vogel Group: Lionheart Ventures, LLC Tidal Strategies, LLC: A1.9 Strategies LLC O/B/O General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. Tidal Strategies, LLC: Rmci, Inc. Van Ness Feldman, LLP: Chenega Corporation Worldpay: Worldpay
| | | | A message from American Hospital Association   | | | | | New Lobbying Terminations | | 9B Group, Inc.: Restore The Earth Foundation Arentfox Schiff LLP: Primary Partners Alliance LLC Arentfox Schiff LLP: Saito Tech Ltd. (Previously Known As Candiru Ltd.) Arentfox Schiff LLP: Securing America'S Future Energy (Safe) Au Strategies LLC: Chg Healthcare Au Strategies LLC: Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company Au Strategies LLC: Reinsurance Group Of America Balch & Bingham, LLP: Westwater Resources, Inc. / Alabama Graphite Products Bracy Tucker Brown & Valanzano Dba Brown & Associates: Webster University Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Hamdi Ulukaya Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Jetti Resources, LLC Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: National Resilience, Inc. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Niskanen Center For Public Policy Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP: Project Canary Capitol City Group, Ltd.: Ligado Networks, LLC Capitol Counsel LLC: Aes Wr Limited Partnership Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Shipcom Wireless Cassidy & Associates, Inc.: Specialty Systems Cavarocchi Ruscio Dennis Associates, L.L.C.: American Statistical Association Dapper Labs, Inc.: Dapper Labs, Inc. Efrus Federal Advisors LLC: Dynatrace Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP (Formerly Hunton & Williams LLP): Denbury Inc. Impact Health Policy Partners: Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc. K&L Gates, LLP: Walnut Capital Management, Inc. Longbow Public Policy Group, LLC: Koch Government Affairs (Formerly Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC) Mayforth Group, LLC.: Newport County Ymca Mayforth Group, LLC.: Rhode Island Association Of Facilities And Services For The Aging Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: Briggs & Stratton LLC Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: California Forever LLC Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: Vmware LLC (Formerly Known As Vmware, Inc.) National Academy Of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc.: National Academy Of Elder Law Attorneys, Inc. Nvg, LLC: Casa Oldaker & Willison, LLP: Preservation Ranch, LLC Polsinelli Pc: Hospice And Palliative Nurses Association Polsinelli Pc: One Medical Porter Group, LLC: City Of Fernley, Nevada Porter Group, LLC: Reno-Tahoe International Airport Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, P.C.: Child Neurology Society R A Rapoza Associates Inc: Unidosus Summit Strategies Government Affairs LLC: Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association Telegraph Avenue Advisors: Jenner & Block LLP On Behalf Of Twenty-Nine Palms Band Of Mission Indians The Livingston Group, LLC: Shetland Space Centre Ltd Waxman Strategies: California Association Of Public Hospitals And Health Systems
| | | | A message from American Hospital Association America’s hospitals and health systems are ready for you, 24/7. This week, about 1 in 100 of us will visit the emergency room. And by the end of this year, more than 130 million of us will have made this visit. You may not know when you’ll need us, but in America’s hospitals and health systems, we’re always ready — because emergencies don’t wait for business hours. This is the hospital story. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
