| | | | |  | | By Caitlin Oprysko | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Daniel Lippman SHEIN’S HIRING SPREE CONTINUES: E-commerce giant Shein has hired Forbes Tate Partners — the fourth new outside firm for the company since February — as it works to build out its lobbying footprint in D.C. Jeff Forbes, Jeff Strunk, Libby Greer and Liz Bennett started working on the account for Shein at the beginning of April, according to a newly filed disclosure. — The retailer has stepped up its D.C. presence considerably since last summer, and now has six outside lobby shops on its roster in addition to its in-house lobbyists. These include former Biden White House aide Sirat Attapit and Kent Knutson, the veteran retail lobbyist who previously ran Home Depot’s D.C. office and who joined Shein to head up its lobbying operation at the beginning of this year. — Shein’s government affairs team is still expanding, bringing on two other former retail lobbyists last month as the Singapore-based company remains under scrutiny in Washington over its Chinese origins, labor practices and environmental impacts as well as trade concerns. MORE NEW BUSINESS: Maximus, the administrative services company that holds federal contracts for operating Medicare and Affordable Care Act customer call centers, outsourcing for clinical assessments for veterans, IT modernization and servicing student loans, retained two new firms as it gears up to bid for a reworked call center contract in the coming months. — In April, Maximus enlisted a team of more than 20 lobbyists at Mehlman Consulting to work on health care and labor issues related to ACA and Medicare enrollment, per a disclosure filing. This month, the contractor retained Brick Street Strategy’s Michael Copher, a former staff director for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, to work on business process and program design and health care issues. — The call center recompete plans announced in December follow labor disputes involving contractors, who work in the call centers and have been looking to unionize. Call center workers employed by Maximus have walked off the job multiple times over the past few years, and the issue has attracted the attention of lawmakers, some of whom met with Maximus staffers in March. — The rebidding process will come two years into a 10-year contract for Maximus, and will include a provision aimed at ensuring labor disputes involving contractors will not disrupt their service offerings — a prospect the company is likely seeking to downplay, despite claims to the contrary from Communications Workers of America. — On an earnings call earlier this year, Maximus chief executive Bruce Caswell called the addition of that requirement “unprecedented in a services contract of this nature, particularly in light of its highly successful performance and demonstrated continuity of operations.” — In a statement to PI, Maximus spokesperson Eileen Cassidy Rivera said Mehlman and the company’s other hired guns “are helping us raise awareness about Maximus’ successful record and our employees who provide exemplary service every day.” — Rivera added that the company is “proud of our record of exceptional performance, without disruption, in providing critical services for ACA and Medicare enrollment in partnership with the federal government” and is working to highlight that along with “our strong employee satisfaction, and the quality jobs we provide across the nation.” TGIF and welcome to PI. Send lobbying tips: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.
| | A message from the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l: Raise the pilot retirement age? Raise chaos for air travelers. Congress is considering an arbitrary change to current law that would raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67 to address a pilot shortage that isn’t real. Doing so will lead to real consequences. In fact, there’s now a surplus of airline pilots. With more and more people flying, now is the wrong time to complicate air travel. Learn more. | | | BGR CONVENES LEADERSHIP AI AIDES: BGR Group gathered more than a dozen of its clients on Thursday for a briefing from top House leadership staffers working on artificial intelligence policy. Preston Hill of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office and Alex Scheuer, who works on AI for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, spoke about the state of play to representatives from Microsoft, the American Hotel and Lodging Association, Cognizant, DHL, the Canadian Embassy, Neurocrine, Samsung, MIT, IBM, the National Photonics Initiative, the American Leadership Initiative, SAP and SNAP, according to the firm. — The briefing came the day after an AI-focused fly-in organized by Intuit’s Small Business Council, during which small business owners met with staff from 34 Hill offices including that of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). — The business leaders advocated for including small businesses in working groups developing AI regulatory frameworks, as well as a bill aimed at fostering greater AI literacy among small businesses — legislation that would help small businesses afford AI-powered products to help with various aspects of business operations. NOT A LOT GOING ON AT THE MOMENT: “In the midst of what many expect to be the most toxic presidential campaign in modern history, American businesses are going to extraordinary lengths to stay off the political radar,” the Wall Street Journal’s Chip Cutter and Ray A. Smith report. — “Some CEOs are privately drawing up plans to tell employees not to expect comments on political matters in all-hands sessions. Others are reconsidering common election initiatives, such as get-out-the-vote drives, fearing those could be viewed in the current moment as partisan. A number of companies are also taking a harder line on workplace activism after long tolerating dissent.” — “The approach to this year’s presidential race is a stark reversal for many employers. In 2020, CEOs weighed in on divisive topics, feeling pressure from employees and customers to share their views on the election and issues such as voting access. After years spent navigating debates on immigration, abortion, gay rights and racial equity, many executives say fatigue has set in. With the white-collar labor market now cooling, employees also have less leverage to agitate for responses, corporate advisers say.” TSA LOBBIED AGAINST FACIAL RECOGNITION PUSH: Our Alfred Ng reports that the TSA was among those who fought a proposed amendment to the FAA reauthorization bill “that would formalize the option for travelers not to undergo facial recognition scans at airports, despite the agency’s policy allowing for people to choose a manual review instead, according to two people familiar with the matter.” — “TSA opposed the amendment that would codify its policy into law, according to a Senate aide and another person familiar with negotiations between lawmakers and the agency.” The language from Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), John Kennedy (R-La.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), which never came up for a vote before last night’s Senate vote to pass the FAA bill, also elicited blowback from representatives for the airline and travel industry along with the biometric industry’s trade association. — Merkley appeared to take a shot at the agency in a statement this afternoon. “As I worked with other Senate negotiators to develop a compromise proposal governing TSA’s use of facial recognition, it became abundantly clear that the end goal for TSA is to make facial recognition mandatory for all American air travelers and that the current opt-out system will end,” he alleged, contending that “everyone who values privacy, freedom, and our civil rights should be concerned about the increasing, unchecked use of facial recognition technology by the federal government.” NOT BIDEN THEIR TONGUE: Some of President Joe Biden’s top pro-Israel donors aren’t mincing words as he’s become increasingly critical of the Israeli government’s handling of the war in Gaza, Axios’ Alex Thompson and Barak Ravid write. — Israeli American megadonor Haim Saban, who hosted a Biden fundraiser earlier this year, emailed senior White House officials Wednesday asking them to pass along his criticism of Biden’s recent move to pause bomb shipments to Israel over a possible ground operation in Rafah.” — “‘Bad, Bad, Bad, decision, on all levels, Pls reconsider,” he wrote in a message obtained by Axios and other news outlets. He added: ‘Let’s not forget that there are more Jewish voters, who care about Israel, than Muslim voters that care about Hamas.’” — “ Mark Mellman, the president and CEO of the influential group Democratic Majority for Israel, told Axios that ‘there has never been a president more pro-Israel than Joe Biden but at the same time we are very concerned about what appears to be a significant shift in US policy.’ He added: ‘There are a lot of people in the pro-Israel community who are very worried, very upset and very angry.’”
| | | | 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. | | | | | | | | | — Glen Echo Group has added Shane McCarthy as a senior associate and Bella Kerbers as an associate. McCarthy was previously a manager at Signal Group. — Starlee Coleman will be the next president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Coleman, who currently serves as CEO of the Texas Public Charter Schools Association, will begin in August. — Max Luong is now speechwriter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. He previously was director of executive comms at SKDK and is a DCCC alum. — Johanna Nesseth Tuttle has joined Bechtel as vice president of government affairs and manager of its D.C. office. She most recently served as the general manager of legislative and regulatory affairs at Chevron. — Richard Trent will be the next executive director of the Main Street Alliance. He was previously executive director of Friends of Anacostia Park. — Julio Esperias joined Fenton Communications as an account director, working on their philanthropy and government portfolio. Esperias was previously senior communications manager at Community Coalition. — Hilary McQuaide, vice president of global communications at TikTok, announced she has left the company.
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| | | | A message from the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l:   | | | | | New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS | | Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Williams & Lake, LLC Brian Glackin & Associates LLC: Inertial Labs, Inc. Brick Street Strategy: Maximus Cgcn Group, LLC: C3.Ai, Inc. Christopherson Advocates, LLC: 180 Degrees Christopherson Advocates, LLC: Equaspace Christopherson Advocates, LLC: People Serving People Inc Convergence Strategies, LLC: Pacific Marine & Supply Company Ltd. Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: American Critical Minerals Association Essilorluxottica USa Inc.: Essilorluxottica USa Inc. Forbes-Tate: Shein Technology LLC Invariant LLC: Ikea US Retail LLC Medsecurean.Com: Indian Pharmaceutical Association Mro Corporation: Mro Corporation Off Hill Strategies L.L.C.: King Aerospace Primacy Strategy Group: Kandiyohi County Squire Patton Boggs: Center City District Sustainable Strategies Dc: Town Of Crested Butte, Co The Tim Hugo Group: Evidence Iq Van Scoyoc Associates: Repkon USa Holdings, Inc. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale And Dorr LLP: Sabre Corporation
| | New Lobbying Terminations | | None.
| | A message from the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l: A difference of two years can lead to decades of air travel complications. Arbitrarily extending the mandatory pilot retirement age from 65 to 67 to address a fake pilot shortage will upend union collective bargaining agreements, disrupt airline operations, increase ticket prices, create a cascading and costly training backlog for pilots and put the United States out of compliance with international standards. Learn why raising the pilot retirement age to 67 will wreak long-term havoc on air travel. | | | | | | | Follow us | | | | |
