FIRST IN PI — SAMUEL HEADS TO NVG: Bill Samuel is joining left-leaning lobbying firm NVG as a senior adviser. Samuel spent the past two decades leading government affairs at the labor giant AFL-CIO before retiring earlier this year, and was a top official in the Labor Department during the Clinton administration. — NVG, whose clients include the ACLU, SEIU, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, PhRMA, Comcast, Nintendo, United Farm Workers and Pfizer, has also added civil rights attorney Erinn Martin as a vice president focused on the firm’s civil rights, technology and media practice. Martin was previously with the National Women’s Law Center, where she served as director of nominations and cross-cutting policies. COMING ATTRACTIONS: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday opened the door for more companies to challenge years-old regulations on procedural grounds, with a 6-3 majority ruling that a North Dakota truck stop could sue the Federal Reserve for a 2011 rule governing debit card swipe fees,” our Victoria Guida reports. — “Under the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs the process by which new regulations must be adopted, there is a six-year statute of limitations. But the store in question in this case, Corner Post, did not open for business until 2018, raising the question of when the clock starts.” — “The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, saying that ‘an APA claim does not accrue for purposes of [its] 6-year statute of limitations until the plaintiff is injured by final agency action.’ Basically, the clock begins running when the firm is first legally hurt by the rule.” — The decision “has potentially sweeping consequences,” with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson arguing in her dissent “that the decision would authorize ‘a tsunami of lawsuits’ with ‘the potential to devastate the functioning of the Federal Government.’” — Meanwhile the business community has wasted no time strategizing on how to take advantage of another major win at the high court after Friday’s landmark ruling that overturned the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine, The Washington Post’s Tony Romm reports. — “Many conservatives and businesses long had chafed over the legal doctrine. … They had encouraged the Supreme Court over the past year to dismantle the precedent in a flood of legal filings, then rejoiced when the nation’s highest judicial panel sided with them this week — paving the way for industry to commence a renewed assault against the power and reach of the executive branch.” — “Some of the most powerful corporate interests under the government’s watch predicted the decision might aid in their ongoing legal clashes with the Biden administration,” but “the most lasting consequence of the Supreme Court’s ruling might be that it deters some federal agencies from issuing rules in the first place, perhaps convincing them to ‘put their pen down and pause,’” argued Beth Milito, the executive director of the legal arm at the National Federation of Independent Business. BANK ON IT: “When Republican campaigns want a banker, they don't go to New York or San Francisco, but to downtown McLean, Virginia — about a 20-minute drive from the White House, where a one-branch bank next to an auto repair shop has beaten bigger financial rivals to become a must-have partner for political work,” Reuters’ Lewis Jackson writes. — “Chain Bridge Bank, privately owned and with some 70 employees, has worked with the campaign of every Republican Party presidential nominee since John McCain in 2008, including Donald Trump.” — “For almost two decades the bank founded by former Republican U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald has quietly built its position by catering to politics, where large sums shift at short notice and bankers are always on call. Its business model, and the group it serves, could face more scrutiny after the bank said in May it was considering going public.” ANNALS OF FUNDRAISING: “The Democratic Party’s perennially nervous donor class descended into deep unease on Friday, as some of the wealthiest people in America commiserated over President Biden’s weak debate performance and puzzled over what, if anything, they could do to change the course of the race,” The New York Times’ Teddy Schleifer, Ken Vogel and Shane Goldmacher report. — “In Silicon Valley, a group of megadonors, including Ron Conway and Laurene Powell Jobs, were calling, texting and emailing one another about a situation they described as a possible catastrophe. The donors wondered about whom in the Biden fold they could contact to reach Jill Biden, the first lady, who in turn could persuade her husband not to run, according to a person familiar with the conversations.” — “A Silicon Valley donor who had planned to host an intimate fund-raiser featuring Mr. Biden this summer decided not to go through with the gathering because of the debate, according to a person told directly by the prospective host. Another major California donor left a debate watch party early and emailed a friend with the subject line: ‘Utter disaster,’ according to a copy of the email.” — “In group chats and hushed discussions, some wealthy Democrats floated interventions, others hoped Mr. Biden would have an epiphany and decide to exit on his own, and still more strategized about steering dollars to down-ballot candidates. The most optimistic donors wanted to wait for polling to see the scope of the fallout.” FLYING OUT: The Association of Equipment Manufacturers kicked off a series of events today that turn the usual fly-in on its head by bringing the trade group’s lobbying priorities to congressional districts across the country. The “AEM Manufacturing Express” will make 80 stops in 20 states between now and October, beginning with events in Iowa today that will feature GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley. — “Decisions made in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals across the country directly impact our industry, and that is why we are hitting the road this summer to urge our leaders to prioritize the policies that keep equipment manufactures strong and America exceptional,” AEM senior vice president of government and industry relations Kip Eideberg said in a statement.
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