AIPAC, the pro-Israel group that has long been among Washington’s most powerful lobbying forces, is facing intense challenges as it seeks to maintain bipartisan support for Israel amid the war in Gaza — even as it alienates some Democrats with its increasingly aggressive political tactics. While AIPAC has traditionally been able to count on strong […]
Read MoreTag: Lobbying and Lobbyists
Debate Over Bank Industry Rules One Year After SVB Collapse
A year ago, the government and America’s largest banks joined forces in a rare moment of comity. They were forced into action after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed on March 10, 2023, quickly followed by two other lenders, First Republic and Signature Bank. Faced with the threat of a billowing crisis that could threaten the banking […]
Read MoreRoss Gelbspan, Who Exposed Roots of Climate Change Deniers, Dies at 84
Ross Gelbspan, an investigative journalist whose reporting on climate change exposed a campaign of disinformation by oil and gas lobbyists to sow doubt about global warming — a denialism that was embraced by Republican officials and, in some cases, by a credulous news media — died on Jan. 27 at his home in Boston. He […]
Read MoreAfter Hamas Captured Their Sons, 2 American Families Became Activists
One hundred and three days after Omer Neutra was taken prisoner by Hamas, his parents, Ronen and Orna, found themselves in the basement of the United States Capitol, looking for an exit. Andrea Mitchell, the NBC News journalist, stood with them, eager for an interview. Beside Ms. Mitchell were two Senate staff members, with orders […]
Read MoreAs Gaza Death Toll Mounts, the Peace Lobby Fights for Influence in Washington
When the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the most influential pro-Israel group in the United States, wants to use its muscle, it can call on its considerable resources to run negative ads against lawmakers who oppose its agenda and pour money into funding a challenger. When the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker group […]
Read MoreSouth Korea’s Antitrust Enforcers Aimed at Big Tech. Then Came the Backlash.
The South Korean government unleashed a wave of panic across the internet industry: The country’s antitrust regulator said it would enact the toughest competition law outside Europe, curbing the influence of major technology companies. The Korea Fair Trade Commission, with the backing of President Yoon Suk Yeol, said in December that it planned to make […]
Read MoreTruck Makers Team Up to Push for Electric Vehicle Chargers
There are more than four million electric vehicles on American roads, but fewer than 1,000 of them are heavy-duty trucks. On Tuesday, the three largest truck makers plan to announce a push to remedy that deficit by calling on governments and utilities to help them build many more places to charge big rigs. Daimler Truck, […]
Read MoreSince the East Palestine, Ohio, Train Derailment, Accidents Have Risen
After a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed a year ago in East Palestine, Ohio, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents and upending life in the town for months, the rail industry pledged to work to become safer, and members of Congress vowed to pass legislation to prevent similar disasters. No bill was passed. […]
Read MoreWayne LaPierre, Longtime NRA Chief, Testifies at Manhattan Trial
With less than a week left as chief of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre got to look back at his 33-year tenure in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday, when he began testifying in a civil corruption case that the New York attorney general brought against him. Mr. LaPierre has been accused of using the […]
Read More‘Every Politician Has Got to Have Somebody That’s the Hit Man’
The day before the first House vote on H.B. 6, an F.B.I. agent named Blane Wetzel found himself at a Bob Evans restaurant in a Columbus suburb. Wetzel, a polite, fresh-faced man who served on the public-corruption squad, listened as the Republican lawmaker seated across from him, Dave Greenspan, explained, between sips of iced tea, […]
Read MoreEx-State Dept. Official Ordered to Bias Training After Anti-Muslim Rant
A former State Department employee charged with a hate crime in November after he harassed a halal food vendor in Manhattan, calling him a “terrorist,” may have his charges dismissed if he completes a 26-week anti-bias course and fulfills other requirements, according to prosecutors. At a court appearance Wednesday, Manhattan prosecutors said that if the […]
Read MoreWhat Is the Basel III Endgame, and Why Are Banks So Upset About It?
An unlikely coalition of banks, community groups and racial justice advocates is urging federal regulators to rethink the plan they proposed in July to update rules governing how U.S. banks protect themselves against potential losses. Regulators are calling for an increase in the amount of capital — cash-like assets — that banks have to hold […]
Read MoreNew Spin on a Revolving Door: Pentagon Officials Turned Venture Capitalists
When Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and other top officials assembled for an event this month at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, they walked into a lesson in how the high-stakes world of Pentagon lobbying is being altered by the rise of defense technology startups. Inside, at this elite gathering near Los Angeles of […]
Read MoreGiuliani’s Money Woes Were a Focus of Ukraine Inquiry, Records Reveal
Before Rudolph W. Giuliani was ordered to pay $148 million to two Georgia election workers he defamed, and before he owed his own lawyers several million dollars more, federal prosecutors were scrutinizing whether he pursued dubious business dealings in Ukraine to shore up his dwindling fortune, according to court records unsealed late Tuesday. The documents […]
Read MoreWill These Closely Watched Bills Become Law in New York?
Will New York swear off buying paper from the Amazon rainforest to help stave off its deforestation? Should employers be able to bar workers from going to work for competitors? A harried last-minute lobbying push to answer these and other questions is accelerating in Albany, where less than two weeks remain for Gov. Kathy Hochul […]
Read MoreRetail Group Retracts Startling Claim About ‘Organized’ Shoplifting
A national lobbying group has retracted its startling estimate that “organized retail crime” was responsible for nearly half the $94.5 billion in store merchandise that disappeared in 2021, a figure that helped amplify claims that the United States was experiencing a nationwide wave of shoplifting. The group, the National Retail Federation, edited that claim last […]
Read MoreHunter Biden Indicted on Tax Charges
The special counsel investigating Hunter Biden charged the president’s son late Thursday on nine counts stemming from his failure to pay his federal taxes on time on millions in income from foreign businesses, the second indictment against him this year — and the latest development in a case Republicans have made the cornerstone of a […]
Read MoreWhite House Delays a Decision on Banning Menthol Cigarettes
The Biden administration delayed a decision on Wednesday about whether it would ban menthol cigarettes amid intense lobbying from tobacco companies, convenience stores and industry-backed groups that contend that billions of dollars in sales and jobs will be lost. The proposal has also generated concerns that Black smokers will become the targets of aggressive police […]
Read MoreF.B.I. Raids Home of Eric Adams’s Fund-Raising Chief
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday searched the Brooklyn home of Mayor Eric Adams’s chief fund-raiser, Brianna Suggs, a campaign consultant who is deeply entwined with efforts to advance the mayor’s agenda, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The raid apparently prompted Mr. Adams to abruptly cancel several meetings […]
Read MoreFrustrated With New Rules, Bank Lobbyists Are Making Their Fight Public
Banks have become increasingly frustrated with their federal regulators and, in a break with tradition, have brought the battle out into the open. In an effort to overturn new rules and challenge the legitimacy of regulators’ powers, bank lobbyists have added legal threats and public attacks to the more usual lobbying efforts that once took […]
Read MoreMenendez Held a Tropical Fund-Raiser. Donors Were Scarce. So Was He.
At Puerto Rico’s most exclusive beachfront resort, where shoulder season rooms go for $1,500 a night, deep-pocketed donors have reliably lined up to pay tribute to Senator Robert Menendez in the form of a $5,000 check to his political action committee. But this year’s retreat imploded, as donors quickly distanced themselves from Mr. Menendez after […]
Read MoreBehind a Senator’s Indictments, a Foreign Spy Service Works Washington
“What else can the love of my life do for you?” asked Nadine Arslanian, the girlfriend of Senator Robert Menendez. She posed the question at a cozy dinner at a steakhouse in May 2019 attended by Gen. Ahmed Helmy, Egypt’s top spy in Washington. The discussion was revealed in a federal indictment on Thursday. As […]
Read MoreSteve Bannon Helped Stoke the McCarthy Ouster, Boosting Gaetz and Rebels
On Wednesday morning, two Republicans who hours earlier had toppled Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House made a well-worn trek to a 19th-century brick townhouse a few blocks away from the Capitol and entered the cluttered sanctuary of Stephen K. Bannon’s recording studio. Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, the instigator of the rebellion, and […]
Read MoreHow Palantir Became a Front-Runner for the UK’s Multimillion-Dollar NHS Contract
It began with a £1 contract. In the hours after a pandemic was declared in March 2020, Palantir, the secretive American data analytics company, was invited to 10 Downing Street along with other tech groups, including Amazon, Google and Meta, to discuss how it could help the British government respond. Within days, Palantir’s software was […]
Read MoreGifts, Gadgets and Greece: Inside a Huawei Lobbying Campaign
In November 2020, executives at Huawei, the Chinese telecom-equipment maker, exchanged messages about holding a meeting with a “friend” and an “adviser” in Greece. The contacts, identified as Greek government advisers, were set to provide Huawei with something valuable: a document outlining government contracts and “first priority projects” that the company might want to work […]
Read MoreCrypto’s Wild D.C. Ride: From FTX at the Fed to a Scramble for Access
Cryptocurrency lobbyists were riding so high in early 2022 that an FTX executive felt comfortable directly emailing Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, to ask him to meet with Sam Bankman-Fried, the soon-to-be-disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency exchange. It worked. “The day that would work for me is February 1,” Mr. Powell […]
Read MoreHow the Little-Known States Project Helps Democrats Wield Power
For decades, Republicans have outmaneuvered and outspent Democrats in state legislatures, gerrymandering them into the minority in both red states and political battlegrounds. G.O.P. state lawmakers have used that advantage to pass countless conservative policies — with a lot of help along the way. In back rooms and behind the scenes, conservative think tanks and […]
Read MoreFourth Top FTX Executive Pleads Guilty Ahead of Sam Bankman-Fried Trial
Ryan Salame, a former top executive at the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded guilty on Thursday to criminal charges linked to the sweeping fraud case against FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, a move that raises the pressure on Mr. Bankman-Fried ahead of his trial next month. In a federal courtroom in downtown Manhattan, Mr. Salame pleaded guilty […]
Read MoreNew Corporate Minimum Tax Ushers In Confusion and a Lobbying Blitz
At his State of the Union address this year, President Biden celebrated the fact that his new climate and tax law would no longer allow some of America’s largest corporations to pay zero in federal taxes. “Because of the law I signed, billion-dollar companies have to pay a minimum of 15 percent,” Mr. Biden said, […]
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