With Daniel Lippman

PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off next week for the holidays but back to our normal schedule on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

MAKING A LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE: Assuming all goes according to plan, lawmakers are prepared to close out the current Congress this week with a $1.7 trillion omnibus package. Federal campaign finance watchdogs are already looking ahead to next year, and on Friday the FEC sent its legislative recommendations up to the Hill after approving them unanimously a day earlier.

— Among the commission’s highest priorities for next year are making permanent its ability to assess administrative fines for reporting violations and unlinking key FEC positions from federal pay scales in order to increase their salaries.

— But the commission is also pressing Congress for a legislative fix to a glaring federal campaign finance loophole uncovered last year that allows foreign nationals to fund state and local ballot initiatives and recall elections even as foreigners are barred from giving money in connection with elections at the state, local and federal levels. The FEC asked lawmakers to amend federal campaign finance law to clarify that such contributions are illegal in addition to banning individuals from “knowingly helping or assisting” a foreign national to violate the prohibition.

— In the next-highest tier of priorities, the FEC once again implored Congress to do something about the proliferation of so-called scam PACs that “solicit contributions with the promise of supporting candidates, but then disclose minimal or no candidate support activities while engaging in significant and continuous fundraising.”

— The agency’s asks include landing on a definition for what constitutes scam PAC activity in order to crack down on it. While the FEC recommended this last year, as well as a ban on fraudulent solicitation that would give the FEC authority to go after such fundraising violations, the commission for the first time is proposing Congress implement standards to gauge improper spending by PACs to determine when a committee mainly exists to enrich its operators.

— When the FEC met last year to weigh its response to fighting scam PACs, commissioners were divided on how to structure new disclosure requirements meant to expose that type of self-enrichment. Now, the watchdog is proposing lawmakers devise “standards that address payments to vendors that have financial relationships with the individuals who establish or operate political committees.”

— The commissioners listed more than a half-dozen other legislative priorities for the coming Congress including clamping down on PACs’ use of pre-checked boxes to dupe sometimes unwitting donors into signing up for recurring contributions and then making it difficult to cancel those charges.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. Are you fighting for last minute changes to the omnibus? Reach out: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

INHOFE’S CHIEF HEADS TO K STREET: Luke Holland, who’s worked for the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee for more than a decade, is heading to K Street now that his longtime boss is set to retire. Holland most recently served as chief of staff to Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and unsuccessfully ran to replace him in the Senate next year. He’s joining The Nickles Group, the lobbying firm run by former Sen. Don Nickles.

JETBLUE HIRES BLOOM:JetBlue has added the antitrust lobbyist Seth Bloom to its bench of hired guns as the airline fights antitrust scrutiny in Washington on several fronts. The airline brought on Bloom, a former general counsel for the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, last month, according to newly filed disclosures, days before the company wrapped up a trial challenging an alliance with fellow airline giant American Airlines.

— Federal antitrust regulators sued last year to block the alliance allowing the “carriers share passengers, jets and revenue in certain routes between New York and Boston,” The Washington Post reported. During closing arguments in the trial, “prosecutors pointed to an economic analysis that predicted between $500 million and nearly $700 million in higher fares for consumers on the routes encompassed in the Northeast Alliance,” an assertion attorneys for the airlines rebuffed.

— Bloom is lobbying on a different antitrust issue for the airline, according to disclosures: JetBlue’s proposed merger with the budget carrier Spirit Airlines. The Justice Department is reviewing JetBlue’s $3.8 billion takeover bid, which last month became the target of a lawsuit from a coalition of customers and flight attendants.

— JetBlue also retains JTR Strategies, Federal Hill Group, Thorn Run Partners and Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott. But the airline follows in the footsteps of other major corporations who’ve hired Bloom Strategic Counsel amid antitrust pressures or high-profile mergers, including Apple, Aetna, Amazon, Comcast, Sprint, Microsoft and Molson Coors.

ICYMI — PRIVATE EQUITY-BACKED CHILD CARE MAKES A D.C. PLAY: “Millions of American families are coping with a child care shortage brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. But one end of the business is thriving: national chains, some charging silver-spoon prices.”

— Now those chains, many of which attracted new investors since the pandemic, are working to shape policy debates over how to address labor shortages and skyrocketing rates within the industry, TheNew York Times’ Dana Goldstein reports.

— “Through a lobbying consortium, they were particularly aggressive in negotiations over President Biden’s Build Back Better bill, which ultimately did not pass. The consortium said publicly that it supported the bill’s child care proposals, which would have lowered costs for many families. But in lobbying meetings, it argued to policymakers that the bill’s numbers did not add up.”

— “Senate staffers said they assured the consortium and other child care groups that through the regulatory process, Congress would provide enough federal dollars to make the plan workable for providers, including for the chain companies. Nevertheless, the legislation could have limited profits for the big chains.”

— “After Senator Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat from West Virginia, essentially killed the legislation by opposing it,” executives from members of the Early Care and Education Consortium donated to Manchin’s leadership PAC and attended a dinner with Manchin, where they “expressed their wish for federal child care funding to be included in the bill that became the Inflation Reduction Act but said it should be targeted toward lower-income families.”

HOW DEMOCRACY FOR AMERICA FELL APART: “As the liberal group Democracy for America approached insolvency following the midterm elections, staffers faced a related problem: their CEO, Yvette Simpson, was on vacation at a vineyard in California,” Daniel reports.

— “Weeks earlier Simpson had told two members of the development team that $320,000 needed to be raised for DFA to make it through the year, according to two former employees. But as the group’s dire financial state started to become clear to staff, she attended a leadership training paid for by the organization and a personal multi-day sommelier education course in Napa Valley, according to five former employees.”

— “Eventually, she held an all-staff Zoom call while in Napa, in which she announced that DFA was running out of cash, according to an audio recording.” The organization “has been hurt this year by a host of other issues that extend beyond Simpson’s management.”

— “And some former staffers praised aspects of Simpson’s performance: They credited her with embracing a diverse range of candidates and her detailed knowledge of grassroots organizing. But according to internal memos and Slack messages reviewed by POLITICO, 10 employees at DFA pinned much of the blame for its demise over the past several months on Simpson.”

— “‘[A]s we understand it, no effort was made by you to meet or call with donors’ for the first three weeks of November, the entire non-leadership staff of 10 people wrote in a memo to her a few days before she resigned. ‘You should know that your staff no longer has confidence in your ability to lead this organization.’”

FTX LATEST: “Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are seeking information from Democrats and Republicans about donations from the disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried and two former executives at the companies he co-founded,” per The New York Times’ Ken Vogel and Ken Bensinger.

— “In the days after Mr. Bankman-Fried was arrested on Monday and charged with violations including a major campaign finance scheme, the prosecutors reached out to representatives for campaigns and committees that had received millions of dollars from Mr. Bankman-Fried, his colleagues and their companies.”

— The Democratic law firm Elias Law Group, whose clients include the “party’s official campaign arms, its biggest super PACs and the campaigns of high-profile politicians such as Representative Hakeem Jeffries — received an email from a prosecutor in the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York” seeking information for the investigation.

— “Prosecutors are also investigating donations to Republican campaigns and committees” as well as contributions from Ryan Salame, another former FTX executive who gave massive sums to Republicans, former FTX engineer Nishad Singh and from FTX and the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research.

— Prosecutors’ outreach to campaigns, which have not been accused of wrongdoing, have focused on “records that could be used to determine whether the FTX executives lied in their responses to disclaimers commonly featured on political committee websites. The disclaimers ask donors to attest that the money they are giving is their own, and that they are not being reimbursed by a corporation or another person, which would be illegal.”

— Robert Lewis is joining the Credit Union National Association as executive vice president and chief advocacy officer. He’s the founder, president and CEO of the Van Aucker Group and is a Financial Services Institute and Zell Miller alum.

— The American Hotel & Lodging Association has promoted Kiersten Pearce to senior vice president for executive and strategic initiatives, Adrienne Weil to senior vice president for member engagement and services and Kara Filer to senior vice president for strategic partnerships and business development.

— Danny Bounds is now manager of education technology policy at the Software and Information Industry Association. He was previously federal programs ombudsman for the Tennessee Department of Education.

— Adrienne Elrod is joining the Biden administration, our Jonathan Lemire has learned. Elrod will serve as the director of external affairs for the Commerce Department’s new CHIPS program, overseeing communications, legislative affairs, intergovernmental affairs, and public engagement. Elrod previously worked for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns, Bill Clinton’s administration and on the Biden 2020 campaign and inaugural committee.

— Pamela Corante is joining the Motion Picture Association as vice president of global communications. She previously led comms at Virgin Hyperloop and is an AT&T alum.

— Wesley Whistle is now a special assistant in the Office of the Undersecretary of Education. He previously was policy director of the higher education program at New America, and is a Bob Casey alum.

— Marina Rosenberg is joining the Anti-Defamation League as senior vice president for international affairs. She was previously Israel’s ambassador to Chile.

Friends of Carla Spalding (Carla Spalding for Congress, Secure America PAC)

GE Company Healthcare Political Action Committee (PAC)
Kentuckians for Balance (Super PAC)
OCTEQI Pac (Hybrid PAC)
Securing Progress Across our Nation PAC (SPAN PAC) (Leadership PAC: Abigail Spanberger)
Veterans Across America (PAC)
Yinzer PAC (Leadership PAC: John Fetterman)

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: The Immigration Hub, LLC
Bloom Strategic Counsel: Jetblue Airways Corporation
Eller Group: United Network For Organ Sharing (Unos)
Generation Maastricht: Generation Maastricht
Ice Miller Strategies LLC: First American Financial Corporation
Miller Strategies, LLC: Federation Of American Hospitals
Miller Strategies, LLC: Oracle America, Inc.
Miller Strategies, LLC: Pga Tour
The Jerry Costello Group, LLC: Bi-State Development
The Vogel Group: Mr. Andrei Baronov
The Vogel Group: Mr. Ratmir Timashev
Tiber Creek Group: Dream Corps

Sakura Conservation Strategies: National Parks Conservation Association
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Aci Worldwide Inc.
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Advanced Concept Innovations, LLC
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: American Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Battery Council International
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Blueair, Inc.
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Comptia Member Services, LLC
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Gopher Resource
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Grant Thornton LLP
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Kaboom!
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Lakeland Regional Medical Center
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: National Association Of State Outdoor Recreation Liaison Officers
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: National Association Of State Park Directors
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: National Industries For The Blind
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Outdoor Recreation Roundtable Association
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Peopleforbikes Coalition (Fka Bikes Belong Coalition)
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Publix Super Markets, Inc.
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Recreational Equipment, Inc.
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Tall Timbers Research Station And Land Conservancy
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Taylor James, LLC
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: The Amherst Group, LLC
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: The Institute For Operations Research And The Management Sciences (Informs)
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Unilever United States, Inc. On Behalf Of Hellmann'S
Signal Group Consulting, LLC: Vista Outdoor
Venn Strategies: Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Venn Strategies: Future Of Pharmacy Coalition