Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Washington lobbyists are used to trying to puzzle out where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stand. But as lawmakers start crafting President Joe Biden\u2019s infrastructure package, K Street has been working overtime to decipher the views of a less known but in some ways equally powerful figure: Elizabeth MacDonough.<\/p>\n
The increasing likelihood that Democrats will move an infrastructure bill using reconciliation \u2014 which lets the Senate pass legislation with only 50 votes as long it complies with a byzantine set of rules \u2014 has made MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, one of the most powerful people in Washington. It\u2019s also changed the influence industry, fueling a sudden demand for lobbyists who specialize in reconciliation.<\/p>\n
Lobbyists with reconciliation expertise \u201care at a premium,\u201d said Jim Manley, a former aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who\u2019s now a consultant. \u201cI know a whole bunch who specialize in it and are busy, and I know a whole bunch who are also getting pinged for advice.\u201d<\/p>\n
“I have had many people ask me for my advice\u201d on reconciliation, he added. \u201cUnfortunately, none of them are clients so far. I’ve got to work a little harder.”<\/p>\n
As it\u2019s become clearer that reconciliation bills are the chief vehicle for moving anything through Congress, lobbyists have studied up on the finer points of procedure. They\u2019ve sent memos to clients advising them on how to use reconciliation to their advantage. One lobbying firm, ACG Advocacy, held a briefing on reconciliation for the firm\u2019s clients days after Democrats won the Senate runoffs in Georgia \u2014 all but ensuring they would try to pass bills via reconciliation without Republican votes \u2014 that drew about 150 people. At least one lobbying firm has spoken with former parliamentarians to get a better grasp of the process.<\/p>\n
Lobbyists have kept an eye on Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocacy groups that have pushed to employ reconciliation as aggressively as possible while Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to really push the envelope on what\u2019s permissible under reconciliation,\u201d said one Republican lobbyist who\u2019s advised clients on the process.<\/p>\n
Lobbyists expect Biden\u2019s forthcoming infrastructure package \u2014 which will likely be passed via reconciliation \u2014 to be much more heavily lobbied than his Covid-19 relief package, which also passed using reconciliation, setting off a potential gold rush for K Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone\u2019s working on it,\u201d said Jeff Forbes, a former Democratic Senate staffer who co-founded the lobbying firm Forbes Tate Partners. \u201cIt\u2019s sucking up all the oxygen in D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
The demand for reconciliation expertise on K Street is another indication of how the legislative process has broken down in Washington. The Senate has passed only five bills since Biden took office, one of them via reconciliation. While lobbyists are still hired to help shape legislation that moves through Congress the traditional way, much of the action is increasingly narrowed to a few massive bills.<\/p>\n