Hillsdale's lobbying pays off

Politico

24-06-2025

With Amanda Chu, Daniel Lippman
CONSERVATIVE COLLEGE CARVEOUT: President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are angling to use their megabill to turn the screws on elite liberal colleges that take millions in taxpayer funds while sitting on endowments worth tens of billions of dollars. But a single college that's a paragon of conservative higher education has managed to secure a carveout after finding itself in the crossfire, your host reports for Pros.
— Hillsdale College, a Christian liberal arts school of fewer than 2,000 students located in southern Michigan, is one of a slew of smaller institutions that had been working to avoid being swept up in the GOP effort to raise taxes on the seemingly bottomless endowments of household names like Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
— But Hillsdale stands apart from those schools: For one, it's a rare institution of higher learning that the modern Republican Party applauds. Just as uncommon, Hillsdale accepts no funding from the federal government.
— That formed the crux of its argument that, on principle, Hillsdale and schools like it should not be subject to a federal tax on endowments. The university, like other schools fearful of a tax hike on their endowments, turned to K Street earlier this year for help with the endowment tax, as PI previously reported.
— While the Hillsdale would still be hit by the tax under the House-passed reconciliation bill, Hillsdale's distinctive argument appeared to have broken through in the Senate, where tax writers last week included an exemption for schools that fit Hillsdale's profile in the draft text of their bill.
— Despite Hillsdale's incomparable conservative credentials — or possibly in spite of them — that reprieve is by no means guaranteed, as Hillsdale found out eight years ago. And there remains one hitch that could complicate things: At least right now, there aren't believed to be any other schools besides Hillsdale that don't accept federal cash and have large enough endowments that they're at risk of being hit by the endowment tax. (Pro subscribers can read the full story here. Others can find it on the POLITICO home page tomorrow morning.)
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FLYING IN: AARP will fan out across the Hill tomorrow for an 11th-hour lobbying blitz to seek changes to the reconciliation bill, including its new work requirements for recipients of Medicaid and food stamps. The advocacy group has more than 330 meetings on the books with members from both parties on both sides of the Capitol.
— AARP supports certain parts of the bill, including the broadening of the bonus standard deductions for older Americans and expansions of a caregiver tax credit and the low-income housing tax credit. And AARP-opposed language in the House-passed megabill that would have expanded the orphan drug exclusion from the Inflation Reduction Act's drug pricing provisions was dropped from the Senate text.
— But AARP wants to see additional changes to the Senate bill's cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including its move to foist the costs of SNAP onto states, which may end up securing approval from the Senate parliamentarian.
— The Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition, meanwhile, was on the Hill today in an effort to salvage an investment tax credit that is poised to sunset at the end of this year for solar projects under the reconciliation bill. SEMA is also lobbying for the removal of a restriction in the Senate version on how many products companies can claim an advanced manufacturing tax credit for.
COMING ATTRACTIONS: As Republicans' war with elite colleges rages on, Wall Street is the latest industry 'trying to get out of the crosshairs of Republican states that are cracking down on companies for 'woke' policies that conservative policymakers say are illegal and discriminatory,' The Wall Street Journal's Alexander Saeedy, AnnaMaria Andriotis and Dylan Tokar write.
— 'Representatives from JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and other big banks met in recent weeks with officials in states including Texas and Oklahoma to defend against allegations that they refuse to do business with industries such as gun manufacturing and fossil-fuel extraction, people familiar with the discussions said.'
— 'Banks are also worried about a bigger threat: that President Trump could turn the power of the federal government against banks, as he has with universities and big law firms. The Trump administration is considering an executive order on 'debanking,' according to people familiar with the matter.'
A NEW STAMP ON BALLARD'S PASSPORT: Ballard Partners has announced another expansion to its series of strategic partnerships around the globe, teaming up with the Mexico City-based government affairs firm Global Nexus.
— The latest addition to the Ballard Global Alliance means that the firm now has a foothold in every country on the continent ahead of next year's likely renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, and as the Trump administration looks to squeeze America's neighbors on trade and immigration issues.
— Ballard announced its partnership with Quebec-based TACT in March, and has also struck up partnerships with government affairs shops in Japan, South Korea, Latin America, the U.K. and Italy as well as a domestic alliance with Checkmate Government Relations.
FIRST IN PI — GLASS HOUSE ALERT: One of the intellectual architects of the push to cut Medicaid once took a loan from the government that was never repaid, Daniel reports. Brian Blase is president of Paragon Health Institute, which has taken on a high-profile role in the effort in Congress to slash Medicaid costs through work requirements and other reforms.
— He has called Medicaid America's 'most flawed' entitlement program while advocating for changes that would reduce spending on the program by hundreds of billions of dollars.
— But while Blase calls for those cuts, he has benefited from government largesse in the past. His consulting firm, Blase Policy Strategies LLC, took a $20,833 Covid relief loan under the Paycheck Protection Program in May 2020, but it was not repaid and was later fully forgiven in line with many other PPP loans. Shortly after, in January 2021, he bought a house near Jacksonville for almost $700,000, according to real estate records.
— Blase said he was told to apply for the PPP loan by his accountant and that he adhered to all rules as he ran his small business. 'Like millions of other Americans, I applied for a PPP loan as part of the shared national effort to keep the economy going during COVID,' he said in a statement. 'I'm proud of the work that my Paragon team and I have done to expose how government programs often fail American patients, particularly the most vulnerable, and hard-working families.'
— Blase, a former congressional staffer, is testifying on Wednesday before the House Budget Committee on Medicaid reform. In a sign of Paragon's sway, a letter in early May released by fiscal hawks in Congress appeared to be written at least in part by Paragon.
— Blase served on the National Economic Council in the first Trump administration. But on Jan. 6, 2021, he implicitly criticized Trump's efforts to overturn the election. In 2022, Paragon Health Institute received almost $3 million from Koch-funded outfit Stand Together.
HOSPITALS HIT THE AIRWAVES: The American Hospital Association launched a seven-figure ad campaign in Washington Monday in a last-ditch effort to persuade Congress to protect hospital care in the GOP megabill, Amanda reports.
— The campaign, which includes TV and digital advertising, comes a week after Senate Republicans unveiled draft provisions in the megabill to curtail a crucial Medicaid financing mechanism for hospitals, known as provider taxes, by nearly half. The ad buy comes on the heels of a fly-in of more than 250 hospital leaders last week to sway senators on Medicaid changes.
SPOTTED last night at a Capitol Hull fundraiser hosted by Moran Global Strategies' Austin Durrer, HM&CO's Helen Milby, Duberstein Group's Kate Keating, Venn Strategies' Erik Olson, Thorn Run Partners' Andy Rosenberg and Stuart Chapman and DLA Piper's Jamie Gregorian for James Walkinshaw, who's running in the special election to succeed his late boss Gerry's Connolly (D-Va.), per a tipster: Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va), David Gillis of General Dynamics, Kevin Richards of SAP, Peter Brown of Deloitte, Ryan McGuire of the National Electrical Contractors Association, Tania Hanna of L3/Harris, Vanessa Ide of Demand Elections, Adam Goldberg of Elevance Health, Michelle Dorothy of Rep. Chrissy Houlahan's (D-Pa.) office, Ed An of Google, Travis Robey of the American Hospital Association, Gordon Taylor of Ogilvy, Roger West of HII, Chris Gaspar of BAE, Lee Friedman of NCTA, Karl Koch of Holland & Knight, Joe Vidulich of Capital One, Linda Auglis of the National Beer Wholesalers Association, Christopher Hartmann of Cigna, Roger Jordan of SAIC, Cindy Brown of Forbes Tate Partners and Tom McMillan of Moran Global Strategies.
Jobs report
— Joe Brown is joining Mehlman Consulting. He was most recently a senior professional staffer on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and is a John Boozman alum.
— Heath Taylor is joining AxAdvocacy as director of government relations research. He most recently was a consultant at ThinkTek, and is a Booz Allen Hamilton and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) alum.
— Dow Chemical has promoted Colleen Litkenhaus to global director of public policy in addition to her current role as global director of plastics/circularity advocacy.
— Elena Hernandez is now chief of staff at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. She previously worked in policy and corporate communications at YouTube and is an OSTP alum from Trump's first term.
— Danielle Melfi will be the new CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association. She previously was the first chief people officer in the Biden White House, and is an AmeriCorps and Building Back Together alum.
— Julia Trent is now director in Ervin Graves Strategy Group's defense, aerospace and cybersecurity practice group. She most recently was deputy director of member services and chief clerk for the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
— David Berrios is now vice president of organizing and campaigns for Reproductive Freedom for All. He previously was North Carolina campaign manager for the Harris campaign and is a DOE alum.
— Sydney Maingot is now communications director for Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.). She most recently was a communications associate for Bullpen Strategy Group.
— John Provenzano will be CEO of NENA: The 9-1-1 Association. He was previously vice president of public affairs for Publix Super Markets.
— Dan Krassner is now senior vice president at Kensington Avenue Strategies and executive director of the American EV Jobs Alliance. He previously was senior director of campaigns at Unite America.
New Joint Fundraisers
None.
New PACs
Alliance 4 American Leadership (PAC)
Californians For A Better Future (Hybrid PAC)
La Luz (Leadership PAC: Luz Rivas)
Neighbor Network (PAC)
New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS
Alston & Bird LLP: Remitly, Inc.
Avoq, LLC: Kidde Global Solutions
Ballard Partners: Manhattan Telecommunications Corporation, LLC A/K/A Mettel
Ballard Partners: Rio Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Boundary Stone Partners: Chambers For Innovation And Clean Energy
Canfield Consulting, LLC: Applied Intuition
Carpi & Clay, Inc: City Of Inglewood
Carpi & Clay, Inc: Trifiletti Consulting
Checkmate Government Relations: Digicel Holdings (Bermuda) Limited
Checkmate Government Relations: Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (Finra)
Checkmate Government Relations: Summit Sd, LLC
Checkmate Government Relations: Syberjet LLC
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: City Of Baton Rouge And Parish Of East Baton Rouge
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Rune Technologies, Inc.
Cr Federal: Umbra Lab, Inc.
Dga Group Government Relations LLC: Federation Of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers, Inc.
Dla Piper LLP (US): Novartis
Farragut Partners LLP: Neuralace Medical, Inc.
Franklin Square Group, LLC: Ai Integrators Council
Franklin Square Group, LLC: Consuli
Government Relations Group, LLC: Millenium Natural Systems LLC
Guardian Police Solutions LLC: Phoenix Law Enforcement Association
Icebreaker Strategies, LLC: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Keller Partners & Company: Manchester University
K&L Gates, LLP: Fwc2026 US, Inc.
K&L Gates, LLP: H.Q. Energy Services (U.S.) Inc.
K&L Gates, LLP: Portland State University
Maven Advocacy Partners LLC: National Wildlife Federation
Michael Best Strategies LLC: Gray Media, Inc.
Off Hill Strategies L.L.C.: Altria Client Services LLC
Off Hill Strategies L.L.C.: American Efficient LLC
Penn Avenue Partners: Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc.
Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: Microsoft Corp.
Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A.: Aurubis Ag
Saxa Innovation LLC: Rev Group, Inc.
Sparacino Pllc: Sparacino Pllc
Squire Patton Boggs: Moet Hennessy USa
Strategies 360: Hawaii Foodbank
Strategies 360: Homeaid Hawaii
Thorn Run Partners: Ufa, Inc.
Thorn Run Partners: Xiphos Partners
Yc Consulting, LLC: Locked Brands, LLC
New Lobbying Terminations
Inline Policy Inc.: Skyscanner Limited
Justice Action Network: Justice Action Network
Mr. Mark Kopec: Motorola Solutions