When the Senate sent the House a massive aviation bill Thursday, one of the few remaining targets for lobbyists flew out the window.
Lobbyists have been eyeing must-pass bills to advance their clients’ priorities, and the advancement of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill means they have one fewer vehicle between now and the end of the 118th Congress.
While there is still plenty of work to be done between now and the November election, some of this season’s biggest lobbying battles may have to wait until the end-of-year funding packages or for the new Congress to be sworn in in January.
“Although I’m telling clients not to expect major sweeping proposals outside of annual authorizations to be passed before the election, I am encouraging them to stay engaged in federal policymaking now more than ever, or risk being caught flatfooted,” said Ryan Taylor, founder and CEO of 440 Strategies, the new public affairs shop he launched after six years at Forbes Tate.
Karishma Page, a partner at K&L Gates, told The Hill there is “demand for vehicle space for real and meaningful policy” and said “the narrative that Congress is not legislating is not accurate.”
But tacking on additional asks could also slow down policymaking in what’s already expected to be the least productive Congress in decades.
Lawmakers have sent President Biden just more than 70 bills since January 2023, according to Congress.gov, including massive appropriations bills and limping stopgap measures as Republicans grappled with the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the weeks-long battle to find his replacement and the growing pains of newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
In this Congress, however, one crisis or misstep can shake loose stubborn stagnation, as evidenced by the swift passage of the TikTok divest-or-ban bill on the foreign aid package.
Despite steep odds, lobbyists are racing to pass — or pause — a number of high-profile priorities for their clients. Here are five of the biggest lobbying battles that could come to a head in the home stretch of the 118th Congress.
Banks, retailers brawl over ‘swipe fee’ bill
The country’s largest credit card companies are under attack — or at least, that’s the message the industry has been pushing since Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) reintroduced the Credit Card Competition Act that summer.
The bill would require large financial institutions —........