Lobbyists who hustled to get their clients’ priorities into the $2.1 trillion coronavirus relief package in March are angling for a piece of the action on the next –and possibly last — multitrillion-dollar bill.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and other powerful trade groups are working to persuade lawmakers to make it harder for workers and customers sickened by the virus to sue businesses in an effort that’s already divided lawmakers.
And a spectrum of other industries — from concert venues to day care centers to restaurants — are lobbying Congress to set aside money specifically to help their business sectors. They’re preparing for a drawn-out lobbying campaign that could last as long as two months.
“It’s going to be a big, gigantic, gargantuan fight,” said Marc Lampkin, a prominent Republican lobbyist. He’s pressing lawmakers to include liability protections on behalf of clients such as the American Gaming Association — which represents the casino industry — and the Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform.
Some lobbyists believe the coming legislation might be the last major relief effort before rising partisan tensions and spending fatigue force Congress to scale back its ambitions. The bill might be “not the last train, but certainly the last train we know about coming out of the station,” Lampkin said.
The sense of urgency that allowed a divided Congress to pass a $2.1 trillion bill in March has faded, which makes lobbyists’ work tougher.
“The politics of this are hard,” said David French, the top lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, which is pushing for liability protections to be included in the bill. “There’s an extremely obvious need and at the same time there’s not an extraordinary reservoir of bipartisan goodwill.”
The Chamber and other trade groups have Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on their side; the Republican leaders said last week that they wouldn’t accept a bill that doesn’t include liability protections. Now the business groups are trying to convince other lawmakers — including Democrats — they need “tailored” protections to ward off a flood of lawsuits as the economy reopens.
The venues have also started reaching out to concertgoers, urging them to email their members of Congress. The effort, which started on Tuesday, generated more than 200,000 emails in the first 24 hours.
The group asked lawmakers in a letter last month to set up a “grant-funded business recovery fund for shuttered businesses such as independent venues and promoters.”
Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) and Roger Williams (R-Texas) have circulated letters in support of the group. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) also has expressed interest in helping, according to Fix Schaefer. (The association’s president, Dayna Frank, owns First Avenue, a popular Minneapolis venue.)
Restaurants and day care centers are also pressing Congress to included specific relief funds to help their industries in the next bill.
The National Restaurant Association is seeking a $240 billion relief fund — more than four times the amount set aside to aid the airlines in the last bill. The small business loans included in the last bill haven’t helped many restaurants because they were too big to apply or because the terms stipulated that at least 75 percent must be spent on payroll for the loan to be forgiven.
“Right now, the way the program is designed, it is virtually impossible for a restaurant to be able to use it in a way that will provide them any help,” said Sean Kennedy, the National Restaurant Association’s top lobbyist.
The dedicated fund envisioned by the trade group would come with another benefit: It would allow chains such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Shake Shack — which were pressured into returning the small business loans they received even though they qualified under the program’s rules — to seek help with less fear of being ridiculed.
“There has been a lot of shame for some restaurants for asking for support,” Kennedy said.
The nonprofit Early Care and Education Consortium is pushing Congress to set aside money for child care providers, said Executive Director Radha Mohan. With so many sectors seeking help, though, it can be tough to break through.
“Never before have we experienced a situation,” she said, “where so many industries are hurting.”