With Daniel Lippman

PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off for Thanksgiving this Thursday and Friday but back to our normal schedule on Monday, Nov. 29.

CIRCLE HIRES FIRST LOBBYISTS: Goldman Sachs-backed payments company and stablecoin issuer Circle has hired its first lobbyists, according to a newly filed disclosure, as the digital assets sector continues to build out its advocacy operations in Washington. The company retained Invariant financial services practice group co-chairs Quincy Enoch and Carolyn Coda as well as Invariant’s Joseph Smith, a Treasury and Financial Services Roundtable alum, Noah Marine and Matt Russell.

— Circle is the second-largest issuer of stablecoins, a form of cryptocurrency whose value is tied to an underlying asset. Stablecoins are the latest corner of the booming crypto sector that regulators have begun to take aim at. A report released earlier this month by a task force of financial regulators including Treasury, the SEC, CFTC, FDIC and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency called on Congress to require certain stablecoin issuers to become banks — a step Circle began taking earlier this summer.

— Though Invariant is Circle’s first federal lobbying hire, the company is a member of the crypto trade group the Blockchain Association, which has spent $500,000 among four lobbying firms so far this year, according to lobbying reports.

MORE NEW BUSINESS: As Democrats in Congress worked to put together a package of tax reforms to help pay for the party’s reconciliation bill, the National Association of Manufacturers has enlisted a team of lobbyists from Ernst & Young to help head off changes to tax policy for entities organized as partnerships, according to a newly filed disclosure. NAM hired Ryan Abraham, a longtime former staffer on the Finance Committee, and Ray Beeman, a House Ways and Means and Joint Committee on Taxation alum, on Sept. 1, days before Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released a proposal to crack down on partnership taxes.

— NAM has argued previously that such reforms would hurt the “vast majority of manufacturers” who “are small and organized as pass-through entities” and said in October the trade group “will be doing significant outreach to educate Congress on the impact” of Wyden’s proposal “and to help find the best solutions for a fairer tax code.” Though the trade group is routinely among downtown’s top lobbying spenders, dropping millions of dollars on it per quarter, NAM keeps most of its lobbying in-house — last quarter the group only paid one outside firm, K&L Gates.

Good afternoon and welcome to PI. It may be a holiday week, but we’re here ‘til Wednesday. Let me know what’s going on out there: [email protected]. And be sure to follow me on Twitter: @caitlinoprysko.

SINEMA AND MANCHIN’S NEW BENEFACTORS: Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), both key public critics of Democrats’ reconciliation package largely responsible for pushing to pare down its price tag, have attracted a new class of donors in recent months, The New York Times’ Ken Vogel and Kate Kelly report: GOP billionaires and Wall Street execs. It’s a “striking display of how party affiliation can prove secondary to special interests and ideological motivations when the stakes are high enough,” the Times writes.

— “It is not unusual for well-heeled political activists and business interests to spread a smattering of cash across party lines. … But the stream of cash to the campaigns of Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin from outside normal Democratic channels stands out because many of the donors have little history with them. The financial support is also notable for how closely tied it has been to their power over a single piece of legislation, the fate of which continues to rest largely with the two senators because their party cannot afford to lose either of their votes in the evenly divided Senate. Their influence has been profound.”

— “This year, Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema have received donations from major Republican donors who had never before given to them, including James A. Haslam III, who owns the Cleveland Browns football team, and the Dallas real estate developer Harlan Crow, who is close to Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court,” while “several other prominent Republican donors who supported Mr. Trump also wrote their first-ever checks to Mr. Manchin in the last few months.”

LAWMAKERS FEELING ‘BUYER’S REMORSE’ FOR AIRLINE BAILOUT: “The wave of airline cancellations that snarled thousands of flights over the past three months did more than strand passengers at airports from Florida to Indiana and points in between,” POLITICO’s Oriana Pawlyk reports. “It also angered lawmakers who had given the airline industry more than $50 billion in pandemic relief money over the last year and a half — based on the carriers’ promise that the cash would help them be ready for travelers' return to the skies.”

— “Now Congress is demanding answers about why airlines have been so unprepared for the inevitable upswing in passenger demand, a question with big implications for the holiday travel season” that kicked off this weekend. ‘There should have been every reason, particularly given the bailout money for the airlines, to prepare for the surge we're seeing now,’ Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s representative in Congress, told POLITICO. ‘This money was for a very specific purpose.’”

— “Norton, who said she has some ‘buyer’s remorse’ for supporting the bailout, is calling for hearings on the topic before the House Transportation Committee — and she’s not the only one. The Senate’s transportation panel is already preparing to grill airlines on the matter in early December.”

REPORT ON AMAZON’S PRIVACY LOBBYING FUELS CALLS FOR CRACKDOWN: “Five members of Congress called for federal consumer-privacy legislation after a Reuters report published Friday revealed how Amazon.com Inc has led an under-the-radar campaign to gut privacy protections in 25 states while amassing a valuable trove of personal data on American consumers,” Reuters’ Chris Kirkham and Jeffrey Dastin report.

— “No major federal privacy legislation has passed Congress in years because members have been deadlocked on the issue. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has introduced several privacy bills in recent years, said in a statement that the Reuters story showed how companies including Amazon are ‘spending millions to weaken state laws,’ and hoping Congress will also water down federal legislation ‘until it's worthless.’ ‘Congress needs to prove Amazon wrong, and pass legislation that finally stops massive corporations from abusing and exploiting our personal data,’ Wyden said.”

IF YOU MISSED IT OVER THE WEEKEND: “A power plant that buys coal from a company controlled by Sen. Joe Manchin’s family is fighting to stay alive by generating electricity for superfast data computing, after being on the brink of financial collapse for years,” E&E News’ Scott Waldman reports.

— “If the proposal by the Grant Town power plant near Morgantown, W.Va., is successful, it would preserve the lucrative Manchin family business of selling coal waste to the power plant for generating electricity. The facility is the main customer of Manchin's family company called Enersystems, which has paid the senator $5 million over the last decade, according to financial disclosures.”

— “The timing of the proposal collides with the apex of climate legislation on Capitol Hill. Manchin has scaled back the sprawling $1.7 trillion social spending package, H.R. 5376 (117), that Democrats are racing to pass as the pillar of President Joe Biden's aggressive climate agenda. Manchin’s efforts to jettison a clean energy program that threatened the fossil fuel industry come as his family's business continues to sell coal to the Grant Town power plant.”

— “The collision between Manchin’s personal business and one of the most important pieces of Democratic legislation this year raises questions about conflict of interest for the West Virginia senator, ethics experts say. Manchin’s office, which declined to comment for this story, has said in the past he has no direct involvement in Enersystems, and that his investment is held in a blind trust run by his son Joe Manchin IV.”

— The National Automobile Dealers Association has added Kerry Feehery as senior director of legislative affairs. She previously spent nearly a decade as a multiclient senior policy adviser at Holland & Knight and is an alum of former Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) and former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.).

— Sean Floyd is joining Scarlet Oak Strategies as a senior adviser. He most recently was chief of staff to the senior adviser for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and is an Obama campaign alum.

— Emily Davis is now communications director at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. She previously was vice president of congressional and public affairs at the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

— Ian McKendry is now vice president and head of public affairs communication at U.S. Bank. He previously was vice president of public relations at the American Bankers Association.

MURKOWKSI VICTORY FUND (Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Denali Leadership PAC, NRSC)
Susie Lee Victory Fund 2022 (Rep. Susie Lee, Beat the Odds PAC)

Black Women of Greater Houston Political Action Committee (Hybrid PAC)
Citizens for Integrity in Politics (PAC)
THE CROWNE INC D/B/A STALWART REX POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (STALWART REX PAC) (PAC)The Future of America Super Pac (Super PAC)
Planned Parenthood Illinois Votes (PAC)

Acg Analytics: Thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology N.A.
Alignment Government Strategies: Darkness To Light
Article One Group, LLC: Action Now Initiative, LLC
Boundary Stone Partners: Mitsubishi Electric Trane Hvac US LLC.
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP: Bastcore, Inc.
Ernst & Young LLP (Washington Council Ernst & Young): National Association Of Manufacturers
Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures, LLC: Rx Savings, LLC Dba Rx Savings Solutions
Invariant LLC: Circle
Northern Arizona University: Mr. Jose Luis Cruz Rivera
Platinum Advisors Dc, LLC: Chia Networks
Sakura Conservation Strategies: National Parks Conservation Association
The Joseph Group, LLC: Rs Access, LLC
Twinlogic Strategies, LLP: Reynolds And Reynolds

Alliance For Quality Improvement And Patient Safety: Alliance For Quality Improvement And Patient Safety
Alpha Strategies, LLC: Aerovanti Air Club
American Federation For Children (Fka Advocates For School Choice): American Federation For Children (Fka Advocates For School Choice)
Becker & Poliakoff, P.A.: Converged Services, Inc.
Bob Lawrence & Associates, Inc.: National Association Of Tower Erectors
Capitol Hill Consulting Group: Allied Bioscience, Inc.
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP (Formerly Known As Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP): Radiosurgical Center Of Memphis, L.P.
Global USa, Inc.: Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (Smic)
Manatt, Phelps, And Phillips: United States Steel Corporation
Robertson, Monagle, & Eastaugh Pc (Formelry Known At Hoffman, Silver, Gilman And: United States Marine Inc
The Aegis Group, Ltd.: Twin Mountain Fence Company
Tuttle Taylor And Heron: Almond Alliance Of California