With David Beavers and Daniel Lippman

ABBOTT LABS DROPS SCHLAPP: Abbott Labs has parted ways with Matt Schlapp of Cove Strategies, days after Verizon abruptly said it no longer retained him as a lobbyist. The health care and medical device company’s statement that it would split with Schlapp came after Judd Legum, a former ThinkProgress editor-in-chief who now writes the Popular Information newsletter, asked the company whether Schlapp’s criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement conflicted with its commitment to “do better to fix” racial inequalities following the killing of George Floyd.

— Abbott wouldn’t tell Legum whether it still retained Schlapp, but the company said on Wednesday that it did not. “We don’t agree with Mr. Schlapp’s comments, and they don’t represent our position or values,” Darcy Ross, an Abbott spokesperson, said in a statement. “We no longer work with Cove Strategies.” The move was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business.

— Schlapp, who’s also a surrogate for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign and the chairman of the American Conservative Union, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But he was defiant in a video he retweeted on Wednesday in which he described Floyd’s death as a “terrible, terrible racial tragedy” but criticized efforts to tear down statues of figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Junípero Serra. “I’m gonna fight this every step of the way if I lose everything in the process,” he said.

— “I always thought political disagreements would stay there,” he continued. “They don’t anymore. If you have a political disagreement, they are going to try to destroy you. And I say to my friends in this town — the swamp — who are watching someone like me or some other people who are Trump supporters get the ire of the mob: Today it’s me. Tomorrow it’s any Republican, even the establishment Republicans. Because anybody who believes in the idea of the family or the principles of the Christian religion or that fact that America is a good place — that’s no longer acceptable.”

Good afternoon, and welcome to PI. Tips: [email protected]. Twitter: @theodoricmeyer.

NEW BUSINESS: The health care industry is bringing on more lobbyists as the pandemic shows no signs of dissipating, with cases spiking in Texas, Arizona, Florida and other states. The Coalition to Stop Flu, whose 21 members include the American Heart Association and the pharmaceutical companies Gilead, Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi, has hired SL Strategies to lobby on federal funding, according to a disclosure filing. Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who’s now a lobbyist at the Daschle Group, is the coalition’s chair, according to its website.

— The University of Texas Health Science Center has hired a team of Cornerstone Government Affairs lobbyists for help dealing with “COVID related needs in subsequent relief packages,” according to a disclosure filing. And NES Health, a hospital staffing firm, has hired Brian Ballard, Syl Lukis and Pam Bondi of Ballard Partners to lobby on the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program.

CONGRESS CRITICIZES FED FOR FAVORING BOND RATING FIRMS: “The Federal Reserve is under fire from a bipartisan group of lawmakers after granting gatekeeper status to a select handful of powerful bond rating firms as part of its financial market rescue efforts,” POLITICO’s Zachary Warmbrodt reports. “At the heart of the conflict are programs the Fed has created during the coronavirus pandemic to buy corporate bonds and other securities to ensure that credit keeps flowing in the financial system. The Fed required that the quality of the debt be rated by Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch — the three dominant credit ratings firms that lawmakers have looked at skeptically for more than a decade for failing to warn investors of looming market meltdowns.

— “The Fed’s decision, which it has begun to walk back after the congressional backlash, has spurred new scrutiny by House Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and other lawmakers who are pressuring the central bank to open up the process to competing ratings firms regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A House bill that would force the Fed to act has bipartisan support.

‘It’s clear the big three are getting special treatment,” Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat who chairs the House investor protection and capital markets subcommittee, said in an interview.”

— All three ratings agencies retain Washington lobbying firms, of course. S&P Global, Standard & Poor’s parent company, has BGR Group, the Daly Consulting Group, the Duberstein Group, Emergent Strategies, the S-3 Group and the Sternhell Group on retainer, according to disclosure filings. Moody’s has Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Calfee Strategies Solutions and Rich Feuer Anderson, and Fitch has Capstone National Partners and Crossroads Strategies.

HOW CORPORATE AMERICA SHOULD PREPARE FOR A BIDEN VICTORY: Take it from two veterans of the Obama administration: If Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump in November, his administration will be more progressive than his record in Washington might suggest. Corporate America should be prepared. “Many inside and outside Washington think they know what it means to be a ‘Biden Democrat,’” Paulette Aniskoff and Scott Mulhauser — a former Biden deputy chief of staff — of Bully Pulpit Interactive write in a new Medium post. “It’s time to rethink those assumptions.”

— If Biden wins and Democrats retake the Senate, Democrats will be “chomping at the bit to make real, progressive change happen — and in short order,” they write. “The leadership will be progressive, their agendas will be long and the competition to be first in line will be fierce. Waiting for victors to be declared, bills to be introduced and Cabinet appointments announced is far too late to start thinking about your agenda and your approach to Washington post-inauguration.”

BIDEN ALLY IN FIREFIGHTERS UNION UNDER FIRE: “The head of a major firefighters union, a supporter of Democratic Party causes and a confidant of presidential candidate Joe Biden, is mired in an internal dispute over allegations of financial mismanagement, improper pension payouts and misuse of union resources for personal expenses,” The Wall Street Journal’s Brody Mullins and Ted Mann report.

— “Harold Schaitberger, the longtime president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, is accused by the union’s treasurer of prematurely collecting well over $1 million in payments from a union pension fund while still working at the union. The union’s treasurer, Edward Kelly, said the payments violated union rules, and he plans to try to force Mr. Schaitberger to reimburse the union.

— “Mr. Schaitberger, 74 years old, also failed to pay roughly $1 million in taxes on more than $3 million in deferred compensation over two decades as president, according to union officials and a 105-page memo the treasurer submitted to the union’s board. Mr. Schaitberger blames the union’s treasurers for failing to notify him of the liability, according to union officials. He plans to file amended returns to pay the unpaid tax, according to a person familiar with his thinking.”

Jobs Report

— The International Dairy Foods Association has hired Becky Rasdall as vice president for trade policy and international affairs. She was previously a senior policy adviser in the Agriculture Department’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

— Planned Parenthood has tapped Julie McClain Downey as interim senior communications director, per Playbook. She was previously director of state communications on Cory Booker’s presidential campaign.

New Joint Fundraisers

Carolyn Victory Fund (Carolyn for Congress, Georgia Federal Elections Committee)
Eastman Victory Fund (Eastman for Congress, Nebraska Democratic Party)

New PACs

Defense of Freedom PAC (PAC)
Firefighters for a Safer America (Super PAC)
Light the Way PAC (Super PAC)

New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS

Anemoi Group LLC: Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council
Ardeidae Group LLC: Capitol City Group Ltd. on behalf of USA Rare Earth
Ballard Partners: NES Health
CapeDC Advisors, LLC: Universal Synaptics Corporation
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Real Time Medical Systems
Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: University of Texas Health Science Center
Dentons US LLP: Helicopter Association International
ML Strategies, LLC: SHAB Holdings, LLC.
Rubicon Advisors, LLC: Ascendis Pharma, Inc.
S-3 Group: Pace Gallery
SL Strategies, LLC: Coalition to Stop Flu
Strategies 360: Neptune Aviation Services
Vitello Consulting: C4 Recovery Foundation
Vitello Consulting: Stonington Global LLC on behalf of MortgageSecure

New Lobbying Terminations

International Assocation [sic] of Drilling Contractors: International Association of Drilling Contractors
Linden Government Solutions, LLC: Decision Support Center of Libya (on behalf of the Libyan National Army)

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