A partial government shutdown is increasingly likely this weekend.

Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Lobbyists thought a shutdown threat was (temporarily) a thing of the past.

Now K Street earmarks and legislation that hitched a ride on a federal funding package are in question as a partial government shutdown at week’s end looks like a real possibility.

A collection of House-passed bills to fund federal agencies, including the departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, appeared poised for smooth passage in the Senate until the weekend killing of Alex Pretti in Minnesota sparked a backlash to DHS, which includes immigration and border patrol.

The holdup is creating unease — and some opportunity — on K Street.

• “Honestly, I thought we were done, but here we are,” said Marne Marotta, a lobbyist at K&L Gates, which has a shutdown task force that it can’t shut down. “I don’t see a clear path to avert a shutdown right now.”

Appropriations and budget matters, among the most lobbied in Washington, faced turbulence from the longest government shutdown late last year. The House-passed package also included earmarks for lobbying clients, such as nonprofit organizations and local government, as well as long-lobbied changes to pharmacy benefit managers.

Plus, the situation injects fresh uncertainty for government contractors and sectors, such as airlines and travel, that rely on federal agencies.

Waiting on earmarks: Lobbyists who have client earmarks in the legislation have waited for two years, following stop-gap funding measures for fiscal 2025 that did not include earmarks, to see some of their projects make their way into law.

• For some industries, though, the delay may offer more time to lobby over items in the package that they didn’t like.

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the lobbying group for pharmacy benefit managers that broker drug benefit plans between insurers and employers, continues to oppose provisions in the package.

PCMA spokesman Greg Lopes said in a statement that “it’s our job” to try to stop Congress from making those changes.

Must See: BGOV Hill Watch Live: Spending Update and Legislative Lookahead

Welcome to Power Play, Bloomberg Government’s newsletter on the lobbying, money, and people moving Washington’s agenda.

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If there’s one lesson to learn from the first year of the Trump administration’s second term, it’s this: Don’t get complacent.

As part of “Tactical Influence,” our special report on how companies and K Street get things done under President Trump, Kate Ackley and Isabel Gottlieb report on how lobbying efforts are being retooled.

Executive branch decision-making is increasingly centralized with Trump himself. K Street firms with close ties to the president have seen their revenue skyrocket. The ecosystem of people with real influence has narrowed. On some issues, only those with access to Mar-a-Lago or the West Wing are worth talking to.

Here are few guidelines as we enter year two:

• ACCESS IS KING: “You have to engage in very high-level conversations with the administration and be willing to put skin in the game to achieve whatever goals you’re trying to achieve,” says Mark Williams, a former Republican Hill staffer, now a partner at the lobbying firm Ferox Strategies.
• DITCH THE SAME-OLD STRATEGY: “Companies that have long prioritized Congressional relationships or treated administration relationships as a matter of procurement expertise are finding a need to better understand how the Trump administration thinks and operates,” says May Mailman, a former White House policy strategist who left the Trump administration last summer to launch her own firm.
• AGENCIES IN LINE: “We’re seeing clear shifts across government: Agencies that once acted independently are now more closely aligned with the administration, and changes in government staffing mean the long‑standing experts organizations relied on aren’t always in place anymore,” according to Nneka Chiazor, president and CEO of the Public Affairs Council.
• BRING IN THE BIG GUNS: Lobbyists are telling clients to ramp up one of the more successful strategies for influencing this administration: Send in the CEO.
• DONATE: Companies have also encountered multiple opportunities to donate to fundraising efforts the president favors, including the White House ballroom.

A company without a lobbyist schooled and practiced in the new playbook “is outside looking in, a day late and a dollar short,” said Manuel Ortiz, a Democrat who works with GOP-connected firms and the founder of VantageKnight LLC.

Plus, Greg Giroux reports on how the midterms will change corporate America’s ability to influence Washington.

Public Policy Holding, a conglomerate that owns lobbying firms in Washington and state capitals, is moving to trade on Nasdaq.

Among the company’s holdings are Crossroads Strategies, where lobbyists include former Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John Breaux (D-La.); the Alpine Group; and Forbes Tate Partners. It also owns the Washington messaging firm Seven Letter, Sacramento’s KP Public Affairs, MultiState Associates, and firms in Chicago and Texas.

PPHC’s recent clients have included TikTok and Visa. It has been publicly traded since 2021 on the Alternative Investment Market, a unit of the London Stock Exchange for smaller companies that often pose a higher risk to investors. Read More

President Donald Trump speaks with Dana White, CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (Photographer: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Sports lobbying can bet on grabbing the attention of the capital’s highest-placed official: the fan in chief.

President Donald Trump has done much to raise the profile of an estimated trillion-dollar industry, including planning an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on the White House lawn.

“There’s just a lot of excitement that this administration has been so pro sports,” said Republican lobbyist Aaron Cutler, who leads the lobbying practice at Hogan Lovells. “It’s been really great for the industry.”

Republican lobbyist and race car driver Alex Vogel, founder of the Vogel Group, said Trump’s love for sports is obvious.

• “He very clearly understands that sports, and especially marquee, large sporting events — those are unifying American events.”

Spending Rise: The industry’s federal lobbying footprint increased during Trump’s first year back in office.

• Cornerstone Government Affairs lobbied for the National Hockey League and NASCAR.
• Crossroads Strategies represented the Professional Golfers’ Association of America.
• Dentons and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck lobbied for the Washington Commanders.

Read More: Sports Lobby Suits Up to Court Trump’s Fandom in Lucrative Plays

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos (Photographer: Michael Tran / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Netflix co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos plans to testify next month at a US Senate committee hearing looking into his company’s proposed $82.7 billion purchase of the streaming and studio operations of Warner Bros.

Bruce Campbell, Warner Bros. chief strategy officer, is also planning to appear.

Netflix spent heavily federal lobbying as it eyed the acquisition of Warner Bros.

The Silicon Valley technology and entertainment company disclosed shelling out $3.1 million on federal lobbying last year, up more than 60% when compared with 2024. It lobbied on matters “related to competition,” tariffs and trade, and children’s online privacy, according to the company.

The founders of a bipartisan lobbying firm have leaned on their different perspectives to help their clients deal with the shifting political landscape on Capitol Hill.

“Contrary to popular belief, working across the aisle does not require one of us to grow horns while the other hands out government checks for sport,” say Republican Mark Williams and Democrat Cristina Antelo of Ferox Strategies. “Those common threads matter far more than the partisan sniping that dominates today’s political landscape.” Read More

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) a top member on Ways and Means will not seek re-election.

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

K Street will pay a premium for lawmakers with experience on the House Ways and Means Committee. A potential draft pick emerged this week: Florida Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan.

The top Republican on the panel’s health subcommittee said Tuesday he would retire, reports Maeve Sheehey.

Thorn Run’s New Partner: Thorn Run Partners brought on Mary Thien Hoang, formerly chief of staff at the Federal Maritime Commission, as a partner in its maritime practice.

Bracewell Move: Bracewell added Thomas Moyer, formerly with the firm Akin, as a partner in its government enforcement and investigations practice.

Ballard Partners, representing the American Chemistry Council in its fight against a proposed $85 billion merger between Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., lobbied Vice President JD Vance’s office on rail safety, reports Zach Williams.

• Vance is a native of Ohio where the 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine stoked concerns about the freight industry’s record.

ACC—whose members include Dow Chemical—has a leading role on behalf of shippers across industries in opposing the idea of a 43-state railroad. The two railroads say a merger would cut costs and make rail more competitive.

Ballard Partners was hired weeks after Trump expressed support for the deal. The goal was to push Vance, who has expressed concerns about antitrust issues, as part of the ACC’s wider efforts to influence the administration, according to group spokesperson Scott Jensen. Read More