The ‘it’ people on K Street right now have something in common: a background in government investigations.

K Street is clamoring for lawyers and strategists who know their way around Capitol Hill inquiries, as downtown gears up for a robust congressional oversight agenda, especially if Democrats win control of the House or Senate in the midterm elections.

Democratic lawmakers could use their subpoena power in the next Congress to investigate corporate dealings with the Trump administration and other high-stakes fights if they win the majority.

President Donald Trump

Photographer: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Corporations, universities, and lobbying groups have been navigating the second Trump administration with Republicans in control of all three branches of government, but now are pivoting to plot how they’ll respond to potential congressional Democratic inquiries.

“Companies are in a real bind as to how to negotiate that swinging pendulum,” said James Bair, a former in-house lawyer at Google, who is leading a new congressional investigations group at Crowell & Moring, BGOV scooped today.

Companies with government contracts and business deals with government officials or their family members should expect scrutiny, Bair said.

Likely on the agenda:

• Artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency companies
• Law firms that made deals with the administration
• Corporations and universities that revamped their diversity efforts
• Donors to the White House ballroom renovation project.

Arya Hariharan, a former senior oversight aide for Democrats on the Senate and House Judiciary panels, left Capitol Hill to join Holland & Knight this week. She was most recently chief oversight counsel to Senate Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and will be a partner in the firm’s regulatory practice, Holland & Knight shared first with Bloomberg Government.

Trump administration officials may balk at cooperating with Democrats, but companies are more likely to answer letters and comply with subpoenas.

• “These investigations are a good way for them to push back against what they view as a very recalcitrant administration,” Hariharan said. “Focusing on the private sector is a really easy way for members to pivot and get at the same issues.”

Giancarlo Pellegrini, a top lawyer for House Democrats’ Jeffrey Epstein probe, took a leadership role at Squire Patton Boggs to help clients address an expected flurry of post-midterm investigations, scooped Justin Henry.

• “Congressional investigations are legal but also political, and you’ve got to understand both aspects,” Pellegrini said.

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

Reach out with tips, news, complaints, and most importantly all your exclusives: kackley@bloombergindustry.com and coprysko@bloombergindustry.com.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed

Photographer: Sarah Rice/Getty Images

Corporate PAC dollars just aren’t what they used to be.

Political action committees tied to companies and lobbying associations made up a diminishing chunk of candidate dollars between the 2016 and 2024 campaign cycles, the fundraising platform Democracy Engine reports.

Many PACs, with frozen contribution limits set in the 1970s and an increasing number of mostly Democratic candidates refusing to take their money, are on track to fall further behind, according to Democracy Engine’s “The Hard Dollar Index.” The new findings were shared first with Bloomberg Government. Read More

It’s not all grim news for corporate PACs.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) mounted a forceful defense this week of lawmakers taking their money, even as a rising number of candidates in his party cast such contributions as toxic and refuse them.

• “We’re not going to disarm ourselves,” Meeks said during an exclusive roundtable with Bloomberg Government. Read More

Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, a recent Trump administration official and daughter-in-law of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is moving to Washington’s biggest lobbying firm Ballard Partners to co-lead the emerging technology and AI practice.

Fox Kennedy, who ran RFK Jr.'s presidential campaign, was deputy director of national intelligence and associate director for intelligence and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.

“As artificial intelligence transforms every industry and every corner of government, her judgment and experience will be invaluable to our clients,” said Brian Ballard, the firm’s founder and president, in a statement. Read More

First in Power Play: Elevate Government Affairs added Andrew Tabler, a former senior Pentagon official most recently at K&L Gates, as an executive VP in the firm’s defense and national security team.

Tabler joins Michelle Richardson, also an EVP in the practice, who previously was chief of staff to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“With the Pentagon undergoing significant changes in its procurement and acquisition processes, Andrew’s arrival could not come at a better time,” said Elevate co-founder Jeff Markey in a statement.

Kenneth Kies

Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg

Tax Man: Ken Kies, the top Treasury tax policy official who also oversees the IRS legal arm, is departing his dual roles, Erin Slowey and Erin Schilling scooped. The longtime lobbyist’s departure from the administration could slow any regulatory projects with tough policy calls still pending.

Plus, Ford Motor Co. brought on Matt VanKuiken as the automaker’s new chief government affairs officer, effective Aug. 3, as the company deals with Trump administration upheaval in trade policy and vehicle emissions rules.

VanKuiken directed federal government affairs for investment management firm BlackRock since 2024 and was chief of staff to ex-Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). He replaces Christopher Smith, who left after four years.

First in Power Play: Harrison Fields, former White House principal deputy press secretary for President Donald Trump, has been promoted to partner at CGCN Group, the strategic communications, lobbying, and analytics firm he joined last year after exiting the White House.

• “Serving in the West Wing taught me how policy is made, how decisions are communicated under pressure, and how relationships are built through trust and credibility,” Fields said. “Those lessons have translated directly into helping clients navigate Washington’s increasingly complex policy and communications landscape.”

John Stipicevic, CGCN’s chief advocacy officer, said Fields “understands that today’s most important challenges require more than advocacy” with policy, strategic communications, and other tools in the mix.

Cryptocurrency

Photographer: S3studio/Getty Images

Senators could soon face a high-stakes choice: support a measure to regulate digital assets favored by the crypto industry or risk facing its ire on the campaign trail, Cristiano Lima-Strong reports.

Senate Republicans are aiming for a vote in the coming weeks on a landmark bill to establish the cryptocurrency lobby’s preferred model of federal oversight, a move that may force lawmakers to record where they stand on what has become the sector’s biggest legislative priority just months from Election Day. Read More

Also Read: Thune Affirms Crypto Bill Vote Will Happen Before August Recess

Sen. Lindsey Graham

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Tributes from K Street have been rolling in in memory of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who died over the weekend.

“He will and should be remembered as a warrior who found joy in the arena,” wrote former aide Aleix Jarvis, founder of Tholos Government Relations.

Former Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) remembered his longtime colleague as “smart, funny and tireless.”

Alex Vogel, founder of the Vogel Group, said he first got to know Graham during the 2002 election cycle when Vogel worked at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and then-Rep. Graham ran for Senate. “Tremendous loss for the Senate,” Vogel said.

Whether its a Montana lodge, a Sonoma vineyard, or a Carolina coastal house, political action committee trips are not vacation junkets and should be taken as serious networking events, lobbyist Joshua Habursky and campaign strategist Rob Burgess write in a Business of Lobbying Insight for Bloomberg Government.

The goal of a PAC trip, they say, “is to connect with lawmakers and staff outside the hustle and bustle of Washington,” they write. However, both lobbyists and elected officials must be mentally present to “ensure that these trips aren’t boondoggles.” Read More

Houses under construction in Austin

Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The housing industry will take the victory — even without Trump’s fanfare.

“It’s a big win in the housing world,” said Frank Cassidy, who was commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration and HUD’s assistant secretary for housing until earlier this year, of new housing legislation.

Cassidy recently went back to the private sector as senior managing director of real estate finance at Walker & Dunlop.

• “It’s been a long time coming,” said Ed Brady, president and CEO of the Home Builders Institute.

Some Republicans are perplexed that Trump skipped a key political opportunity for the GOP on affordability by refusing to sign the bill and instead fixate on a voting measure that has no chance of passing, Mica Soellner, Lillianna Byington, and Kate report.

“This is probably the biggest legislative win amidst a sea of negative headlines the president and Republicans are going to see until Election Day,” said Ken Spain, a former GOP aide and CEO of Narrative Strategies. Read More

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

More than 200 Silicon Valley startups, funders and entrepreneurs have formed a new trade group aimed at giving “Little Tech” more political muscle against tech giants in Washington.

The Little Tech Association, which is backed by longtime Big Tech critics like Yelp, Y Combinator, and encrypted messaging app Proton, was born out of the desire to make sure that the AI boom doesn’t shut out smaller companies and further entrench multitrillion-dollar incumbents in the tech space.

“We’re in one of those rare transformational moments” akin to the earliest days of the internet, LTA Executive Director Harry Godfrey said in an interview. Such upheaval has created an opening and a greater urgency to combat what Godfrey called “the worst anticompetitive practices we see across the tech space,” including self-preferencing, consolidation, and restrictions on access to app stores and data portability.

While LTA’s most immediate policy priorities center on increased competition, Godfrey said antitrust won’t be its sole focus.

Y Combinator has been building out a DC presence to fight Big Tech for a few years now. Last year, the startup accelerator formed a corporate PAC in addition to helping launch the American Innovators Network, a coalition looking to give AI startups a foothold in discussions about AI policy.

• Plus: The group FairPredicts, a critic of prediction market companies such as Kalshi Inc., has been running ads this week while Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour has been in town, FairPredicts posted on X.

Tuesday’s Hill Watch Live explored efforts to get the House moving again, with Republican leaders looking to advance spending bills, a budget reconciliation package, and other legislation during the July work period.

Congressional Reporter Rachel Schilke, Congress Editor Max Thornberry, and Deputy News Director Loren Duggan discussed the latest on the House’s dynamics, plus how the Senate is responding to the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) over the weekend.

Click here for more on Tuesday’s edition and visit the Hill Watch Live hub for more on the series.