New Lobbying Approach Brings ‘Moneyball’ to Mind: Starting Line

Lobbying ‘Moneyball’ Style

Nyah Phengsitthy and Kate Ackley report on a Capitol Hill advocacy approach that brings to mind the pivot behind the baseball book and movie “Moneyball.”

It’s a lobbying campaign that’s turning to in-depth data, as it tries to stop the expansion of Medicare drug price negotiations.

“The vast majority of our effort is focused on the analytics, and we didn’t see anybody, including CMS, publicly reporting at this level of granularity,” said Kirsten Axelsen, a senior policy adviser at DLA Piper. “This data is hard to work with, so we are investing in this kind of information.”

Axelson is leading the analytical reports for IRA Watchdog, a new group that includes Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Merck, and Eli Lilly.

That “Moneyball” approach comes as the drug industry has struggled in its fight against the program—grappling with President Donald Trump’s efforts to double down on negotiations, while suffering losses in lawsuits challenging the plan. Read More

Political DC Will Be Scrutinizing This

Speaking of statistics and politics, it’s a safe bet that campaign strategists were up early this morning parsing numbers, messaging, advertising budgets, and turnout strategy from a special state Senate election in western Iowa.

That’s because Democrats won in a district that had gone for Trump by 11 percentage points last year. The result follows a surprise Democratic victory in a January special state Senate election in eastern Iowa, a narrow loss in a southeastern Iowa House district in March, and a blowout win for a House seat in May.

The Des Moines Register reported that in yesterday’s race, Democrat Catelin Drey won 55% of the vote, which both turned over a previously Republican-held seat and broke the GOP’s supermajority in the chamber. Let the partisan prognosticating about that that’ll mean in the midterms begin.

Pushing the Senate on Nominations

Republican senators are floating proposals to help give Trump more of the appointees he wants, faster.

Among the options being discussed: changing how long nominations can be debated or eliminating procedural votes, Lillianna Byington reports.

“We spend two-thirds of our time on personnel in the United States Senate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said last week at Dakotafest. “We’re going to have to change the way we do nominations.”

Trump has tried to push Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) into delivering nominees opposed by Democrats by changing the long-held tradition of “blue slips,” which gives senators the power to block or delay certain judicial nominations in their states. Grassley has consistently resisted.

This week, Trump threatened to escalate, saying he wants to sue over the blue slip tradition. We’ll be watching to see whether it’s a bargaining chip to get a rule-change concession. Read More

Latest on the Fed Fight

Trump says he’s prepared for a court fight over his effort to oust Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. The Fed itself has weighed in, too, saying it would abide by what the courts conclude as Cook challenges her dismissal.

There are several layers of repercussions from Trump’s bid to fire Cook. He stands to gain the ability to sway the central bank’s policy by nominating a majority of its members. He’s also influencing the markets as professionals adjust their investments based on what they suspect could happen.

“Trump’s push to fire Cook has exacerbated concerns about the Fed’s independence,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.

We have a suite of coverage to help you dig deeper:

Eye on Tariffs

As of a minute after midnight, some goods from India are now subject to a 50% tariff when they enter the US.

That doubling of the prior rate is designed with Russia in mind — through instead of directly punishing the government of Vladimir Putin, the pain is being inflicted on a customer for his country’s oil.

The goal is to make Russia say ouch and then back off in Ukraine.

As for India — the world’s fastest-growing major economy — refiners there are planning to trim their purchases of Russian crude in the coming weeks, but the country hasn’t said it plans to sever its ties with Moscow.

India also has been moving closer to other US rivals, with its leader attending a security summit in China next week. Read More

Before You Go

Modern Contracting: The federal government’s main procurement office is asking vendors to describe how to use artificial intelligence to automate buying decisions on up to half-a-trillion dollars worth of purchases. BGOV contracting analyst Paul Murphy reports that the General Services Administration is requesting white papers from industry associations, information technology service providers, back-end architecture and storage experts, front-end designers, AI and machine learning specialists, and analytics firms. Read More

Pentagon Review: The Pentagon is preparing for its in-house DOGE team to examine more than 400,000 open contracts and grants for potential savings and anything “in conflict with Presidential priorities,” Tony Capaccio reports. Read More

Diplomatic Rift: Denmark’s foreign minister summoned a US diplomat for talks after a media report suggested American interference in Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly voiced a desire to take over. Read More

Another California Hit: The Federal Railroad Administration moved to block four projects related to California’s long-delayed plan to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco via train. Read More

Next Stop: DOT is moving to reclaim management of Washington’s Union Station, Secretary Sean Duffy said, to “help make this city safe and beautiful.” The department has owned the station since the 1980s, but gradually ceded control to a nonprofit tasked with preserving the landmark and overseeing improvements. Read More

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— With assistance from Lillianna Byington, Nyah Phengsitthy, Kate Ackley, Paul Murphy, and Tony Capaccio.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Rizzo in Washington at krizzo@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rachel Leven at rleven@bloombergindustry.com; Herb Jackson at hjackson@bloombergindustry.com

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