National Taxpayers Union (NTU) launched a website that mimics Drudge Report to share stories from small businesses facing Trump’s tariff policy problems. The group announced the Tariffs Report, a site that copies Drudge’s bulletin board style, will collect stories about how tariffs affect small businesses when changes occur, often. Bryan Riley, head of NTU’s Free Trade Initiative, shared, “We want stories on The Tariffs Report to push the government to avoid wide tariff increases and look to other policies to reach trade goals.”

NTU is not the only organization copying Drudge Report’s style, as the White House created a similar news hub in April to share positive stories about the president and his actions. Lobbying groups and company leaders are pressing for some credits from the Inflation Reduction Act to survive, as the newest Senate megabill would cut several energy tax credits, according to Timothy Cama from E&E News. Battery Company Energizer Holdings, chemical maker Johnson Matthey, the Hydrogen Jobs Now Coalition, recycler Ecobat, and Clean Energy Buyers Association hired new lobbyists who focus only on energy credits they support, but outcomes are uncertain since Republican leaders are still making changes to the major bill.

Tech and Lobbying Converge as AI Firm Delve Joins Growing Influence Sector

Trade group TechNet from Silicon Valley now has over 100 members as ID.me, Persona, and Runway joined big technology companies like Apple, Google, Intuit, Meta, and Amazon at the long-running association. The new artificial intelligence firm Delve entered K Street with an announcement that includes investments from leading government affairs and communication companies. Delve is led by Jeff Berkowitz, who worked before as a GOP researcher, and now has support from BGR Group, Rokk Solutions, and Silicon Valley investors from Moxxie Ventures to back his AI tool for the lobbying market.

“When you want an industry to change, you need resources,” Berkowitz told Bloomberg’s Kate Ackley, also noting technology has limits in sectors that depend on strong personal relationships. The AI spinoff will use new investment money to bring in engineers for expanding its news and data source platform that helps lobbyists research policy or write memos for client work, and has demonstrated this by creating a memo on tariffs for steel and aluminum set by Trump. Delve’s investment matches a larger trend as the lobbying sector works out rules for using AI and avoids possible risks, with organizations like the National Institute for Lobbying & Ethics and the Public Affairs Council making AI guidance for professionals.

DNC Faces Fundraising Crisis as Healthcare Lobby Launches Campaign against Medicaid Cuts

Ken Martin became the new leader of the Democratic National Committee, and fundraising is now so poor that borrowing may be needed to cover bills this year, say Shane Goldmacher and Reid J. Epstein in The New York Times. Donations from main financial supporters have dropped, Martin has not reached every major donor, and he promised money to every state and U.S. territory, including Guam. Problems became clear recently when Randi Weingarten and Lee Saunders, both known labor officials, left the committee, and other Democrats say Martin, who accepted a pay raise, is distracted by party fights and cannot yet bring the group together against Republicans still in power.

A coalition for hospital and patient advocacy, under the name Coalition to Strengthen America’s Healthcare, has a new ad as part of its million-dollar Medicaid campaign, starting by showing Congress before arguing Medicaid cuts will make hospital care worse. This commercial was made as the Senate’s Medicaid proposal aims to cut more than the House’s bill, including limiting state taxes on providers, a step that hospital leaders do not support because those taxes help hospitals receive more money. Industry executives and policy lobbyists ask Republican lawmakers to step back from these cuts, using the ad to point to fewer healthcare services, closing hospitals, and longer waits as expected consequences.

Telecom and Tech Policy Leaders Gather at D.C. Networking Events

Last night, a happy hour brought together the Fiber Broadband Association, Rural Broadband Association, Telecommunications Industry Association, and Wireless Infrastructure Association at Santa Rosa Taqueria, with Marissa Mitrovich, Colin Andrews, Patrick Lozada, Melissa Newman, Mike Saperstein, Stephen Keegan, Makenzie Shellnutt, Mike Romano, Harsha Mudaliar, Tom Hastings, Al David Saab, Johanna Shelton, John Lin, Asad Ramzanali, Tim Donovan, Bill Wilhelm, and Crystal Tully.

At a Mozilla event on Glen Echo Group’s rooftop, among those present were Linda Griffin, Jenn Taylor Hodges, Brandon Samuel, Halie Craig, Katie Barr, Halley Roth, Chris Lewis, Ali Sternburg, Tricia McCleary, Colin Crowell, Joseph Coniglio, Khloe Greenwood, Ali Guckes, Keir Lamont, Beth Do, Justine Gluck, Nathalie Maréchal, Simone Shenny, Brian Smith, Peter Chandler, Marshall Erwin, Christine Bannan, Tim Lynch, Jessica Jones, and David Peluso.