LegiStorm

Every year, hundreds of members of Congress and their staff take privately sponsored trips in March and April, jetting to cities across the country and the globe. Until this year, when just a single trip has been disclosed in that same time frame.

That lone trip to Naples, Fla. by a staffer from Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)'s office cost the sponsor, a center at the Ave Maria Law School, $1,951. The March 5-7 jaunt is likely to be the last for a while. 

Although privately sponsored travel tends to peak in the summer months, according to LegiStorm data, spending in March and April is usually substantial. From 2010 to 2019, there was an average of 306 trips between March and April, with average total expenditures of $264,265 and $416,080 for each month respectively. Three Aprils during this time period saw spending over $600,000: 2011, 2014 and 2017.  

During March and April of 2019, staffers flew to Havana, Cuba to meet with small business owners, traveled to Guatemala City, Guatemala to learn about women's issues, headed to Boston for a climate change seminar and went to Palo Alto for a Stanford University event. Others taveled to Kenya, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, London and Lebanon. In total, private organizations spent just shy of $1 million to ferry policy makers around the world and across the country. 

Prior to the virus putting a stop to travel, 2020 was looking typical. In February of this year, 235 congressional staffers and members of Congress took sponsored trips, for a total of expenditure of $599,674.

At least one major, annual trip got in just under the wire: From Feb. 19 to 21, 98 chiefs of staff from Republican offices attended a conference sponsored by Congressional Institute Inc., which has funded more trips than any other organization. Future trips by that group and others are likely to take a hit from the virus. In May 2019, the Congressional Institute convened 150 Republican staffers in Baltimore and in June of last year, it gathered 259 staffers in Virginia. 

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) has turned to the private sector for the latest addition to his policy team.

Martha Roberts comes from the Environmental Defense Fund, where she was a senior attorney. She did not register as a lobbyist during her time at the advocacy group.

Roberts, who holds both a law degree from NYU and a master's degree in earth systems from Stanford, has also worked in policy roles for the Environmental Protection Agency. She's now Bennet's senior adviser on energy, climate and environment issues.

At the end of March, the company BodySphere announced what sounded like a coup: it claimed the FDA had authorized its 2-minute COVID-19 antibody test for emergency use. 

The problem was, the FDA had issued no such approval. The original announcement, which made its way into the likes of Axios and Reuters, was quickly retracted and corrected. 

BodySphere is now one of the latest firms to register to lobby, filing on issues related to "commercial hemp production and medicinal research." While there are no current references to hemp on BodySphere's website, CNN reported that the site previously stated the company was involved in the creation of "Hemp Bio Plastics." 

In addition to selling masks and hand sanitizer, the company's website still advertised COVID-19 tests as of May 6, with the caveat that results, "must be confirmed with alternative testing method(s)."

BodySphere hired Josh Gaboton of Gaboton Group LLC to lobby on its behalf. In the early 2000s, Gaboton worked as a legislative assistant for former Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.). Mica's daughter, D'Anne Mica, who is not named on the lobbying filing nor on Gaboton Group's website, has previously worked with the firm on behalf of local governments in Florida. She was serving as a BodySphere spokesperson, according to CNN. 

Former two-term congressman Steve Austria (R-Ohio) has registered two clients under his own firm, Steve Austria and Associates LLC. 

Neither client is new to Austria. He lobbied on behalf of both companies−pharmaceutical compounder Medisca Inc. and bacon manufacturer Sugar Creek Packing Co.—during his five years as president of ZHF Consulting LLC. Austria left that firm, which is affiliated with the law office Zaino Hall & Farrin LLC, at the end of 2019.

Austria representated the seventh district of Ohio from 2009 to 2013. That seat is now held by Rep. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio).  

Austria formed Steve Austria and Associates LLC in 2013, but these are its first lobbying registrations.  

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the world's biggest vaccine maker has hired a seasoned congressional staffer.

Curtis Rhyne is now a director of federal government relations for GlaxoSmithKline. The British phramaceutical company dropped nearly $4.7 million on federal lobbying last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Rhyne comes from the office of Rep. George Holding (R-N.C.), where he was deputy chief of staff and legislative director. Holding is retiring from Congress at the end of this term. Rhyne has also worked for the House Republican Study Committee and for Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).