LegiStorm

After one year spent lobbying on financial policy, a former House staffer is back on the Hill.

Max Virkus comes from the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions, where he was an associate director for legislative affairs and lobbied on banking, financial services and tax issues. The trade group diclosed $3 million in federal lobbying in the last year.

Virkus now works for Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) as an economic policy adviser. Before he joined NAFCU last November, he worked for Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio).

An environmental sustainability group has picked up a GOP House aide.

Martha Newell is now a federal relations manager at Ceres, a Massachusetts-based group that lobbies Congress on environment, energy and trade issues.

Newell, who holds a master's degree in zoology, was most recently a natural-resources LA to Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska).

A former Rudy Giuliani aide who is leading a super PAC supporting President Trump is leveraging his connections to benefit the government of Kosovo − for a hefty fee.

Jake Menges has launched his own Florida-based lobbying firm, Global Strategic Advisory Group LLC, a month after joining Keep Florida Great, a super PAC supporting President Trump. 

In October, Menges left his role with the law firm Greenberg Traurig − also Giuliani's former firm − to lead Keep Florida Great. Menges worked for the Great America PAC backing Trump in 2016 after leaving Ben Carson's presidential campaign.

The government of Kosovo retained Menges and his new firm for $90,000 in October, per his Foreign Agents Registration Act filing. 

According to the filing, Kosovo is hoping Menges can connect the country's foreign ministry to U.S. government officials and facilitate communications. 

Both male and Republican members of Congress are several times more likely to have served in the military than are their Democratic and/or female counterparts.

According to LegiStorm data, only 11 percent of congressional Democrats are veterans, compared to 27 percent of Republicans. That makes GOP members more than 2.4 times more likely to have served. These numbers are virtually the same across both chambers.

Men are also more likely to hold former military status, with male legislators 3.5 times more likely to be veterans. Only six percent of women have served, versus 22 percent of men.

A lobbyist from a Trump-connected firm has landed back in the office of Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.).

Don Green is now the congressman's senior policy adviser handling budget, foreign affairs and other issues.

He comes from Avenue Strategies, where he spent the last three years as vice president for policy and research. The firm was founded by a pair of Trump campaign aides, including former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, who left following criticism over his failure to register as a lobbyist.

At Avenue, Green registered as a lobbyist on behalf of a single client — Big Cat Rescue, a Florida-based animal santuary. He also registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar and for a Republic of Congo political party.

In addition to his previous tenure as Buchanan's legislative director from 2008-2011, Green has also worked for former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and former Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.), as well as for Business Roundtable, where he also registered as a lobbyist.