Biden Administration May Change Interest Groups, Think Tank Fortunes
The arrival of the Biden administration will change fortunes for interest groups and think tanks. Political science experts and interest group insiders told us that groups that had the ear of the White House and President Donald Trump's officials likely will focus now on working on members of Congress with whom they're more ideologically aligned, plus states.
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"This is a huge moment ... of great opportunity or great danger" for interest groups, because Congress has been unable to pass major legislation in numerous areas for much of the last decade, said University of Miami political science professor Gregory Koger. Democratic-aligned entities like consumer rights groups "will all see their odds of getting attention and their policies on the agenda increase," said Koger.
"We're optimistic about what's possible" at the FCC under a Biden administration, based on the priorities under the Obama administration and on work of the Biden/Bernie Sanders "unity" task force (see 2007080068), said Sarah Morris, director of New America's Open Technology Institute. She expects more engagement on internet policy and ISP oversight, unlike the current FCC's focus on undoing net neutrality rules and abdicating responsibility over such providers. OTI has "been in more of a defensive posture the past four years," with a bigger focus on Capitol Hill to advance its policy agenda, but now anticipates being more engaged in helping set the agenda, Morris said.
TechFreedom Senior Fellow Berin Szoka said for groups particularly focused on one agency, such as the FCC, the change in administration can be dramatic. "Everything depends on your relationships" for such groups, he said. He said TechFreedom and groups like it with changing issues and focuses conversely aren't heavily affected. Szoka said the Biden administration offers "a unique opportunity" for reaching consensus on issues like net neutrality legislation, universal service revisions and broadband deployment. He said there will be "a real sorting" of groups interested in consensus building on such issues vs. those "that want to cheer of jeer." He said the chairperson choices for regulatory agencies have big importance, with some past FCC chairmen being more imperial and less interested in consensus or in urging a legislative fix to issues. "It really matters if you get someone like Julius [Genachowski] or Ajit [Pai]" and who "is not an autocrat," he said.
Unlike in typical new administrations, where interest groups have to figure out the newcomer, Biden is a known quantity because of relationships interest groups had with him as vice president, said Grant Neeley, University of Dayton political science associate professor. Interest group work will focus more on where Biden and his appointees will come down on key issues and who will run the agencies on which those interest groups focus, he said.
The change in which groups' work and arguments get cited more under a Biden FCC vs. under a Trump FCC comes as recent years have seen an increase in groups "not doing serious work" but making more simplistic pro-regulatory or pro-market arguments, said Phoenix Center President Lawrence Spiwak.
Free State Foundation President Randolph May emailed it would "be a bit disingenuous to say that our job of impacting the FCC’s policies might not be more challenging with a Biden FCC in light of some anticipated policy difference [but] FSF is a think tank, not a political organization, and our value is grounded primarily in the strength of our ideas." He said that since FSF's 2006 founding and "throughout changes in the leadership of the FCC and Congress, our supporters have recognized our value lies in our ideas and our ability to articulate them, and I’m confident that will be the case going forward.”
Biden appointees seem "like a very data-driven crowd," which could pan out well for Technology Policy Institute, said President Scott Wallsten. He said TPI hasn't seen big funding differences as administrations change. People will want to donate to organizations likely to be influential, but groups not aligned with the White House also could get support from those wanting to ensure opposing viewpoints get aired, he said. Miami's Koger said that historically, groups on the outs from the White House "can be very successful" in fundraising as they highlight threats the administration poses.
Certain interest groups might have more cachet with the Biden administration, but "you can't get your hopes up too much" about that translating into big policy wins quickly, Neeley said. "Getting anything done in government is complex, long [and] incremental."