Hyperloop One Hires Washington Lobbyists

Hyperloop One has made a pretty shrewd political move in Washington. It has hired a firm of lobbyists with close connections to the Republican Party.

Jochum, Shore & Trossevin PC is a K Street lobbying firm composed of well-connected former Republican Congressional staffers. Hyperloop One has hired it to fight for its interests, and a share of your tax money in Washington D.C., Recode reported.

This is a pretty shrewd move because the Republicans control both houses of Congress and will for at least the next two years. Since Congress writes the laws and the budgets it also has most of the power in Washington. Hyperloop One will need friends in Congress if it wants federal money for its projects.

Another reason why Hyperloop One has hired this firm is that it is a Democratic company with close connections to the Obama administration. Now that Republicans control Congress; and the White House, it will need to develop new spheres of influence.

Hyperloop One wants its Piece of Trump Money

An obvious goal of Hyperloop One will be to get its piece of the $1 trillion President Trump would like to spend on infrastructure. It should be noted here that President Trump has no control over infrastructure spending; all he can do is ask Congress for funds.

If Hyperloop One wants any infrastructure money from Washington it will need to lobby for it. A good way to do that is hire connected people who know how to get things done in Congress, which sounds like what they’re doing.

Obviously Washington is not the only place where Hyperloop One is lobbying. The company’s CEO Rob Lloyd was in New Delhi lobbying the Indian Parliament directly. I imagine Hyperloop One will soon be hiring lobbyists all over the world in an attempt to get lots of money from lots of governments.