Coalition Leadership

The Coalition’s leading partners, Capitol Consulting Group and Ferox Strategies, have united to bring robust bipartisan policymaker connections, records of D.C. advocacy success, and proven creativity and dedication to the Coalition. Our partnership will ensure that our AI industry members don’t miss a step in reaching both returning and new leaders on Capitol Hill and the Biden Administration in shaping the future of the AI field.

Bringing Members Together

We aim to tell our membership’s story on AI in a way that resonates with policymakers that care about emerging technologies. We will work with our membership to identify their stories that further their brand reputation on how they are leveraging AI in a trusted and ethical manner.

Pooling national and international resources to address common misconceptions

Stephen K Replogle
Cristina Antelo

House & Senate AI Leaders

The Coalition offers its members close, pre-built working ties with policymakers who are dedicated to updating legislation and regulation impacting AI and machine learning.

Committees of jurisdiction making up a vast oversight, funding, and policy network that the AI industry must negotiate to achieve progress and dodge roadblocks. The top relevant relationships of Ferox and Capitol Consulting Group include: House and Senate leadership, leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Commerce Committee overseeing technology policy; leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees and their likely successors in this Congress; the Chair and senior staff of House Homeland Security, Senate HSGAC, and the House Oversight Committee; and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees plus their upcoming leadership.

Another important group of stakeholders: the House and Senate AI Caucuses, who overlap significantly with the committees of jurisdiction as well as tech-centric ideological caucuses like the New Democrat Coalition and the Future Forum. Many AI Caucus leaders and members bring experience with AI from their pre-political career, fields including national security, financial services, and the law.

Democrats

Each faction within the Democratic Congress will require customized messaging and outreach as well as pre-existing working ties that will allow the Coalition to quickly reach decision-makers and senior staff, rather than starting from scratch. Democrats, especially the progressive wing, are among the most skeptical of AI technology. Our key connections:

  • The Congressional Women’s Caucus, which set a record level for membership in the 117th Congress, as well as the Tri-Caucus which makes up more than half of House Democrats, made up of the Congressional Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus, Asian-Pacific American Caucus, who are outspoken critics of potential racial and gender bias in
  • Ideological caucuses including the Congressional Progressive Caucus, suspicious of AI’s implications for privacy, the workforce, and in perpetuating inequality; as well as the pro-business New Democrat Coalition housing the “Future of Work” initiative. Still more relevant ideological wings where Ferox reaches: the all-Millennial Future Forum focused on futurist issues like tech climate, the conservative Blue Dog Coalition, and more.

Republicans

Republican ties are especially important in the Senate, a specialty for former longtime Senate GOP aide Stephen Replogle of the Capitol Consulting Group. Bipartisan coalitions are essential for virtually any legislative effort to clear the Senate. Republicans will also continue to push the House Democratic majority on topics like maintaining the United States’ competitive edge over rivals like China, as well as AI’s implications for national security and business optimization. Among the Coalition’s top GOP connections:

  • House and Senate Republican leadership, especially the Senate Republican Conference
  • Leaders top committee spots in the 117th Congress and For example, three Republican members for the House Energy and Commerce Committee which enjoys primary jurisdiction over technology matters.
  • Influential ideological factions, such as the conservative House Freedom Caucus seeking reduced government spending and a strong legislative check on executive
  • AI and technology-focused task forces and caucuses. For example, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and other Republicans have spearheaded the China Task Force, developing nearly 200 legislative recommendations to ensure the U.S. retains its technological edge over

Biden Administration

Ferox offers close connections to the Biden Administration and its various Executive Offices and Councils. Our team will work with the following offices and councils, whose policy interests involve the use of AI and emerging technologies: the Office of Science and Technology Policy; the Office of Management and Budget; the Trade and Technology Council; the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office; and the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force.

Scope Of Work

Our combined resources will monitor federal policy, provide strategic analysis, gather intelligence on upcoming congressional and White House Action, create tailored messaging and meeting collateral, and engage in lobbying efforts when necessary to advance the Coalition’s goals as well as prevent detrimental policies. The following activities are included as part of our proposed scope of work:

Coalition leadership will work with members to identify and prioritize engagement goals for 2021 and beyond. Using that information, our team will map stakeholders including policymakers, business groups, advocacy groups, and others that have influence with leaders in Congress, the White House, and the broader Beltway ecosystem for education and outreach purposes. Examples may include pre-existing efforts on AI and emerging technologies within associations and think-tanks such as extending its use to ensure health equity, expediting logistics and retail, or use to protect the national interest, as well as third party issue advocacy organizations like those who have expressed concern for AI bias, privacy concerns, data manipulations and other issues relating to AI. Coalition leadership will use this mapping to best engage, educate, and leverage these relationships to accomplish our objectives.

One of the Coalition’s goals is to effectively tell our membership AI stories, in a manner that resonates with policymakers who are concerned with emerging technologies. The team will engage with our membership to identify initiatives and tactics that promote their brand reputation. This will demonstrate how our memberships are leveraging AI in a trusted and ethical approach.

The Coalition’s goals and policy concerns will serve as the foundation for a new government relations strategy covering defensive and intelligence-gathering work as well as opportunities for coalition members to engage as stakeholders on legislation and regulation. Our strategy would not overlook any opportunity: from Hill meetings and potential hearing testimony to political fundraising and sponsored panel discussions and the like, all designed to reach decision-makers in the beltway.

As needed by the Coalition and outlined in our new government relations strategies, the team will focus on research and advocacy before relevant legislative, regulatory, and executive offices on key issues before Congress; similarly, the team will work with regulators and stakeholders to shape the regulatory and policy landscape.

The team will engage on Coalition priorities with existing stakeholders and third-party allies to achieve policy objectives with legislators and executive branch officials. Simultaneously, the team will seek out new alliances and partnerships across the ideological spectrum, both inside and outside the Beltway, to support the Coalition’s agenda.

A smart government relations strategy must include its own data-driven, optimized digital engagement plan to reach and motivate stakeholders wherever they are. The Coalition has at its fingertips sophisticated and experienced developers to capture how policymakers and the public currently view AI in all its forms, then crafting digital campaigns and outreach targeted to our chosen audiences. Digital capabilities supercharge our relationship-based shoe-leather lobbying by reaching stakeholders of all types in real-time and online, ensuring the Coalition delivers timely tailored messaging regardless of hardships like the coronavirus pandemic.

While many firms may rely on simply tracking new meeting notices, legislative alerts and news, regulations and guidance, the Capitol Consulting Group/Ferox team further offers rapid-response and targeted analysis on a daily basis. From presidential tweets to floor speeches, our team is plugged in to bring our clients the latest news plus insight into what it all means for members’ bottom line. The team’s policy and legislative analysis setup are proactive as well as reactive, flagging for the Coalition critical information such as regulatory agendas, committee markup plans, and upcoming bills before they land.

Our clients’ executives’ time is limited, demanding concise and strategically focused communications. Our team will provide frequent but focused updates and intelligence regarding status of legislation, activities of relevant executive agencies, government officials and stakeholders, and the federal political climate potentially affecting the Coalition and its members’ key interests, all in a digestible format that never loses sight of the Coalition’s goals.