LegiStorm

A former public policy coordinator at Planned Parenthood Federation of America has returned to the Hill to help investigate Planned Parenthood over accusations it sold fetal tissue.

Vanessa Cramer in February joined Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) on the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Select Panel to Investigate Handling of Infant Lives.

Congress created the panel after a series of videos allegedly showed Planned Parenthood trying to sell baby parts to an investigator posing as an interested buyer. Democrats have decried the panel as a waste of time, while Republicans have pushed it to defund Planned Parenthood.

After spending several years at Planned Parenthood, Cramer split her next year on K Street with lobbying powerhouse DLA Piper and Sirona Strategies. Throughout, her lobbying work focused on health care issues, specifically Medicare and Medicaid.

The daughter of a former representative has followed in her father's footsteps and taken a role on the Hill.

Molly Lazio, daughter of former Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.), who perhaps most notably lost against Hillary Clinton in a bid for the Senate, accepted a role as staff assistant earlier this month on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She will serve Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).

The role is not Lazio's first in politics: She worked as a summer intern for her father's 2010 gubernatorial campaign, which ended in a primary loss to Carl Paladino, and as a recruitment coordinator for Grassroots Campaigns during the summer of 2011. She also interned in the Senate before joining Corker's staff on the Foreign Relations Committee.

A graduate of Hamilton College, Lazio will get an opportunity while on Corker's staff to satisfy her interest in international issues.

The revolving door spun quickly for Allison Witt Poulios, who has returned to the office of Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) with a promotion after only a month working for the Joint Commission.

Poulios had been on Latta's roster since 2008, most recently as his deputy chief of staff. In January, however, she joined the Joint Commission as director of federal relations — an integral position considering the issues surrounding the expansion of Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

But Latta's chief of staff, Ryan Walker, left earlier this month for a lobbying job at British Petroleum, where he is senior director of federal government affairs.

Using the chief of staff vacancy, Latta wooed Poulios back.

A major shipping organization has hired a prominent advocacy group to lobby Congress concerning Iranian sanctions.

The American Bureau of Shipping, a marine classification society, has hired Baker Hostetler LLP to lobby Congress on issues surrounding the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.

For decades, marine classification societies like the ABS have been integral in tightening sanctions in Iran. By withholding their safety classification on vessels, groups like the ABS make it more difficult for shipping companies to find workers who demand a boat to meet specific safety classifications before they work on it. The ABS stopped classifying vessels owned or operated by the Iranian government as early as 1979.

With the relaxation of Iranian sanctions as part of the country's nuclear deal, however, shipping to the Middle-Eastern country has jumpstarted. With the increased shipping, however, comes an increase in the lobbying going on in Congress over how much can go to Iran.

A former House staffer who left the Hill in 1984 has returned after nearly 20 years with an association that lobbies for credit unions.

Pat Sowick become director of program management for Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) this month.

Sowick got her start in the House of Representatives as a legislative assistant for Rep. Ray McGrath (R-N.Y.) way back in 1981. She served three years and then left to work for more than a decade as a congressional liaison for various international broadcasting companies.

In 1997, Sowick became a fixture on K Street, joining the Credit Union National Association as vice president of Washington operations. Sowick stayed with the association 18 years and also served as the treasurer for its PAC, which grew from $500,000 to $4.5 million during her tenure.