Patriotic Millionaires, a nonprofit comprised of high-net-worth Americans that advocates for higher tax rates for corporations and the wealthy, has hired Washington, D.C.-based government affairs and business development consulting firm Sixkiller Consulting to ensure that future Federal relief efforts for the COVID-19 crisis remain focused on working people and the small businesses that employ them.

Patriots

Founded in 2010, Patriotic Millionaires describes itself as “proud traitors to their class.” The group, whose members include entrepreneurs, Wall Street investors, industrialists and wealthy heirs, is dedicated to using its collective wealth to close the opportunity gap by promoting public policies that increase the minimum wage, raise taxes on corporations and the rich and ensure that the nation’s economy meets the needs of working people.

The group has now turned its attention to The Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the $350 billion federal relief initiative that was intended to help small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April, O’Dwyer’s reported on how hundreds of large public companies syphoned funds from the PPP, some through the use of subsidiaries or by taking advantage of loopholes that allowed companies to be classified as a “small businesses” even when they were anything but, effectively draining the PPP program of its funding within days and leaving most small businesses that applied for the program unable to receive support.

In response, Patriotic Millionaires has hired Sixkiller to help with “legislative efforts in support of an economic relief plan that prioritizes the needs of working people during the COVID-19 crisis,” according to lobbying registration documents filed in May.

Patriotic Millionaires was profiled in Dec. 30th edition of the New Yorker. Much of the article focused on the efforts of member Abigail Disney, granddaughter of The Walt Disney Company co-founder Roy O. Disney, who’s been a vocal critic of the multinational entertainment conglomerate’s treatment of its workers.

In January, Patriotic Millionaires lobbied Washington to support H.R. 582, or the “Raise the Wage Act,” which would provide increases in the Federal minimum wage for employees over a seven-year period, including tipped employees and new hires who are younger than 20 years old.

Leading the Patriotic Millionaires account is Sixkiller managing partner Mariah Sixkiller, ​who’s former national security advisor to House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD). She’s joined by Madison ​Strader, who was previously a legislative assistant to Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA).