Companies that worked with the Trump administration may soon find themselves squeezed between Congress and the White House. Democrats preparing for possible control of the House have discussed investigations into businesses and other organizations connected to the administration. A lawful contract, permit, or grant could still become the subject of a hearing.
The pressure goes both ways. The Trump administration will still control federal contracts, permits, and grants. An executive who tries to appease a Democrat committee chairman could wind up the subject of a scathing Truth Social post — or in court fighting to preserve a government agreement.
For a large contractor, losing one department’s business is painful. For a small company that depends on a single federal customer, it could be fatal.
CEOs who see themselves in the line of fire should use the weeks before the new Congress convenes on January 3 to prepare. Forget the holiday lull. Strengthen the balance sheet, map the legal risks, protect the brand, and make sure core stakeholders hear from you.
Here are four ways to do it.
1. Inoculate yourself against criticism
A CEO’s job includes looking around corners. That means insurance, cash reserves, and operational backups. It also means getting legal counsel, government affairs, and communications executives in the same room before an angry lawmaker makes the company a national story.
Ask four questions:
- What can we say publicly, and what must we leave to counsel?
- Who is likely to chair the committees that oversee our industry, and are we on their radar? Update that assessment weekly through January 3 and daily thereafter.
- Which audiences most need to hear from us — and through which channels?
- Who can speak credibly about our record? Executives and lobbyists count, but so do employees, customers, and community leaders who have known the organization for years.
Then rehearse the answers. Don’t let an improvised post or a stupid brand mistake become Exhibit A.
2. Keep yourself solvent
Money solves a lot of problems. A healthy balance sheet can help a company weather a canceled contract, a consumer boycott, or a years-long fight with a regulator that suddenly isn’t friendly.
Consider Booz Allen Hamilton. In January, the Treasury Department canceled all 31 of its contracts with the consulting firm, citing the theft and disclosure of confidential taxpayer information by a former Booz Allen employee. The IRS said the breach affected approximately 406,000 taxpayers, including Donald Trump. Booz Allen’s shares plunged on the news.
For a large contractor, losing one department’s business is painful. For a small company that depends on a single federal customer, it could be fatal.
Diversify revenue now, favoring work rooted in continuing public needs rather than a politician’s goodwill. Governments still move troops, review drugs, and approve mergers when party control changes. Nonprofits should broaden their base of individual donors, foundations, and earned income so that one canceled grant does not sink the mission.
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3. Choose your words wisely
For the next 90 days, much about the coming Congress will remain unsettled. Don’t pretend otherwise in public. Stick to what you know on podcasts and social media, and think twice before accepting an interview without understanding the journalist’s subject and approach.
Instead, speak regularly with the people who depend on your organization: customers, employees, investors, donors, and partners. Use the channels you already have. If you speak to the press, trade and regional outlets may reach those audiences more effectively than a national political shouting match.
Trade editors want expertise and practical answers. Your stakeholders want to know what you provide, how you treat them, and whether you have a plan. Give them more of that and less punditry on subjects outside your expertise.
4. If you’re called in, know your stuff
The big open secret about congressional hearings is that they are designed to showcase the lawmakers, not the witnesses. Members want clips for their voters and donors, and they will hammer the table until someone gives them one.
In 2023, the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania gave careful, lawyerly answers to questions about calls for the genocide of Jews on their campuses. Their evasiveness became the story. Anyone facing a hostile committee should remember that the most technically cautious answer may be the most politically disastrous.
Know the facts cold. Practice being grilled. Prepare for everything from your opening statement to hostile follow-ups, facial expressions, and the moment you leave the hearing room. You are walking onto someone else’s battlefield.
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Candor can help, too. At a 2008 hearing on aid for Detroit automakers, lawmakers asked whether executives would work for $1 a year. Ford’s Alan Mulally replied, “I think I’m OK where I am.” Scott Monty, Ford’s digital director at the time, told me on my show that the communications team initially panicked — until it saw the public’s reaction to Mulally’s plain speaking. Mulally later agreed to the $1 salary if Ford accepted federal aid.
This, too, shall pass
Washington has changed hands before. No need to hyperventilate. Companies that were close to one administration have come under scrutiny from the next. The political temperature may fall after the midterms, but another presidential race is only two years away.
You cannot control whether Congress targets your organization. You can control whether your records are in order, whether your finances can take a hit, and whether the people who count on you still trust you.
Remember the advice about outrunning a bear. You don’t have to be the fastest. You just have to be better prepared than the witness sweating — sorry, sitting — beside you.
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[H/T Blaze Media]
