As Senate Republicans this week push to slash unemployment benefits for millions of workers, they are offering a lucrative gift to Washington lobbying groups for huge corporations: access to a program meant to help small businesses and their employees survive the pandemic. The move could deliver an infusion of government cash to business groups, helping them free up more cash to boost their existing ad spending in support of Republicans’ 2020 election campaigns.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was supposed to target forgivable loans to mom-and-pop local businesses, but it has been raided by large corporations and private equity giants, while locking out many small companies. Corporate lobbying organizations have been trying to get in on the free cash bonanza for months — and they now seem close to achieving their goal.

House and Senate Democrats have sponsored legislation opening up the PPP program to corporate trade associations that influence the government and bankroll election campaigns. Last month, the American Society of Association Executives, a lobbying group for lobbying groups, publicly declared that the next coronavirus relief package “may be associations’ last chance to gain access to the PPP.”