Amazon CEO Andy Jassy makes first visit to Capitol Hill since taking top job

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made his first visit to Capitol Hill this week since taking on his new post — meeting with top Congressional leaders as Amazon faces increasing scrutiny from Washington, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Jassy, who took over from Jeff Bezos in early July, met this week with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

The charm offensive comes as Amazon faces serious regulatory threats on a number of fronts in Washington and signals that Jassy intends to make his case directly with policymakers in Washington during a key period for the company.

It’s also a departure from the approach taken by Bezos, who occasionally met members of Congress when he was CEO, but never made the “Big Four” rounds like Jassy did this week.

This is Jassy’s second visit to Washington in his new job; he visited the White House a few weeks ago for a cybersecurity summit. Jassy isn’t meeting with any White House officials this week. When he was CEO of Amazon Web Services, a major source of the company’s revenue, Jassy did regular Capitol Hill outreach as well.

Jassy also met with the senators from the company’s home state of Washington, Maria Cantwell (D) and Patty Murray (D), according to the individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Schumer spokesperson told POLITICO that the majority leader pushed Jassy to support unionization of the Amazon workforce. A Murray aide said in a statement that Murray, the chair of the Senate HELP Committee, told Jassy of her “strongly-held views that all workers have the right to unionize and the importance of strong workers’ rights and protections, and that corporations like Amazon have a responsibility to forcefully oppose harmful anti-abortion laws like SB8,” the new controversial Texas law.

Spokespeople for Pelosi, McCarthy and Cantwell didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for McConnell had no immediate comment, while an Amazon spokesperson declined to comment.

Lawmakers in both chambers have been scrutinizing Amazon over its labor practices, alleged monopoly power, the spread of counterfeits on its platform and the role that its e-commerce site has played in spreading misinformation about Covid-19. And the Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating Amazon’s acquisition of entertainment company MGM.

The House Judiciary Committee earlier this year passed a package of antitrust bills seeking to rein in the power of Amazon and the other tech giants. Pelosi has endorsed the bills, which Amazon has been lobbying against aggressively, but she still has not said whether she intends to bring them to the House floor.

Lawmakers and congressional aides have been raring for Jassy to testify since was named as CEO earlier this year. “I have some questions for Mr. Jassy,” tweeted Rep. Ken Buck (R-Col.), the top Republican on the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, in February. Bezos testified before the subcommittee last year.