What we’re hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill – please send us more tips!

  • Paragon enters PBM debate: The most influential conservative health care focused think tank urged Congress not to include anti-pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) legislation in the lame duck. Paragon’s involvement was noteworthy, according to some Hill staff, because Paragon’s team is set to play an influential role in the Trump administration, with Brian Blase being considered for several leading health care roles. 
  • We told you so: Over a week before Politico reported that President Donald Trump was weighing picking Chris Wright as his Secretary of Energy, we told readers as much; now, Trump’s selection of Wright is official, and we are hearing rave reviews about him from the energy industry. “Chris is a fantastic champion for American energy and will be a great addition to the Trump administration,” one industry leader told us. “After years of energy pessimism, Wright’s ‘zero energy poverty’ philosophy is a breath of fresh air and will increase human prosperity and opportunity for all.” Wright, it’s worth noting, is also good friends with Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to helm the Interior Department — another Trump selection that we have only heard great things about.
  • Congrats, Commissioner! President Donald Trump announced that FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will take over the commission and serve as its chairman; we interviewed Carr at length about his priorities, Elon Musk, and the government’s failure to supply rural broadband — read that here. 
  • Last hurrah for Durbin: Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) is using one of his final days as Judiciary Committee Chairman to hold a hearing, not on judges, immigration, crime, or the border, but on credit cards, a longstanding obsession of the Illinois senator. A Republican on the committee told us “we don’t know why [Durbin] is doing it but it is much better to waste time on this than on confirming more of Biden’s lunatic judges.” 
  • Fresenius Kabi and the left: With Republicans taking power, we are hearing from Hill sources that the firms that spent the last few years aligned with the left will face some serious questions from the new majority. One Hill aide who works on healthcare issues said, “companies like Fresenius Kabi whose employees and PAC gave more than six figures to Kamala and Democrats and the DSCC should be prepared for questions.”  
  • Big leagues in Poland: Our reporting about how Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, is singing a different tune about President Donald Trump, took off like wildfire in the Polish media landscape. One of the country’s most popular TV shows covered our reporting. 
  • Raising the Barr: Rep. Andy Barr (R., Ky.), one of the leading candidates to chair the Financial Services Committee, is giving out “Make Financial Services Great Again” hats as part of his pitch. This cycle, Barr gave over $2.6 million the the NRCC this cycle, $500,000 directly to candidates, and raised an additional $650,000 for candidates into the Scalise Leadership Fund. We interviewed Barr about his problems with the Biden administration’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Read that here.