From Dishwasher to HUD Sec; Rep. Beth Van Duyne Predicts April Reconciliation Vote; Allegations of Judicial Conflicts of Interest, and more!

In this edition, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner talks helming HUD; Rep. Beth Van Duyne gives a reconciliation update with a look towards April; and more.

February 18, 2025

Let’s dive in.

1. INTERVIEW: From dishwasher to HUD Secretary: Scott Turner details his plan to “attack” the housing crisis and more

2. INTERVIEW: Rep. Beth Van Duyne expects reconciliation vote the “first week of April”

3. Heard on the Hill

4. Controversial Rhode Island judge who ruled against Trump could financially benefit from his ruling

5. K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Mergers mandate: The Trump DOJ’s Antitrust Division implements 2023 merger guidelines

6. Op-Eds: Lindsey Johnson on why the crusade from Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley on interest rates will do more harm than good and Ben Carson on why Making America Healthy Again means a new era

In this edition, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner talks helming HUD; Rep. Beth Van Duyne gives a reconciliation update with a look towards April; Sen. Jon Ossoff is MIA in Heard on the Hill, and more.

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INTERVIEW: From dishwasher to HUD Secretary: Scott Turner details his plan to “attack” the housing crisis and more

by the Washington Reporter

The Lowdown:

• Secretary Scott Turner took the helm of HUD with bipartisan support and is making regulatory reform to address America’s affordable housing crisis one of his top priorities;

• Turner, a local of Richardson, Texas, associate Baptist pastor, and NFL veteran of nine seasons, is also making the expansion of Opportunity Zones a top priority;

• Turner also started a DOGE task force within HUD to analyze department programs to ensure they are helping to carry out the department’s mission;

• Turner, a former JPI executive, believes his “private sector business experience has well prepared [him] for this stewardship role here at HUD as it pertains to building affordable housing.”

When one travels North on the Central Expressway from downtown Dallas, the scenery rapidly shifts from a rampantly growing concrete jungle to an idyllic suburbia reminiscent of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Shire. From the gilded mansions of Highland Park to the growing golf Antioch of Frisco, these suburbs have seen billionaire financial gurus make their homes next to the humblest of pastors — some of whom know how to throw down on the gridiron at the highest levels.

Today’s story takes us to one such suburb: the Telecom Corridor of Richardson, Texas.

Hailing from this technology town is none other than President Donald Trump’s newly-minted Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Scott Turner. Turner, who served as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during the first Trump administration, hopped on the phone with the Washington Reporter to discuss his priorities as America’s 19th HUD Secretary and how he will approach the job.

“I’m very humbled to be the servant leader at HUD,” Turner said on Friday. “And some topline priorities that we have here, number one is to attack the regulatory reform because we have a housing affordability crisis in our country. And a big part of that is regulatory. Cumbersome and burdensome bureaucracy as it pertains to regulations, which makes it harder to build our housing supply.”

“We need about 7 million units of housing of all kinds in our country, be it single-family, multi-family, condominiums, manufactured homes,” he continued. “And, when you think about HUD and just the purview and the reach that we have, we serve various communities: rural, tribal, and urban. And inside of all these communities that we serve, there is a housing supply shortage. So regulatory reform is a big part, both on the federal level and on the local level.”

Turner said the next priority is expanding Opportunity Zones, a policy championed by Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) during the first Trump administration that saw economic revivals in underserved communities across the country.

“And they were very impactful as a policy initiative in our country as it pertains to helping people get out of poverty by way of new housing, by way of new operating businesses,” Turner said. “And that was layered and ran out of HUD under the leadership and chairmanship of Dr. Ben Carson.”

“So the expansion of Opportunity Zones is going to be crucial in this second term, and so working with Congress and the appropriate parties to do so…will be a priority,” he added. Turner noted HUD serves “the most vulnerable” Americans and that he aims to “take inventory” of all of the department’s programs to “make sure we’re being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars.”

“We want to make sure that the programs that we have at HUD are actually helping us to carry out that mission,” Turner said, also touching on HUD’s newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force.

Turner said the expansion of Opportunity Zones is “a coordinated effort” between Congress and the administration and highlighted the good work the zones have accomplished so far, such as raising home values in the areas “by a little more than three percent with no observable increase in rent.”

INTERVIEW: Rep. Beth Van Duyne expects reconciliation vote the “first week of April”

by the Washington Reporter

THE LOWDOWN:

• Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R., Texas) says she’s behind House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R., La.) “one big, beautiful bill” for reconciliation;

• Van Duyne, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, expects a reconciliation vote in the “first week of April”;

• The Texas congresswoman said she thinks President Donald Trump’s second term is “going phenomenally well” and praised his border enforcement;

• Van Duyne said it is “ridiculous to say that free speech leads to horrors” when asked for a reaction to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s pushback on CBS’s Margaret Brennan’s false assertion that Germany “weaponized” free speech to commit the Holocaust.

Tucked away between Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas, lies the little town of Irving. This little slice of Heaven makes up a portion of one of the Lone Star State’s most affluent congressional districts, and carries with it a Texan powerhouse congresswoman. Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R., Texas) is that powerhouse, and she sat down with the Washington Reporter to give the latest updates on Congress’s reconciliation plans.

Sitting on the House Ways and Means Committee, Van Duyne’s work is cut out for her now as the House and Senate battle for the budget. Van Duyne noted that Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) is working on “one big, beautiful bill” to be the legislative plan. The Texas Republican said the House GOP is “trying to bring home the support and resources that are necessary to secure our border,” increase energy production in America, and bring down inflation.

“As a Ways and Means member, we’ve been working on this tax package for the last two years,” Van Duyne said. “I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get that done: one big, beautiful bill. I know that there are hurdles, but I’m going to remain hopeful.” She noted that the border issue was one of the main concerns arising from the American people in November, in addition to the economy.

“When we look at this tax package, if we don’t get that pulled over, 90 percent of American taxpayers are going to face some of the largest tax increases in our history,” she said. “We can’t have that.” Van Duyne also noted Congress is “very close” to a reconciliation bill and is expecting a potential vote the “first week of April.”

Of President Donald Trump’s nascent second term, Van Duyne said it is “going phenomenally well,” singling out the president’s day one executive orders to secure the southern border and the immediate impact America is seeing from them in particular. The Texas Republican noted recent coverage from Fox News noting the dramatic drop in the number of crossings from the tens of thousands to the low hundreds.

“And there’s a reason why: because policies matter. When you start looking at our influence around the world, I think it has definitely helped,” Van Duyne said, noting the release of Hamas hostages under Trump and the continuing negotiations.

“You think about [Vice President] JD Vance being over in Munich and some of the statements and speeches he has given, how that is being received,” she continued. “You think about the influence on just Canada and on Mexico and Colombia, and some of the promises that this administration made, and now we’re getting the help of other countries.”

Heard on the Hill

• FTC MAKING MOVES: The Federal Trade Commission’s new chairman, Andrew Ferguson, has made a flurry of proclamations in recent days, one of which we cover later on in this edition. We are excited to host his first interview in his new role on Monday. RSVP HERE before tickets are gone.

• MEDICATING PHARMA: President Donald Trump is meeting with PhRMA executives on Thursday to discuss lowering drug costs.

• MISSING IN ACTION: Sen. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.) is notably absent from the list of co-sponsors of the Antisemitism Awareness Act; Ossoff, who is a top GOP target in 2026, has lost support from both Democrats and Jewish supporters in Georgia, according to recent reporting in the New York Times. “Defeating Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff is the RJC’s top priority in the 2026 election cycle,” the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Sam Markstein told the Washington Reporter. “It is deeply disturbing that Senator Ossoff has refused to co-sponsor this critical legislation to date. The people of Georgia deserve so much better, and the RJC will hold him accountable.”

• CRYPTO BUSINESS: Senate Republicans expect to prioritize one of Sen. Ted Cruz's (R., Texas) CRAs on crypto access.

• FILIBUSTER FOR THEE, NOT FOR ME: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) on the hypocrisy of Senate Democrats decrying the filibuster only to use it to unsuccessfully delay votes on President Trump’s nominees is worth emphasizing: “the rules are different for Democrats,” Thune said. “If you’re a Democrat, it’s perfectly fine, and not at all hypocritical, to plan to abolish the filibuster should you gain a majority in the Senate, but to use it regularly when you do not.”

• PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: Trump to address to the Future Investment Initiative Institute on Wednesday night. This comes as his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, met with Russia in Saudi Arabia.

• THEY’RE SO BACK: The Republican Study Committee (RSC) is releasing its second episode of the “Right to the Point” podcast, featuring Reps. Jim Jordan (R., Ohio) and Ben Cline (R., Va.) tomorrow morning. The episode, titled “We’re So Back,” features DOGE and Rep. Jordan’s baseball hot takes — like that the Cincinnati Reds’s Big Red Machine is the greatest baseball team in history.

• TIM, PAINED: Sen. Tim Kaine (D., Va.) is forcing the Senate to vote to disapprove one of Trump's actions to increase our energy supply — the Republicans are delighted and are looking forward to the vote.

Exclusive: Controversial Rhode Island judge who ruled against Trump could financially benefit from his ruling

by Matthew Foldi

THE LOWDOWN:

• A controversial Rhode Island judge who ruled the Trump admin must unfreeze Inflation Reduction Act funds owns up to a quarter million dollars in stock in a company that benefited from Joe Biden’s Orwellian-named Inflation Reduction Act.

• The $75 million awarded to Cummins, the company Judge John McConnell owns stocks in, “is the largest federal grant ever awarded solely to Cummins and is part of the appropriations related to the Inflation Reduction Act,” per the company

• McConnell has come under increasing fire from forces aligned with President Donald Trump, including from Rep. Andrew Clyde (R., Ga.) and from America First Legal.

Judge John McConnell, the controversial Rhode Island judge who ruled that the Trump administration must unfreeze Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds, disclosed owning up to $250,000 of stock in a company that received $75 million from the bill he ruled on, according to his financial records obtained by the Washington Reporter.

The $75 million awarded to Cummins, the company McConnell owns stocks in, “is the largest federal grant ever awarded solely to Cummins and is part of the appropriations related to the Inflation Reduction Act,” the company announced in 2024.

Republicans, led by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R., Ga.), have begun to agitate for the impeachment of McConnell, who Clyde recently called a “partisan activist weaponizing our judicial system to stop President Trump's funding freeze on woke and wasteful government spending.”

While Clyde’s effort is unlikely to succeed, further details about McConnell’s stock ownership could add fuel to the fire. Funding for the $75 million grant via the IRA has yet to go out the door, suggesting that he could financially benefit from his rulings from the bench.

McConnell has come under increasing fire from forces aligned with President Donald Trump, including from America First Legal, which recently demanded that he “immediately vacate his [temporary restraining order] and swiftly recuse himself from this case without delay to comply with his ethical obligations.”

“Judge McConnell has been on the board of an NGO for nearly 20 years, a board he still apparently sits on,” America First Legal wrote. “In that time, that NGO has received over $128 million dollars in government funding from the state, a recipient of federal taxpayer dollars. This NGO, to which he owes a fiduciary duty, stood to lose millions of dollars based on the outcome of his decision in the case.”

K-STREET, 10,000 FEET

Mergers mandate: The Trump DOJ’s Antitrust Division implements 2023 merger guidelines

by the Washington Reporter

THE LOWDOWN:

• The Trump FTC announced it will continue to use the 2023 joint merger guidelines between it and the DOJ Antitrust Division;

• FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson told the Reporter that “stability is important for enforcement agencies and the business community;

• A person close to the Trump administration told the Reporter that “Big Tech can attempt to suck up to Trump, it simply is not working.”

Business in America got stronger on Tuesday when the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division announced it is continuing to implement the 2023 merger guidelines under President Donald Trump.

These merger guidelines struck in 2023 between the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) and DOJ’s joint merger will continue to serve as the backbone of the government’s merger review process.

FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson told the Reporter that he told the FTC staff “that the 2023 FTC and DOJ’s joint 2023 Merger Guidelines are in effect and will serve as the framework for our agency’s merger-review analysis.”

“These guidelines build on previous guidelines and many decades of case law,” Ferguson said. “That stability is important for enforcement agencies and the business community."

A Fortune 100 tech executive told the Reporter that, despite “Big Tech’s efforts to pretend otherwise, it is clear that the Trump administration is serious about enforcement.”

“This is great news for the American economy,” the tech executive said. “And it’s important that enforcers and regulators in the states and abroad take note, and not fall prey to Big Tech’s propaganda that the federal government is backing down.”

Additionally, the FTC’s decision to maintain the guidance on mergers is already seeing approval from those close to the Trump administration.

“Donald Trump has been a warrior on antitrust enforcement and reform,” a person close to the Trump administration told the Reporter. “His vice president is populist on antitrust, his FTC Chairman is populist on antitrust, and his head of DOJ Antitrust is a populist on antitrust.”

“Big Tech can attempt to suck up to Trump, it simply is not working,” the person added.

The DOJ declined to comment.

NOTE: FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson will sit down for his first public interview next Monday with the Washington Reporter. Sign up HERE before our limited number of tickets are gone.

Op-Ed: Ben Carson: Making America Healthy Again means a new era in the fight against opioids

by Ben Carson

I have dedicated most of my adult life to the American health care system — first as a physician, then as a neurosurgeon, and ultimately as the chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. In that time, I have learned a fundamental truth: every patient’s experience of pain is unique. Yet, for far too long, we have relied on a one-size-fits-all approach to pain management: opioids. This dependence has come at an enormous cost, devastating families, overwhelming our healthcare system, and draining hundreds of billions of dollars from our economy.

While we have made significant progress in addressing this crisis, much work remains. Fortunately, the Trump administration has an opportunity to lead a new wave of reform by expanding access to non-opioid alternatives. With the right policies, leadership, and commitment, we can turn the tide and Make America Healthy Again.

The scale of the problem

Each year, approximately 80 million Americans experience acute pain severe enough to require prescription medication. Of these, 40 million are prescribed an opioid. Every filled prescription carries a risk — not just for the patient, but for their families, communities, and society at large. This crisis is keeping people out of work, destroying lives, and placing a massive financial strain on our nation.

Op-Ed: Lindsey Johnson: Why the crusade from Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley on interest rates will do more harm than good

by Lindsey Johnson

Sens. Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) and Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) have teamed together to introduce legislation that would cap credit card interest rates for everyone in America at 10 percent. The senators have made it part of their political campaigning, this week speaking to Fox News and others on the need for this government-mandated price control.

But the attention-grabbing rhetoric pushed by Senators Hawley and Sanders ignores the facts: there is overwhelming evidence to show that capping interest rates harms consumers. It raises costs and restricts access to credit for the hardworking Americans who need it most.

Senators Hawley and Sanders suggest consumers would save money under their 10 percent rate cap proposal. However, their math is wrong and misleading. Let’s take the following hypothetical scenario: a consumer has $1,000 in credit card debt. For the sake of argument, let’s assume they pay it off in three months. At current average interest rates, they would be charged $40. That is significantly less than the 300-600 percent interest that the same consumer would be charged if they went to pawn shop or payday lender.

Credit cards are an essential tool because they offer flexibility. Consumers have the option to pay off their debt tomorrow or over a longer period, but only if they need. When life throws you a curveball, for example losing a job or facing an unexpected bill, consumers can take the time they need to pay off their credit card. Or, if they get a bonus or unexpected influx in cash, they can pay off the credit card bill at once. Flexibility is critical.