Heard on the Hill
What we're hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill
ANOTHER CLOCK PUN: The TikTok bidding war continues. CEOs of Oracle, Walmart, AppLovin, and Amazon are all ramping up their efforts to purchase the popular app. Vice President JD Vance’s office is running the auction house for the Trump administration. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which is tied closely to the Chinese Communist Party, is also heavily involved.
LET THEM PLAY ANGRY BIRDS: App developers are pushing House and Senate Leadership to introduce the Open App Markets Act (OAMA), which would rein in smartphone application store practices. Google and Apple, the owners of the largest app stores on the market, oppose such measures. There is an added backdrop of fears that European Union fines could anger President Trump.
MAD FOR PLAID: Plaid, the fintech company, received an investment of $50 million from the powerful 1789 Capital Fund which is managed by Donald Trump, Jr. and Omeed Malik.
DIMON HANDS: Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorganChase, discussed the importance of renewing President Trump’s tax cuts in his latest annual letter to shareholders. Dimon said that, although “there is certainly room for improvement, overall, the changes made by the TCJA recognize that reducing and rationalizing taxes on business income are critical to spurring economic growth and producing more ‘bang for the buck’ than cutting taxes on individual income.”
RINGING OFF THE HOOK: There’s been a scramble to call Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on tariffs. Bessent has spoken with a number of CEOs and foreign leaders about the economic plan.
GET BROWN: With former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu officially out, Senate Republicans expect former Sen. Scott Brown to be the Republican nominee for New Hampshire’s open senate seat. Brown has been spotted having meetings on Capitol Hill and has been publishing op-eds in the Washington Reporter.
MANSION SHOPPING: Rep. John James (R., Mich.) announced that he will run for governor next year, giving the GOP a credible candidate to flip the open seat. A poll from OnMessage Inc. shows James clearing the GOP field with well over 50 percent, regardless of who he tested against.
PEACH STATE RUMBLE: If Georgia’s popular Republican governor, Brian Kemp, doesn’t pull the trigger on a Senate bid next year, the field for Republicans is wide open to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.). A new poll from Advanced Targeting Research shows that Rep. Mike Collins (R., Ga.) and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger would lead the field with 10 percent each. 35 percent of Republican primary voters would be undecided. The Washington Reporter previously covered Collins’s nationwide campaign trek for House Republican candidates.
DEM OR DUMB?: The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) launched a new ad hitting Democrats for insulting Americans ahead of the 2026 midterms after losing handily to President Trump and the GOP in 2024.
