Heard on the Hill
What we're hearing from people we trust on and around the Hill
WATCH OUT, UN: Hours after the Washington Reporter published a story, SCOOP: Pressure on Senate to stay in session to confirm Mike Waltz, Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.) filed cloture on Mike Waltz’s nomination to be United Nations Ambassador. Trump advisor Jason Miller, who was leading the confirm Waltz charge, immediately celebrated the news. “This move to reject Cryin’ Chuck’s Democrat obstruction & help Trump get his int’l team in place for #UNGA2025 is the support POTUS needed! Now we just need the Senate GOP to stay in DC & VOTE on Mike Waltz!,” Miller tweeted after the news.
CASH BACK KING: Rep. Bill Huizenga (R., Mich.) recovered over $7 million for his constituents last month. How impressive is this? His colleague, Rep. Hillary Scholten (D., Mich.), for example, brought back a paltry $260,000.
CDC ON THE HOT SEAT: Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R., Ala.) addressed the controversy with recently-fired CDC Director Susan Monarez by calling her a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” this week. “She came to my office about a month ago before her hearing — totally different. Today, she came in couldn't remember things…I asked her a question about, ‘Okay, you got a CDC website. You were told by the President of United States to take all the DEI woke nonsense out of it because this should be about health.’ She said she did. I go back to my office 30 minutes later — it's still up…Tell the truth about what you believe in…She forgot who her boss was, which was Secretary Kennedy and President Trump. She didn't do anything that he or either one of them asked her to do, and it was a tragedy. It's just unfortunate she sold herself as somebody that was going to do something for the American people, but she changed her ways and didn’t do anything. She needed to be fired.”
SPOTTED: The International Franchise Association hosted its annual D.C. advocacy summit, featuring over 400 members of the franchise community who traveled from around the country to hear from to an action-packed line-up of speakers, including Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Sen. Roger Marshall (R., Kansas), Reps. Kevin Hern (R., Okla.), Hillary Scholten (D., Mich.) and Don Davis (D., N.C.), CNN Commentator Scott Jennings, and more.
SCHUMER SHUTDOWN: The Senate Republican Conference has been working in overdrive to call out Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for his role in shutting down the government.
NEW AI POWERPLAYER: President Trump's trip to the UK included an announcement of AI investments in the UK from Nvidia, Open AI, and $2 billion from CoreWeave — the recently-public AI powerhouse that has been winning praise on Capitol Hill for being on the cutting edge of hyperscaling. A Senate source praised the CoreWeave announcement saying, "when President Trump gets to announce a $2 billion U.S. investment in the UK during a UK trip, that's a win for everyone.”