INTERVIEW: Thirteen House Republicans debate a federal moratorium on AI and discuss lessons from the Schumer Shutdown
House Republicans don't agree on whether a federal moratorium on AI is needed; but they do agree that the government shutdown was an unnecessary disaster for the American people.
Do Republican lawmakers want guardrails on artificial intelligence (AI) regulation? Do they want to defer to the 50 laboratories of innovation? Are they concerned about turning regulation over to California or the European Union?
The answer is yes — depending on who you ask. The Washington Reporter interviewed 13 House Republicans about their thoughts on a potential federal moratorium on states regulating AI, and received a series of wide-ranging responses, ranging from staunch support for the moratorium to opposition.
While most House Republicans that we spoke with were supportive of a moratorium on state-based AI regulations, at least three of the 13 we spoke with either opposed or expressed concerns about a federal moratorium.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R., Wash.) cautioned that “we need to make sure that we don’t outsource AI regulation to California or to Brussels. If we allow each state to do it, because California is the largest market, Gavin Newsom and the radical leftists in California will have a significant impact on what happens with artificial intelligence, and this is a race against China.”
“If California stifles innovation,” Baumgartner warned, “that will have national security implications. You’ve seen where Europeans have regulated the internet heavily, and you’ve had limits on growth; there’s almost no growth there. If we don’t have some preemption, you are giving that power to Gavin Newsom…I am certainly a free market, states’ rights legislator, but coming from a left-wing state like Washington, I’ve seen what can happen when there is a state like California….interstate commerce has to be regulated by Congress, and AI is interstate commerce.”
Another blue state Republican, Rep. Vince Fong (R., Calif.) has seen firsthand how California stifles business and innovation, and he told the Reporter that his home state is precisely the reason why a nationwide moratorium is needed. “The focus of why we are trying to put a national framework in place is because blue states like California are messing it up,” Fong, who served in his state legislature’s superminority, said. “We have state legislators who are trying to inhibit a hugely beneficial technology; look at quantum and the other technologies out there. If we allow states like California to overregulate, we’ll never see the benefits.”
On the other coast, Rep. Ben Cline (R., Va.) said that he is concerned about both California and New York, as states that “regulate any part of the economy at the drop of a hat overreaching and going too far on this.”
“Some kind of federal preemption could be helpful to the markets and to the development of AI,” Cline added.
A pair of Hoosiers, Reps. Jim Baird (R., Ind.) and Marlin Stutzman (R., Ind.), were also among those who think federal guidelines could be important.
“AI is coming along so fast and it’s growing exponentially, so it’s wise to use the opportunity to set some guardrails to provide guidance to the states,” Baird explained. “I’m glad states are taking initiative to try and resolve some of this. AI can be a tremendous boon to solve medical problems, complex issues, and yet there is the concern about the nefarious uses of that technology. It’s very good to have the discussion.”
“We need a national framework; we don’t want a patchwork of policies on AI, especially having states like California set the agenda,” Stutzman added. “America needs to be the leader, not California.”
Rep. Troy Downing (R., Mont.) took the opposite side, informed in part due to his time serving as Montana’s Insurance Commissioner. “Look at California, where insurance companies are leaving the state. My problem with a federal law is that Montana’s laws aren’t going to be the law, and California’s aren’t going to be the law. I understand the hesitation that large companies have, but I know that Montana is going to do what’s right for Montana, and I don’t want them to be subject to the whims of California.”
While Rep. Mark Harris (R., N.C.) said that he has “concerns about the patchwork quilt that’s done with all the states,” his belief in states’ rights leads him to believe that it is “important to have states look at it. I don’t know that the federal government has the answers to this.”
For Rep. Barry Moore (R., Ala.), his top priority in this realm is “put[ting] guardrails on to protect our kids…There’s something we have to do from a federal level to prevent young kids from being targeted by predators online in blue states.”
These differing remarks came as the House weighed putting a federal moratorium on state-based AI regulation in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was ultimately pulled out by House and Senate leadership.
While the NDAA won’t be the vehicle for a moratorium on state regulations this go-around, lawmakers like Reps. Tracey Mann (R., Kansas) and Mark Alford (R., Mo.) nevertheless explained why winning the AI race is a national security necessity.
“We need to make sure that AI flourishes and prospers in the U.S. and not overseas, so we have to make sure that we do not overregulate it to our detriment and to the benefit of China, Russia, and North Korea,” Mann said.
“We need some guardrails, just like we did with crypto,” Alford said. “We have to win the AI game when it comes to our adversaries like China, in particular. But we have to make sure that we have the parameters in place so that we can do it effectively, judiciously, and promote invention, productivity, and winning when it comes to the AI race.”
The lawmakers also discussed the lessons they learned from the recent shutdown. While most credited Trump, Johnson, and Thune for their leadership, Alford built on what he told the Reporter in a previous interview: that he wishes Republicans had added more conservative wins to the continuing resolution, if only as a negotiating tactic.
“We tried to do the right thing, our leadership did, in passing a clean continuing resolution with the current level of funding under the 2024 Biden budget,” Alford said. “I think we should have added some conservative riders on that to be able to bargain with for when it hit the Senate. I had no idea that Chuck Schumer would be that devious and that maniacal and that selfish and that short sighted and that fearful of being primaried by AOC that he would put our country in a tailspin.”
For some lawmakers, like Rep. Tony Wied (R., Wis.), it was their first government shutdown. The freshman blasted his Democratic colleagues and his home state senator for “play[ing] political games and really put[ting] politics over people.”
“We offered a very clean solution to keeping the government open while we continued to work,” Wied, a longtime businessman, said. “Democrats, including my senator Tammy Baldwin, voted to shut it down, and they inflicted pain on people; that’s how some people operate in Congress. Democrats see the far left like Mamdani and AOC as the people who are running our country, whereas I think that the government should have stayed open.”
On the other hand, Reps. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.) and Bob Latta (R., Ohio) are no strangers to government shutdowns. The government showed Norman, for example, “that the Democrats will do anything, no matter what it meant to the American people. They used it as leverage when our military suffered, our police suffered, our TSA suffered; it’s all about power to them.”
“This was my fourth shutdown,” Latta said, “and the economy loses billions of dollars, so we need to get this done in January to make sure we don’t have shutdown.”
“There were no winners in this thing, but the losers were the American people,” the Ohio lawmaker added. “I deemed all of my staff essential, and I didn’t take a paycheck during the shutdown. I sign every letter that goes out to my constituents. With the IRS, people were waiting to get their money back. I saw people owed over $100,000 by the federal government. People had passport problems, our veterans had problems.”
Looking internally, Harris added that “when Republicans stand together and are united in messaging as well as in method, we find success. At the end of the day, Republicans were successful. We didn’t give, and that only happened because of strong leadership with Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune, and President Trump at the forefront.”
Below are transcripts of our interviews with thirteen House Republicans, lightly edited for clarity.
Rep. Mark Harris (R., N.C.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Mark Harris:
The first six months were wrapped up in making sure we got the One Big, Beautiful Bill over the finish line, that has probably been one of the most victorious things that we’ve done. I was at an event that Senator Ted Cruz was speaking at and he was asking me how I’m liking my first year here. He told me, “if you ever get discouraged, just remember that there were more conservative victories than folks can even imagine in the One Big, Beautiful Bill.” The victories have been really solid, from immigration enforcement and more.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Mark Harris:
We need to deal with health care, that’s become a serious issue. We have to look at affordability. Americans are still feeling the pinch of inflation, but if you look at the history of inflation during the first Trump administration, then the Biden administration, and now we are back at 2 percent, being able to get the affordability issue where it needs to be is something we’ll focus on. Health care too. I’d love to see a second reconciliation bill. We need to get the Farm Bill passed; that’s something my colleagues on the Ag Committee and I have been pushing for. We just need the floor time to get it passed.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Mark Harris:
When Republicans stand together and are united in messaging as well as in method, we find success. At the end of the day, Republicans were successful. We didn’t give, and that only happened because of strong leadership with Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune, and President Trump at the forefront.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Mark Harris:
AI continues to be something we try to wrap our heads around and understand. There are concerns about the patchwork quilt that’s done with all the states, but as a person who believes in states’ rights, I think that it is important to have states look at it. I don’t know that the federal government has the answers to this.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Mark Harris:
Promises made, promises kept. He is doing what he told the American people he was going to do, on immigration, law and order, tax cuts, bringing peace to the world, and the work he did from the Iranian situation and holding strong to working overtime on Ukraine and Russia, and the numerous other wars that he’s managed to bring peace to. People are shortsighed and we oftentimes don’t remember the extent of what he’s accomplished.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Mark Harris:
Speaker Johnson is doing well; during the shutdown he was consistent and courageous. He followed his convictions.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Mark Harris:
We gathered as a family, which we always look forward to and ate a lot of turkey, I am expecting my 11th grandchild this week as well.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Mark Harris:
Having all of my grandchild and my kids and their spouses in town; that is always the greatest blessing in the world.
Rep. Troy Downing (R., Mont.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Troy Downing:
As a group, the most significant and meaningful thing was that we renewed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; those are going to be profoundly meaningful and I’m proud of that.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Troy Downing:
Roll back a lot of the regulation that made it difficult for me when I was in the private sector to build businesses, to make sure banks and securities are rightsized in their regulation. The biggest lim-fact is regulation; one of the biggest lim-facts is access to capital for families. The work we’re doing on the Financial Services Committee is important, for lenders to be able to underwrite the person they know in the city they know rather than deal with CFPB on whether they subscribe to LGBTQ+ or whatnot.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Troy Downing:
Sometimes Congress can be unreasonable, and people will try to turn a message on you that has nothing to do with the policy at stake. We went to great efforts to make sure there weren’t any kill pills in this bill, and the Democrats threw completely irrelevant messaging into that that should have gone through regular order. The power of perseverance is key. Republicans stayed together and hopefully we discourage this from happening again. Look, you don’t negotiate with terrorists, and why is that? They are going to use that against you again and again and again. We stood fast on our conviction.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Troy Downing:
When I was the Insurance Commissioner, we had a thriving insurance market in Montana, and there were expenses that went up due to wildfires and we looked at the actuarial work on that, and even though you don’t want your name on a building when the price goes up, you don’t want it on the building when business flees either. Look at California, where insurance companies are leaving the state. My problem with a federal law is that Montana’s laws aren’t going to be the law, and California’s aren’t going to be the law. I understand the hesitation that large companies have, but I know that Montana is going to do what’s right for Montana, and I don’t want them to be subject to the whims of California.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Troy Downing:
Great. He has a different way of speaking and interacting, but one on one, it’s very endearing. What really matters is how do policies affect Americans, and they have been strong. He’s doing a great job of protecting us, dealing with law and order, and when I have issues that affect my constituents like the beef industry, the administration has been very open to discussions with me.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Troy Downing:
He is a juggernaut. We have been successful largely due to the demeanor and character of Speaker Johnson. Very few people can thread the needle of a very thin majority on what should or shouldn’t be done. He’s given us wins that a lesser human could not.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Troy Downing:
We only had one of our kids over for Thanksgiving, but we hung out with our daughter and son in law, and I went through a cycle of hot tub, cigar, smoke a turkey, drink some wine, and repeat.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Troy Downing:
I love Christmas; our office is already decked out and it makes me smile. It’s about family, it’s about gratitude, it’s about the birth of Jesus Christ and the promise that brings to all humans.
Rep. Barry Moore (R., Ala.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Barry Moore:
I have a couple of bills, one of them is a DUI bill that allows us to get illegals out of the country; we got it out of Judiciary and hopefully are sending it to the Senate. Right now, if we caught people who are here illegally and they get a DUI, they would get turned over to ICE but then they’d be let out. There were actually two people killed in my hometown by a person who was here illegally and who had a prior DUI conviction. I also have a Readiness Over Wokeness Act that takes the trans folks out of the military. I served six years myself. I’ve learned that folks who join the military and who undergo trans surgeries are never fit for duty, and that means that we basically funded the whole process.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Barry Moore:
I want to continue codifying President Trump’s agenda; I’d like to see the SAVE Act codified before the 2026 midterms. There’s so much the president wants to do; we need to put pressure on spending. That will help inflation drop, which makes our country more affordable. In Alabama, fuel is down below $3 a gallon. All the goods and services that are tied to the cost of energy can come down too. Inflation is a tax that punishes everybody and it hurts the poorest among us the worst.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Barry Moore:
Holding out on the shutdown was smart; we did the right thing. Fort Rucker is in my district, and I was so encouraged because so many of those guys said ‘don’t cave, don’t fold. We can go without a paycheck if that’s what it takes.’ That sent a message that we are convicted to do what we said we’d do. There are a lot of patriots in this country and they are willing to go without a paycheck for a little while and they said they’ll endure it to make the country better down the road. That was encouraging. There are a lot of patriots outside of D.C.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Barry Moore:
We have to look at some regulations to protect young kids online and I don’t know exactly what that looks like. There’s something we have to do from a federal level to prevent young kids from being targeted by predators online in blue states. We should put guardrails on to protect our kids in particular.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Barry Moore:
Excellent. It would be great if we could keep the government open. Look at the tax cuts, he is doing what he can for the American people. I’d like to see us move a little faster. I don’t hate the idea of blowing the filibuster up in the Senate. Democrats are going to try and shut the government down again and again before the midterms. Look at world peace and the wars he’s helped end where they fought for years, on domestic and on foreign policy, he’s doing a fantastic job.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Barry Moore:
Mike has one of the toughest jobs on the Hill, and I don’t know how he’s gotten Republicans to vote consistently and stay on the team. President Trump has helped him, but Mike Johnson has done yeoman’s work; I think the Lord’s hand is on him.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Barry Moore:
Normally we do an August trip and an October trip, but this year we all went to Disney, although that wasn’t much of a break. I went with my kids and grandkids. We sent Mickey Mouse a lot of money.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Barry Moore:
I like to be around family, so it’s getting to see the kids again, and home cooking in Alabama is always a good thing.
Rep. Tony Wied (R., Wis.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Tony Wied:
My whole goal was to put more money back into people’s pockets, and the One Big, Beautiful Bill did that. We were able to offer the best, most consequential tax policy in recent history, putting more money in working families’ pockets through no taxes on tips and on overtime; the child tax credit was important as well. To me it’s all about igniting the economy, growing the economy. Not to mention we prevented the largest tax increase in history.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Tony Wied:
Continuing to finish up the Farm Bill; we’ve got a majority of it completed, I’m on the Agriculture Committee. I’m also working on the highway bill, I’m on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee too. I want to continue to advocate for Main Street and rural America; that is our district in Northeast Wisconsin, and I am focused on making sure that our quality of life in Northeast Wisconsin remains stellar.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Tony Wied:
Democrats really played political games and really put politics over people; we offered a very clean solution to keeping the government open while we continued to work. Democrats, including my senator Tammy Baldwin, voted to shut it down, and they inflicted pain on people; that’s how some people operate in Congress. Democrats see the far left like Mamdani and AOC as the people who are running our country, whereas I think that the government should have stayed open.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Tony Wied:
That’s a difficult question, but it’s really providing oversight; that is important because it is a very impactful situation with AI. We need to continue to work hard on that to do it in a safe way.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Tony Wied:
In 2024, the number one issue was the crisis at our border and the crisis of letting 20 million people in unchecked, which leads to cartel activity and crime. Trump and House Republicans have solved the border crisis. He promised and delivered. That is a huge win. He is also doing a great job with the One Big, Beautiful Bill with the amazing tax policy, and also when it comes to upgrading air traffic control with a serious investment there. The economy and affordability are continuing to improve, and that does take time.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Tony Wied:
He is a very good leader, it’s a very difficult job when you have a slim majority. We have united as House Republicans and have passed important legislation, I’m very pleased that he’s our leader.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Tony Wied:
With family. We were all together on Thanksgiving, then we served food at a homeless shelter, and we watched the Packers defeat the Lions.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Tony Wied:
Being with family and being home and in the district, meeting with stakeholders in the area. My job is to represent everybody in Wisconsin’s 8th District.
Rep. Vince Fong (R., Calif.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Vince Fong:
The One Big, Beautiful Bill was a huge accomplishment; it did so much and Americans are beginning to understand how significant it was. No taxes on tips, overtime, Social Security is huge. Tax certainty was huge for my farmers, my manufacturers, my energy producers. This is significant, and you are going to see the economy begin to really grow faster than it already is starting in Q1 of next year. Additionally, the $1 billion for water storage is hugely significant for California and the Central Valley.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Vince Fong:
Now is the implementation. The bringing back of manufacturing to the U.S. and specifically to California. On energy, we did all of these things, but having them come to blue states is big. We are fighting Gavin Newsom on energy. The White House announced that gasoline is under $3 in states across America, but in California, we are at nearly $5 a gallon. The only thing Gavin Newsom is focusing on is fighting the administration. Next year, we are going to lose two refineries, and we are going to have gasoline shortages. The pipeline from Kern County to the refineries in the Bay Area is going to potentially close in the new year. That’s what I’m focused on. When we talk about affordability, remember that we’ve been living in an affordability crisis in California for a decade. We have to undo the mandates from Biden, but we have to undo the Newsom ones as well.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Vince Fong:
The Schumer Shutdown was probably the most avoidable crisis that should never have happened. You have Chuck Schumer solely focused on his own political survival but also trying to placate his progressive base, and that is unacceptable. He used the American people as pawns in his chess game and that can’t be allowed.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Vince Fong:
The focus of why we are trying to put a national framework in place is because blue states like California are messing it up. We have state legislators who are trying to inhibit a hugely beneficial technology; look at quantum and the other technologies out there. If we allow states like California to overregulate, we’ll never see the benefits.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Vince Fong:
He’s doing great; he is always underestimated but he is always up to the task, and I look forward to another exciting three years. His second term is not even 12 months in; we’ve got a lot more work to do.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Vince Fong:
He is doing a tremendous job. He has tight margins and that provides its own unique challenges. I served in the super minority in California where progressives controlled everything, and let me tell you, being in the majority is far better.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Vince Fong:
I hosted my family for the first time, so I had 16 people over at my house and was responsible for the turkey but it all turned out great.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Vince Fong:
I am hoping it will be very quiet, it’s my first Christmas with my son, and my wife and I are excited to see Christmas through his eyes.
Rep. Tracey Mann (R., Kansas):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
Without question, the country is a lot better off than when 2025 started. The border is secure thanks to President Trump and House Republicans. Getting the One Big, Beautiful Bill passed and signed into law was important not just for now but for the future.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
We need to appropriately fund the government. We are $38 trillion in debt. Higher interest rates are at the heart of our affordability crisis, hitting businesses, hitting housing prices.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
I was reminded of the fact of how many Democrats hate Donald Trump and will stop at nothing to see him and Republicans fail, even though this will harm many Americans to appease the radical left’s base.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
We need to make sure that AI flourishes and prospers in the U.S. and not overseas, so we have to make sure that we do not overregulate it to our detriment and to the benefit of China, Russia, and North Korea.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
Fantastic. Promises made, promises kept. The number one issue of the election was the southern border. The economy is trending in the right direction. Under Biden, inflation was at 9 percent, and inflation is now under 3 percent.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
Fantastic. His ability to lead the House GOP conference and the things we passed this year given a small majority, is so important. We’ve got to come together with the votes for these seismic things to get done, and he’s delivered.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
One side of our family has gotten together for over 100 years, and we met at the 4H building in Johnson County.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Tracey Mann:
I have 4 kids, so we also go to Christmas Eve service at our Church, come home, open one present in preparation for Christmas morning, and then celebrate the holiday itself.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
The One Big, Beautiful Bill. It helped Americans, it helped the average person on the street who was struggling under the Biden administration, and everybody came together, and we did it by and large without any Democrat support, and it’s showing the dividends now for the country.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
We’ve got to get appropriations bills passed. We’ve got nine left before January 30. We’ve also got to come up with affordable health care plans that are patient-centered and doctor friendly. We’ve got to get the deficit down, we can’t outgrow it, we have to actually make cuts, and I think the president will do that.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
It was shown for what it was. It showed that the Democrats will do anything, no matter what it meant to the American people. They used it as leverage when our military suffered, our police suffered, our TSA suffered; it’s all about power to them.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
AI is a good thing and it’s a bad thing. It’s got the potential to do a lot of damage. It’s the coming wave of technology that every state will have to address. Congress will have to put guardrails in place. We can’t let it derail the country, and it has the potential to do that.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
In 12 months, President Trump has put this country back on a winning agenda. He’s making the right moves, he’s shut our border down, the economy is doing well, gas prices are down, the One Big, Beautiful Bill would not have happened without his force, and he did it. He should go on Mount Rushmore for what he’s done, namely when he took out the number one sponsor of terror in Iran; he is one of the greatest presidents of my lifetime, if not the greatest.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
His job is untenable. Can you nail Jell-O to the wall? No, it’s like herding cats. He’s a consensus builder, and he’s doing a great job.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
We had all of my family together, we ate too much, we slept too much, but now we’re on the road to get some of this weight off.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Ralph Norman:
Celebrating Christ, celebrating a time of blessing and thanksgiving. We’ve got so much to be thankful for; look at Venezuela, look at Nigeria, where Christians are being persecuted.
Rep. Mark Alford (R., Mo.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Mark Alford:
The work that our constituent services team has done, returning more than $8 million to taxpayers that the federal government was holding on to. We helped seniors, veterans, my staff was working tirelessly during the government shutdown without pay to make sure they are servicing our constituents and giving them concierge service, which we’ve been dedicated to from the beginning. A lot of things grind slowly on Capitol Hill, but overall, what I’m most proud about is looking at what our team has done in our district.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Mark Alford:
I want to get all twelve appropriations bills, not just out of committee, but off the House floor and to the Senate by the end of the fiscal year. That’s my single objective as an appropriator.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Mark Alford:
We tried to do the right thing, our leadership did, in passing a clean continuing resolution with the current level of funding under the 2024 Biden budget. I think we should have added some conservative riders on that to be able to bargain with for when it hit the Senate. I had no idea that Chuck Schumer would be that devious and that maniacal and that selfish and that short sighted and that fearful of being primaried by AOC that he would put our country in a tailspin.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Mark Alford:
We need some guardrails, just like we did with crypto. We have to win the AI game when it comes to our adversaries like China, in particular. But we have to make sure that we have the parameters in place so that we can do it effectively, judiciously, and promote invention, productivity, and winning when it comes to the AI race.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Mark Alford:
I have never seen anyone work harder in my lifetime with as many flames and arrows being shot at them. These are not just by the Democrats, but by the legacy media as well. He is doing a remarkable job. To see what he accomplished, a lot through executive orders that we are working on codifying, is impressive, but his focus and direction is unparalleled. The first year of his presidency will go down as the most remarkable year of a president in history.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Mark Alford:
The Speaker and I are friends; I enjoy seeing friends be successful. I can’t think of anyone else in our conference who could do a better job of navigating the turbulent waters and bringing people together, not just in our conference but in our nation. His council and the wisdom that he imparts to the president, his leadership on the floor, his concern for individual members and where they are in their political and personal lives, is unmatched in my opinion, and I truly believe that God has him there for a reason. I felt that from the beginning. This is the time and place that we need Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House. We have a lot of work in 2026, and I look forward to keeping the majority and supporting the America First agenda that’s going to be carried out by our leadership, our chairs, Mike Johnson, and by our members.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Mark Alford:
My first grandchild turned one on Thanksgiving Day. She’s a cornucopia of love. We have a tradition in Kansas City; we have the first outdoor shopping mall ever built, in the 1920s. It’s called the Plaza, modeled after Seville. Every Thanksgiving Eve at sunset, tens ouf thousands of people gather in the street amongst the roofs of the Plaza and watch the roofs and watch thousands of lights come on as we count down to the holiday.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Mark Alford:
We are going to Ireland to celebrate my wife’s 60th birthday.
Rep. Ben Cline (R., Va.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Ben Cline:
There’s been so much that we’ve done; this is a sea change in an approach to government and we’ve been working with the administration to pass the transformative legislation that is driving economic growth, providing tax cuts for American families, and helping to address the affordability crisis that was created by Democrats.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Ben Cline:
I would like to continue to work on reining in wasteful government spending; we need to downsize the bureaucracy. One of my projects has been to try and move administrative agencies within the executive branch around the country so they’re not stuck in the Washington bubble and so close to the lobbyists that fête them and take them to lunches, and instead they need to be out with real Americans. Too often these bureaucrats are causing the problems Americans are facing. From housing to health care to energy, these costs are exacerbated by more regulations.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Ben Cline:
That Democrats will bend over backwards to try and pursue political gains at the expense of hurting the American people.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Ben Cline:
AI has a lot of promise, and it is already being used by many Americans, probably most Americans now. We should be concerned about states like California and New York who regulate any part of the economy at the drop of a hat overreaching and going too far on this. Some kind of federal preemption could be helpful to the markets and to the development of AI.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Ben Cline:
He’s knocking it out of the park, doing a great job, continuing to stay focused on the American people.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Ben Cline:
He’s doing a great job. He is unifying the party in a way that no other Speaker has done, and not through a culture of fear like Speaker Pelosi did, but through a culture of consensus. He is a great partner for the president.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Ben Cline:
Thanksgiving brunch so we can watch football later.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Ben Cline:
Christmas with the family at home and in the 6th District. My kids are hoping for snow, and they have their wish list for Santa already sent in.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R., Wash.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
We’ve done so much for the country, but it’s the fact that the Republican team stuck together. This place is not built on one person having an idea and pounding a table; conservatives and Republicans, despite attacks from Democrats and the media, stuck together to accomplish our goals for the American people. Whether it’s de-wokifying our country or border security, we have a lot to be proud of in terms of pushing back on radical left-wing projects. We want to work on that at universities too. The Democrats are trapped in this box of identity politics and extreme socialist economic policies, and it is a dangerous vision for the future of our country. We need to restore what America has always been. Look at infrastructure spending, we have to be a place where America can build things again; Democrats are a collection of trial lawyers, big union activists, and environmental extremists. I have a background in foreign policy with my time in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I’ve enjoyed my time on Foreign Affairs, discussing important foreign policy issues and supporting the president in his execution of that. The way the president dealt with the threat of Iran and their nuclear program was incredible. I was skeptical of President Trump in 2016 on foreign policy matters, but in many ways he’s been our best foreign policy president since Dwight Eisenhower; look at the Abraham Accords, where Arab countries have said that Jews have a right to exist in the Middle East. There has been no greater threat to peace in the Middle East than the Mullahs of Iran and the way that President Trump dealt with that has been incredible. I went to Iraq for the first time since 2008 earlier this year, and we have a threat of Islamic terrorism in Iraq, Syria, certainly Yemen; the Mullahs of Iran has been a key sponsor of that in the past.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
We want to continue what we did in 2025, which is to continue to promote pro-growth policies, which help grow our economy and do right by future generations. If you look at the One Big, Beautiful Bill, which was important and challenging, we delivered the largest tax cut in history, but we also had real reforms to reckless spending in what we did with taking illegals off of health care and with work requirements. That’s what America needs: initiatives that grow jobs and create responsible spending. Everybody on the GOP side campaigned on securing the southern border and solving issues like fentanyl. We’ve had huge accomplishments there; nothing is more important for why President Trump was returned to the White House.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
The Democrats don’t really have a message for the American people other than scare tactics. The audacity of a group of Democrats that created a health care system with no Republicans being involved that has been a disaster for the country is incredible. Over 100 hospitals have closed since Obamacare was passed, and Democrats shamelessly turned around to blame Republicans.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
We need to make sure that we don’t outsource AI regulation to California or to Brussels. If we allow each state to do it, because California is the largest market, Gavin Newsom and the radical leftists in California will have a significant impact on what happens with artificial intelligence, and this is a race against China. If California stifles innovation, that will have national security implications. You’ve seen where Europeans have regulated the internet heavily, and you’ve had limits on growth; there’s almost no growth there. If we don’t have some preemption, you are giving that power to Gavin Newsom. For those reasons, I would like to see the NDAA have the short-term restraint on the states ratifying what happens with AI. I am certainly a free market, states’ rights legislator, but coming from a left-wing state like Washington, I’ve seen what can happen when there is a state like California. Another win was overturning the California electric vehicle mandate, and Washington State under our left-wing governor had foolishly joined California in trying to ban what kind of cars could be purchased in our state, the reason they were able to do that was because California had a real issue with smoging and Congress left California set its own emissions standards, but since then, California has been taken over by environmental extremists who use that state lawmaking to control the whole country, and if Washington, Oregon, and other progressive states join on, businesses are going to de facto have to abide by those rules, and that’s why I think that interstate commerce has to be regulated by Congress, and AI is interstate commence.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
He’s doing exactly what he said he would do in the campaign; he’s been working with us to get the largest tax cuts in history across the finish line, he’s been key to unifying Republicans in Congress on foreign policy. I’d give him an A+ on foreign policy. I have concerns about tariffs because we are a trade-dependent state, but it’s no secret that he campaigned on tariffs. And on border security, I’d give him an A+.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
Great. We have the narrowest majority in history, and there are a few strong personalities around here. Mike doesn’t have many carrots and sticks, he simply has his character and his work ethic, and if more people spent time seeing our conference, they’d realize how difficult that job is.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
Being home with the family. My wife and I met in Afghanistan, she’s British, so Thanksgiving is new to her. We celebrated our 15th anniversary, and she’s adopted Thanksgiving and we adopted Boxing Day. We were with the kids and we went to see my parents and watched Washington State Football.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Michael Baumgartner:
Being with the family. Typically we see my wife’s family in England, so we’ll spend some time there. When you’re a member of Congress, you’re busy; it’s a long commute, and it’s fun to be around the kids. It’s a privilege to be here, but it’s a tremendous amount of work. Some families have dads that are truck drivers or merchant marines, this is a different kind of service to our country, and they are proud of me for it.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R., Ind.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
The Working Family Tax Cut Act; it is big, and there are a lot of pieces in it that sometimes get overlooked; this is going to help businesses across the country forecast for 2026. We’ve got to focus on affordability, healthcare costs; those are real concerns. I come from a business background, and I believe that 2026’s table is set in terms of families and businesses being able to plan for the year ahead.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
We need to make sure that health care costs are under control. Insurance companies and the government are the problem with health care. There’s too much government, and the subsidies should go directly to the consumers, not to the insurance companies.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
That Democrats aren’t good as leaders; they would rather grow the government than support the American family. Let’s support the American family’s budget, not the federal government’s budget. The Biden-era inflation harmed a lot of people, and Trump-era policies are coming in force. If we don’t have these policies work, then we deserve to lose the 2026 midterms.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
We need a national framework; we don’t want a patchwork of policies on AI, especially having states like California set the agenda. America needs to be the leader, not California.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
President Trump is doing great. He’s a strong negotiator, a strong diplomat, he’s creating peace in places that don’t see peace often, and he’s bringing outside private investment; I’m seeing this in Indiana, whether it’s the auto industry or in manufacturing.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
With the small majority that he’s had, he’s been able to hold the team together in ways that others couldn’t; Speaker Johnson clearly has a great relationship with President Trump and with Leader John Thune. He’s been fair, he’s been honest. If we stick together as a team in 2026, we accomplish what we need to for the American people.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
In my family, we love to go out and throw the football; sometimes we have snow, which happens more often than not, and there’s some hunting as well. I also love to experience outdoor activities, and I absolutely love smoked turkey.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Marlin Stutzman:
Time with family; sometimes we travel, but this time we’ll be home, and hopefully we’ll enjoy some snow. We live in such a beautiful country.
Rep. Bob Latta (R., Ohio):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Bob Latta:
Multiple things: the reconciliation package; right off the bat, we kept the American people from having the largest tax increase in history, and that’s something a lot of people never felt because we got it taken care of in time, so when you think about individual income taxes, small business taxes, the death tax, I’ve been anti-death tax for my entire life. The money in Americans’ pockets would have flown to Washington, and let me tell you, we do a very bad job at spending it. On the energy front, as the chair of the Energy Subcommittee on E&C, when I left Bowling Green yesterday, our gas price was a little over $2 a gallon, whereas when Biden was president, gas was $4 or $5 a gallon. High gas prices under Biden affected our economy, so on the energy front, we want to make the United States energy independent, and today we can outproduce Saudi Arabia and Russia on any given day. We want the right laws and regulations to keep it that way. We also have to save Medicaid, and in reconciliation we said Medicaid is for pregnant women, young children, elderly, disabled, and we made people have to work 20 hours a week, or volunteer, and to make sure that illegals aren’t getting Medicaid. I sat through a markup during reconciliation when Democrats said that illegals aren’t getting Medicaid, but the next day I saw an article about how Gavin Newsom said that illegals have to have skin in the game because the state couldn’t afford it. Morgan Griffith and I have worked on making fentanyl-related substances a Schedule I drug, which means you are going to get a 10 year sentence right off the bat. 73,000 people die from fentanyl poison a year, and another thing that President Trump did was secure the border. It’s very minimal what we’re seeing now in terms of border crossings.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Bob Latta:
We have to make sure the government doesn’t shut down at the end of January. We have nine appropriations bills that have to get done. We kept this government open, we passed a clean CR that the Democrats had voted for 13 times. We have to keep working on the energy side too. As the energy subcommittee chair, I see that we can produce anything we want in the world, but if we can’t move it, that’s a problem, so we need to modernize our grid, we need to get permitting reform, and we have 15 pieces of legislation in our committee about that. I chaired the communications and technology subcommittee, and we need to get broadband accomplished too. When Chairman Brendan Carr of the FCC came in, he told us that none of the billions allocated by Biden have gone out. We need telehealth, telemanufacturing, teleagriculture, and that’s why broadband is so important.
Washington Reporter:
What lessons did you take away from the Schumer Shutdown?
Rep. Bob Latta:
There were no winners in this thing, but the losers were the American people. I deemed all of my staff essential, and I didn’t take a paycheck during the shutdown. I sign every letter that goes out to my constituents. With the IRS, people were waiting to get their money back. I saw people owed over $100,000 by the federal government. People had passport problems, our veterans had problems. When you go into a shutdown, when you’re the one shutting it down, you always have to ask how do you get it back open? This was my fourth shutdown, and the economy loses billions of dollars, so we need to get this done in January to make sure we don’t have shutdown.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Bob Latta:
On my committees, we also look at how you’re going to power AI, like with data centers. We have to make sure we have proper guardrails on it. People will say that we shouldn’t have any AI, well, that’s not going to happen. AI is going to be a huge driver of our economy. This is why you have the committee work on this, so we can get proper legislation.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Bob Latta:
I don’t think the guy ever sleeps. He signed reconciliation on the 4th of July, he made sure the border is secure, he’s stopping deadly fentanyl, he’s making sure we have a strong economy, making sure we have the right tax laws for small businesses. I really don’t think he sleeps.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Bob Latta:
Mike has done a phenomenal job, he’s been able to come in, and everything the liberal press said was going to happen didn’t happen. When we have a 219-213 majority, and I see this on the deputy Whip team, we don’t count Democrats’ votes, and we don’t need to because of his leadership.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Bob Latta:
To be with family. My wife’s family is only about 45 minutes from us, and my sister lives down the street, so we spend it with half the family in the morning and then at night.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Bob Latta:
We are looking forward to spending it with our two daughters, one of whom was recently engaged.
Rep. Jim Baird (R., Ind.):
Washington Reporter:
What are you proudest of from 2025?
Rep. Jim Baird:
We were able to close the border, start working on energy, and lowering the cost of living for people across the country.
Washington Reporter:
What do you want to get done in 2026?
Rep. Jim Baird:
We’re just finishing up harvest time in Indiana for corn and soybeans, so we really needed to have that Farm Bill. Having the backup for crop insurance and programs that came out of the Farm Bill is extremely important. Commodity prices are low and the cost of inputs is high; they really count on the farm bill to help them make it through these times. Included in that is the SNAP programs too.
Washington Reporter:
Congress is poised to debate whether the federal government should preempt states on AI regulation. How do you view that issue?
Rep. Jim Baird:
AI is coming along so fast and it’s growing exponentially, so it’s wise to use the opportunity to set some guardrails to provide guidance to the states. I’m glad states are taking initiative to try and resolve some of this. AI can be a tremendous boon to solve medical problems, complex issues, and yet there is the concern about the nefarious uses of that technology. It’s very good to have the discussion.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think President Trump is doing?
Rep. Jim Baird:
He’s doing great; he’s hitting on so many things, from the economy to closing the border to looking at our adversaries, to stopping the fentanyl.
Washington Reporter:
How do you think Speaker Mike Johnson is doing?
Rep. Jim Baird:
He’s doing great as well; he’s managed to keep us together in these difficult times. We have such a narrow margin in the House, and it really takes a lot of effort to keep everything where it needs to be.
Washington Reporter:
Do you have any Thanksgiving family traditions?
Rep. Jim Baird:
Banana splits, and I’m not talking about the kind you can get at a grocery store. I’m talking about bananas quartered, a layer of whipped cream and a special mix I can’t give away, then you mix that with whipped cream, peanuts, and another layer of bananas. But the real tradition is to just have the family get together.
Washington Reporter:
What are you most excited about for Christmas this year?
Rep. Jim Baird:
We’ve got grandchildren now and it’s always exciting to watch them at Christmas time, but it’s also exciting for them to think about Santa Claus.